KGO – Where is the money and power on Wall Street? A new survey reports that it is firmly in the hands of those who run hedge funds. How about an annual payday of $1.5 billion? According to a surveyby Alpha, a magazine published by the highly watched Institutional Investor, that’s just what James Simons, founder of Renaissance Technologies, made in 2005. His flagship Medallion Fund, with $5.3billion invested, returned 29.5 percent, net of fees.
Hedge funds are lightly regulated funds that attract billions of dollars from institutions and millionaire private investors. Those funds favor nontraditional investments: They short stocks, put money into commodities and play currency markets. And until recently, the payoff has been huge.
According to Alpha, to make the list of top 25 hedge fund earners last year, hedge fund managers had to “take home” at least $130 million. Because of a tie, there were 26 hedge fund managers who made $130 million or more.
No. 2 on Alpha’s list after Simons is the venerable T. Boone Pickens, the 78-year-old oilman. His 2005 earnings: $1.4 billion. No. 3 was legendary fund manager George Soros at $840 million.
