After earning a record $5 billion for a hedge fund manager last year with the help of gold and bank stocks, Paulson is now slashing some of those holdings. His flagship Advantage Plus Fund has plummeted 47% this year through September, according to several media reports that cite investors in the fund. Even Paulson's bet on gold has worked against him, with his gold fund down about 30% this year.
John Paulson (Paulson & Co.)
In July, Paulson announced during an investor call that he was reducing his net long exposure to 60% from 81% previously, according to a Reuters report, with the hedge fund manager saying he "cannot operate the fund at level. I'd like to bring the risk down further to about 50%." He admitted he was "too aggressive" with some stock bets, the report said.
Despite his miserable performance this year, Paulson said he received less than 8% in year-end redemption requests for all of his funds from wealthy clients, according to a report earlier this month by Bloomberg, which cited Paulson's letter to shareholders.
"The world is a dangerous place to live�not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." �Albert Einstein
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