John Paulson

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John Paulson
Born John Alfred Paulson
December 14, 1955 (1955-12-14) (age 56)
Queens, New York, U.S.
Residence Manhattan, New York, U.S.[1]
Southampton, New York, U.S.[1]
Citizenship  United States
Alma mater New York University (BSc)
Harvard University (MBA)
Occupation Founder and President of Paulson & Co.
Salary $4.9 billion (2010)[1]
Net worth increase $15.5 billion (Sept. 2011)[2]
Religion jewish
Spouse Jenny Paulson[3]
Children 2[3]

John Alfred Paulson (born December 14, 1955) is an American hedge fund manager, he is the founder and President of Paulson & Co., a New York-based hedge fund.

Paulson became a billionaire by short-selling subprime mortgages in 2007, and made $3.5 billion that year.[1] In 2010, he beat a hedge-fund record by making nearly $5 billion.[1]

In 2011, he made bad trades in Bank of America,[1] Citigroup[1] and the fraud-suspected China-based Canadian-listed company; Sino-Forest Corporation.[1] His flagship fund, Paulson Advantage Fund, was down over 40% as of September 2011. During that same time, Paulson had invested most of his personal fortune in gold[1] and it had grown by $3.1 billion from September 2010 to September 2011.[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Paulson was born in Queens, New York, the son of Alfred G. Paulson (November 22, 1924 - July 24, 2002), Chief Financial Officer at Ruder Finn[4][5], and Jacqueline (nee Boklan, born 1926). Paulson attended school at the Whitestone Hebrew Centre in Whitestone, New York.

He received his bachelor's degree in finance from New York University's College of Business and Public Administration (now the New York University Stern School of Business). He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.

[edit] Career

Paulson began his career at Boston Consulting Group and then left to join Odyssey Partners where he worked with Leon Levy. Later he took a position in the mergers and acquisitions department at Bear Stearns followed by partner status at the mergers arbitrage firm Gruss Partners LP. In 1994, he founded his own hedge fund, Paulson & Co. with $2 million and one employee.[citation needed]

In 2008, Paulson co-wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece suggesting an alternative to the Treasury Secretary's plan for stabilizing the markets.[6] Later that year he began a new fund that lent money to investment banks and hedge funds during the mortgage crisis.[citation needed] Paulson "shot to fame and fortune" when his investment strategies paid off during the subprime housing market.[7]

[edit] Personal

Paulson, with his Romanian-born wife Jenny (née Zaharia), and their two daughters live on the Upper East Side of New York City. He also has homes in Southampton, New York and Aspen, Colorado.[3] John Paulson is unrelated to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.[4][8]

Paulson was ranked 39 on the 2011 Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people[1] with a net worth of almost $26 billion.[1] Between 2009 and 2011 Paulson made several charitable donations including, $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending, $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business, $15 million to build a children's hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador and £2.5 million to the London School of Economics for the John A Paulson Chair in European Political Economy.[9][10][11] Paulson contributed $140,000 to political candidates and parties between 2000 and 2010, 45% of which went to Republicans, 16% to Democrats, and 36% to special interests.[12] Paulson donated $1 million to Mitt Romney's Super PAC Restore Our Future according to fourth quarter 2011 filings.[13] In 2011, employees of Paulson & Co. contributed at least $61,050 to the campaign for John Boehner. [14]

John has an older sister named Theodora Bar-El (Hebrew: תיאודורה בר אל, nee Paulson; born September 29, 1947), PhD, a prominent Israeli biologist. Born in the United States, she moved to Israel in 1968 and now works at Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.

[edit] See Also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "John Paulson - Forbes". Forbes. March 9, 2011. http://www.forbes.com/profile/john-paulson. Retrieved May 16, 2011. 
  2. ^ Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/profile/john-paulson/. 
  3. ^ a b c McShane, Larry. "John Paulson, hedge fund heavyweight, raked in $5 billion last year, roughly $13.7 million a day". New York Daily News. January 29, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Goldiner, Dave. "Queens-born John Paulson makes fortune on home foreclosures". New York Daily News. January 16, 2008.
  5. ^ Dion, Don. "Fund Lessons From John Paulson". The STREET. October 10, 2009.
  6. ^ Paulson, John. "The Public Deserves a Better Deal". Wall Street Journal. September 26, 2008.
  7. ^ Yahoo news Paulson Loses More Sept Fund Now Off 47%, Svea Herbst-Bayliss, Oct 8 2011, Retrieved Oct 2011
  8. ^ Effinger, Anthony. "Paulson Housing Bets Make $2.7 Billion, Beat Citadel". Bloomberg. November 29, 2007.
  9. ^ Kerpen, Phil. "SEC Probe Shouldn't Stop With Goldman Sachs". FOXNews.com. April 20, 2010.
  10. ^ "Hedge Fund Founder John A. Paulson Gives $20 Million to NYU Stern". New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business. November 12, 2009.
  11. ^ Kroll, Luisa."John Paulson Pledges $15 Million In Ecuador". Forbes. November 23, 2010.
  12. ^ Campaign Contribution Search: John Paulson. Federal Election Commission data via NEWSMEAT. February 7, 2011.
  13. ^ "Who’s Financing the ‘Super PACs’". New York Times. February 1, 2012.
  14. ^ Wachtel, Katya. "Suddenly John Paulson's Hedge Fund Is One Of John Boehner's Biggest Donors". Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/john-paulson-is-one-of-john-boehners-biggest-donors-wall-street-2011-7. Retrieved 9 August 2011. 

[edit] External links


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