The Economist Is Wrong About Paulson In Its Celeb Hedge Fund Manager Article

The Economist has an article listing the celebrity hedge fund managers who are in trouble. John Paulson, Elena Ambrosiadou, Philip Falcone, Steve Cohen, Raj Rajaratnam, and Steve Eisman’s FrontPoint made the list. Here is an excerpt from the article:

Take John Paulson of Paulson & Co, a $37 billion hedge fund. He became famous after he bet against the housing bubble but is now in the limelight for less flattering reasons. Mr Paulson was the largest shareholder in Sino-Forest, a Chinese forest-plantation operator accused of fraud by short-sellers earlier this month. Its share price plummeted and Mr Paulson sold his stake, dealing his fund a reputational blow and around $500m in losses. His flagship fund is down 20% so far this year.

Unfortunately The Economist is among the publications that don’t understand John Paulson’s returns. Paulson’s flagship fund isn’t down 20%. The leveraged version of Paulson’s flagsip fund is down 20%. It’s OK though, we are used to economists being wrong.