2016’s Top Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Their Favorite Stocks

5. Ken Griffin, Citadel Investment

2016 Earnings: $500 million

Top Pick at the End of 2016: Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

First on our list is the venerable Ken Griffin, who earned a $500 million payday in 2016. Griffin’s hedge fund firm Citadel Advisors delivered 5% returns in 2016, underperforming the market but about in line with the broader hedge fund industry. Nonetheless, it was a down year for the fund, which has averaged 19% annual returns since inception.

While Citadel has larger options positions in several stocks, its largest long position at the end of 2016 was in Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), with it being valued at $681 million. Alphabet has slumped heavily in recent days due to an advertising controversy involving its YouTube video platform, which could see the service lose up to $750 million in revenue this year and cut margins in the future, depending on the steps Alphabet needs to take to remedy clients’ concerns about where their ads are ending up. While it’s a big blow to YouTube in and of itself, it’s not a huge blow to Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which had nearly $90 billion in revenue in 2016. Alphabet shares are still up by 7% in 2017.