Billionaire investor Philip Falcone founded Harbinger Capital Partners in 2001. Phil Falcone, of Harbinger Capital Partners, reached notoriety in 2007 when his fund made $11 Billion betting against subprime mortgages, resulting in an 116% return for the Harbinger Capital hedge fund that year. At that point, Harbinger swelled to $26 billion.

Since then, Falcone’s performance record has been rife with ups and downs. For instance, he lost more than half the value of the Harbinger Capital hedge fund in the last half of 2008 alone. Then, Falcone bounced back in 2009 with an impressive 42% only to drop 12% in 2010, a loss that was largely the result of the 19.5% Falcone lost through his investment in a pool of illiquid and divesting assets. Falcone leads Harbinger's investment team, which focuses on opportunities in credit, distressed debt, leveraged finance, and special situations across market cycles.

Harbinger Capital lost around 47% in 2011, mostly due to its investments in LightSquared.