5 Best Paid Hedge Fund Managers of 2010

Alpha Magazine annually publishes the list of best paid hedge fund managers. Unfortunately, their methodology is deeply flawed. The earnings AR uses includes fees collected as well as increases in fund manager’s own investments. As a result, some fund managers will make the list not because they really earn money from their clients but because they already have a ton of money. In order to show you how ridiculous this methodology is, Insider Monkey presents the list of the 5 best paid hedge fund managers of 2010 – but we employed a very flexible definition of “hedge fund manager”. Any investor who invests and may or may not collect fees from other investors are included in our rankings.

hedge funds vs. mutual funds

1. Warren Buffett: 2010 Earnings: $9 Billion. Warren Buffett doesn’t collect any management fees but he topped the list of the best paid hedge fund managers in 2010 simply because he is rich and invests his wealth in his company.

2. Larry Ellison: 2010 Earnings: $7.7 Billion. Larry Ellison’s Oracle (ORCL) made a lot of money in 2010, and so did Larry Ellison. He is one of the best paid hedge fund managers in 2010.

3. Charles Koch: 2010 Earnings: $5 Billion. Charles Koch’s investments in Wichita’s Koch Industries earned him the third place.

3. David Koch: 2010 Earnings: $5 Billion. Like his brother David Koch earned $5 billion as a hedge fund manager in 2010.

5. Michael Bloomberg: 2010 Earnings: $4 Billion. New York City’s mayor made an estimated $4 billion as a hedge fund manager without even charging a single penny for managing his hedge fund. Actually, he didn’t even manage the “hedge fund”.

Wow, George Soros, John Paulson, Carl Icahn, David Tepper and Jim Simons couldn’t even make the list this year. What a shame.