Forbes – In 2012, prominent hedge fund managers made headlines by successfully trading against JPMorgan Chase & Co., spending lots of money to influence the U.S. presidential election, and proclaiming that a nutritional supplements company was operating a pyramid scheme. While they made plenty of noise, very few of these traders managed to beat the U.S. stock market after charging their investors rich fees.
But in northern New Jersey, David Tepper had another extremely strong year. The founder and head of Appaloosa Management guided his flagship hedge fund to net returns of nearly 30%. Tepper personally made an estimated $2.2 billion in 2012, topping Forbes’ list of the 40 highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders.
