KGO – Where is the money and power on Wall Street? A new survey reports that it is firmly in the hands of those who run hedge funds. How about an annual payday of $1.5 billion? According to a surveyby Alpha, a magazine published by the highly watched Institutional Investor, that’s just what James Simons, founder of Renaissance Technologies, made in 2005. His flagship Medallion Fund, with $5.3billion invested, returned 29.5 percent, net of fees.<\/p>\n
Hedge funds are lightly regulated funds that attract billions of dollars from institutions and millionaire private investors. Those funds favor nontraditional investments: They short stocks, put money into commodities and play currency markets. And until recently, the payoff has been huge.<\/p>\n
According to Alpha, to make the list of top 25 hedge fund earners last year, hedge fund managers had to “take home” at least $130 million. Because of a tie, there were 26 hedge fund managers who made $130 million or more.<\/p>\n
No. 2 on Alpha’s list after Simons is the venerable T. Boone Pickens, the 78-year-old oilman. His 2005 earnings: $1.4 billion. No. 3 was legendary fund manager George Soros at $840 million.<\/p>\n