Posted on 12/22/2009 1:24:07 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
In this comeback year for investors, David Tepper may have scored one of the biggest paydays of all.
Mr. Tepper's hedge-fund firm has racked up about $7 billion of profit so far this year—with Mr. Tepper on track to earn more than $2.5 billion for himself, according to people familiar with the matter. That is among the largest one-year takes in recent years.
Behind the wins: a bet worth billions of dollars that America would avoid a repeat of the Great Depression.
Through February and March, Mr. Tepper scooped up beaten-down bank shares as many investors were running for the exits. Day after day, Mr. Tepper bought Bank of America Corp. shares, then trading below $3, and Citigroup Inc. preferred shares, when that stock was under $1. One of his investors insisted more carnage loomed. Friends who shared his bullish beliefs were wary of aping his moves amid speculation that the government was about to nationalize the big banks.
"I felt like I was alone," Mr. Tepper recalls. On some days, he says, "no one was even bidding."
The bets paid off. A resurgent market has helped Mr. Tepper's firm, Appaloosa Management, gain about 120% after the firm's fees, through early December. Thanks to those gains, Mr. Tepper, who specializes in the stocks and bonds of troubled companies, manages about $12 billion, a sum that makes Appaloosa one of the largest hedge funds in the world.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
H/T to the Drudge Report.
Good for him. He bet against immediate disaster and was right without manipulation.
I would like to know if he might be buying Gold Mining Stock.
David Tepper has purchased bonds backed partly by debt of 666 Fifth Ave. in New York.
“666”?? Just who is this David Tepper fellow?
Of course, some people will say the guy shouldn’t be allowed to make that much money, for whatever reason.
Not anybody from on here though.
Is the Politburo going to arbitrarily reduce his compensation?
Why don't we hear more about the evils of "Big Hedge"?
Agreed. He earned every penny. He took a big risk and could have lost his ass - instead he made a killing.
Obama’s pay czars will be paying a visit.
I think he should be allowed to make that much money...
I just cannot for the life of me understand what any one person could ever do with it...or even want it.
I guess it will five him some time to figure out how to pass a camel through the eye of a needle...
I certainly can't understand how anyone would be able to spend that much on himself, if that's his plan.
If it's not, a LOT of good could be done with that much money, in terms of helping others.
Is Pimco’s Bill Gross too powerful? - Feb. 20, 2009
Indeed, Pimco’s success stems from shrewd bets on government intervention.
“We looked for assets that we felt the government would eventually have to own or support.”
“We tried to move ahead of the government,” says Gross, “to purchase assets before we believe they will have to.”
http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/19/news/newsmakers/benner_gross.fortune/index.htm
If government is going to make poor choices, someone will always be there to capitalize on it.
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