The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History
The Reformed Broker (Free subscription) | yesterday
John Paulson of Paulson & Co, the legendary hedge fund manager who made tens of billions betting on the mortgage crisis between 2007 to 2009, likes gold. He really likes it. He likes gold more than a friend. To most market participants, this is not news, but here’s something you probably didn’t know: Paulson owns more [...]
The Business Insider (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Before his huge bet on the subprime mortgage meltdown and before Greg Zuckerman wrote "The Greatest Trade Ever", John Paulson was a guy with little to no respect in the hedge fund world. Although he was rich, he was mainly known as a negative, unhappy guy. Over at NYMag , Hugo Lingren points to research showing that the more negative you are, the better trader you'll be. To wit: He became...
Deal Junkie (Free subscription) | yesterday
Mostly hedge funds, that bought GGP debt and equities at significantly distressed levels. According to FT : Hedge funds and other investors now stand to make billions of dollars from their holdings in bankrupt US mall owner General Growth Properties, underscoring the extent of the recent rebound in financial markets, people familiar with the matter say. Among the biggest potential winners is William...
Hedge Fund Jobs (Free subscription) | yesterday
Hedge Funds Bank Capital Banks Raise 40% of Capital From Hedge Funds This Year Banks have been looking to anyone for capital to overcome the credit crisis and apparently hedge funds have been one of the largest rescuers. A recent report estimates that hedge funds account for 40% of the capital raised by American and European banks this year, allowing the struggling banks to meet government capital...
DealBreaker (Free subscription) | yesterday
Yesterday it was suggested that one of the reasons John Paulson was able to make the leap from run of the mill rich guy/peasant by hedge fund manager standards to John motherfucking Paulson! was that he "became a grump." In earlier times, he was known for his loft parties in SoHo, and as he approached the trillion dollar pay-days, began to do things like ream employees out for overusing...
The Business Insider (Free subscription) | yesterday
The big mistake Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis made when buying Merrill Lynch, in our opinion, was paying tens of billions of dollars for a firm that would have been worth nothing a few days later. Had Lewis waited, he could likely have gotten the firm for next to nothing, thus saving his shareholders the massive dilution that has crippled Bank of America's stock in the year since the deal. Greg Farrell...
The Business Insider (Free subscription) | yesterday
S&P is out with a new look at the health of the banking system that gets beyond traditional metrics of capitalization and leverage. The Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports : Every single bank in Japan, the US, Germany, Spain, and Italy included in S&P's list of 45 global lenders fails the 8pc safety level under the agency's risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio. Most fall woefully short....
DealBook (Free subscription) | yesterday
Did John Paulson's metamorphosis from a fairly sociable individual into a grump help him transform his career from relatively lackluster to very successful?
DealBreaker (Free subscription) | 11/24/2009
$$$ Accused Ponzi schemer Rothstein signed the letter : "Ciao ciao, Money never sleeps motherfucker :-)" [Law.com] $$$ Mr. Meehan asked him, "Danny, are you going to break it off with Janie?" He says Mr. Pang replied, " No problem. I can get married and still have a girlfriend .'" $$$ John Paulson donates $5 million to Southampton Hospital [Crain's] $$$ Plan is revived...
The Business Insider (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Reigning hedge fund king John Paulson is donating $5 million to Southampton Hospital. Paulson's $5 million donation, the largest the hospital has ever received, will fund the Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Department. The new emergency room will come with a few perks: a centralized trauma nurse's station and triage area, a "fast track" area for less acute illnesses, and separate weather-protected...
PR News Wire (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y., Nov. 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Southampton Hospital announced today that Jenny and John Paulson have donated $5 million to fund a new Emergency Department. The gift is the largest in the Hospital's history and will enable the Hospital to almost double the existing space and greatly expand its delivery of emergency care to residents and visitors of the South Fork of Long Island....
Hedge Fund Jobs (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Hedge Funds Gold Update Big Hedge Funds Investing More and More in Gold Earlier this year we reported the trend of hedge funds investing in gold (see this story ). Hedge funds are concerned that government efforts to stabilize the economy will have a weakening effect on U.S. and European currencies. In economic uncertainty, gold is often seen as a safe and profitable investment. John Paulson is preparing...
Abnormal Returns (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Are banks blind to the risks inherent in sovereign debt? (FT also Capital Spectator) What exactly is a good Sharpe ratio for a commodity trading advisor? (World Beta) Did John Paulson succeed due in part to his “antisocial behavior”? (NYMag) Understatement: agency mortgage-backed securities are rich. (EconomPic Data) Realized volatility has once again caught up with the VIX. (VIX [...]
cryptogon.com (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Via: Telegraph: Hedge fund manager John Paulson plans to invest as much as $250m (£149m) of his $6bn personal fortune in a new gold fund he is in the process of establishing. Mr Paulson, best known for making $3.7bn from bets on the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market, is believed to have told investors that [...]
SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 11/23/2009
Amit Shah submits: Simple Investment Thesis: pre-provision pre-tax earnings and normalized earnings power have NEVER been higher, banks are not paying dividends so tangible book value is increasing rapidly, and capital ratios are higher than ever in an improving economic environment. Wells Fargo's ( WFC ) stock price is the same as pre-Wachovia despite a huge increase in earning assets relative to...
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