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Times may be tough for most folks, but not for the top moneymakers on Alpha magazine’s eighth annual ranking of the world’s highest-earning hedge fund managers. They took home, on average, an anything but average $464 million apiece in 2008. Four hedge fund managers took home more than $1 billion each. Altogether the 25 highest-earning hedge fund managers made $11.6 billion, making 2008 the third-best year on record since Alpha began compiling its exclusive ranking.
Alpha uses two components to calculate earnings: the managers’ shares of their firm’s performance and management fees, as well as gains on their own capital invested in their funds.
The index below is a guide to the profiles of this year’s top-earning managers. You may click on the bolded names to read the top 11 hedge fund managers' profiles on the Alpha website.
| Rank | Name | Firm Name | 2008 Earnings |
| 1 | James Simons | Renaissance Technologies Corp. | $2.5 billion |
| 2 | John Paulson | Paulson & Co. |