US Trader nets $5 billion profit last year

Hedge-fund manager John Paulson made a profit of more than $5 billion personally last year which is likely the largest single-year gain in investing history, says a media report.

Profit made by Paulson in 2010 exceeded $4 billion gain he made in 2007 by betting short against the subprime mortgages, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

However, some of the profits earned by Paulson are paper gains which may vanish if those investments go bad, the report said. Other gains came from selling investments and most of those are rolled back into their funds.

Paulson’s winning bets included investments in commodities, emerging-market companies, bank shares, and US Treasury bonds. Profits also came from the vast size of the assets managed by the Paulson hedge fund, Paulson & Co.

Advantage Plus, the largest hedge fund in Paulson’s $36 billion investment portfolio, grew 17 percent last year, the journal notes.

Paulson’s gains last year also included a performance fee of about $1 billion, the report said citing a person familiar with the matter.