John Paulson
John Paulson is the founder and CEO of Paulson & Co., one of the world’s most significant hedge funds. He is well-known for having successfully bet against the mortgage market in 2008 and has become a household name worldwide. John Paulson is the founder and CEO of Paulson & Co., one of the world’s most significant hedge funds. He is well-known for having successfully bet against the mortgage market in 2008 and has become a household name worldwide.
In 2008, John took a position that was very risky for him to take because he was betting against a highly leveraged market. At that time, he was wrong about that. Still, he did not lose money by taking such a risk because he had good access to liquidity from his family company, Paulson & Co., which had made $2 billion on its portfolio over its lifetime. His father, David Paulson, was also involved in his father’s business, but it did not make him rich like John did when he started.
The reason why John did what he did is that at that time, there were several problems with the financial markets, such as banks were taking excessive risks with loans they extended to homeowners, investors were losing money on their investments, mortgage borrowers were defaulting on their loans, credit markets were being flooded with subprime mortgages and the Federal Reserve had been doing nothing to stem this mess. John Paulson was involved in cryptocurrency markets, where there is much speculation about virtual currencies’ prices.
During his free time, John enjoys long walks and a very active social life. He also loves to travel, especially in the U.S., where he is a New York Stock Exchange regular. He loves to go to clubs, especially in New York.