The article about his estranged friend Jeff Greene (who heard his pitch and made the same trades on his own) is good for color:<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120036270913390155.html?mod=hps_us_pageone" rel="nofollow">http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120036270913390155.html?mod=...</a><p>"He bought three jets, most recently a Gulfstream. Though he paid just $2 million for an older model, "I certainly could afford" a $50 million one, he says. He adds, in a telephone interview from his 145-foot yacht: "I tend to be pretty conservative in the way I spend money.""
<i>"Also key: Mr. Paulson didn't turn bearish too early. Some close students of the housing market did just that, investing for a downturn years ago -- only to suffer such painful losses waiting for a collapse that they finally unwound their bearish bets. Mr. Paulson, whose investment specialty lay elsewhere, turned his attention to the housing market more recently, and got bearish at just about the right time."</i><p>Interesting that this article was posted by "blackswan" -- this could be a case study in <i>Fooled by Randomness</i>.<p>Six months earlier or later, and this guy might well have busted; I don't think we would be reading about him.
<i>"He faced skepticism from other big investors. At the same time, fearing imitators, he used software that blocked fund investors from forwarding his emails."</i><p>I'm curious as to what software can prevent people from forwarding your emails...
He better not believe he can do it again, like this guy did: <a href="http://hedgefund.blogspot.com/2006/09/amaranth-and-brian-hunter.html" rel="nofollow">http://hedgefund.blogspot.com/2006/09/amaranth-and-brian-hun...</a>
Did any one notice that he hired Greenspan? The guy who fueled the housing bubble by lowering interest rates down to 1% the foolishness that made it possible for Paulson to make his billions.
Lots of people short, lots of people long. Nothing special about it. I made a pile of money on Countrywide a few days ago. Am I a genius?<p>The only distinction of a fund manager is that they slimed their way into using other people's money.