John Paulson Net Worth & Biography

John Paulson is an American businessman, hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and investor, who happens to be widely recognized as the founder of the New York-headquartered investment firm Paulson & Co. He had inherited business intelligence from his own father, who served as the CFO of a local company Ruder Finn. As soon as he graduated from high school Paulson started his import-export business, which did not succeed, unfortunately. He knew what his target was and nothing would stop him from making his dreams a reality. He joined New York University to study business, and later resumed studies at Harvard Business School from which he graduated with an MBA. In 1980, he joined Boston Consulting Group where he worked as a consultant before moving on to work in the mergers and acquisitions departments of a number of companies, before eventually setting up his own investment firm called Paulson & Co. in the year 1994. In 2010, Mr. Paulson set a hedge fund record by earning the sum of $5 billion in a single year. He is widely regarded as one of America’s most successful hedge fund managers. Find more details on the topic in the article below.

Early Life: Childhood, Education

He was born in 1955 in New York, the United States to a Jewish mother from Europe and an Ecuadorian father. He has an older sister named Theodora Bar-El. She is an Israeli biologist.

Paul spent his early years in Queens, New York, with his three siblings, and enrolled in local public schools. He proved his brilliance and academic success from an early age and left no doubt that he would go on to accomplish many great things in the future.

In 1973 he started studying at New York University’s College of Business and Public Administration. He graduated with a degree in Finance before Joining Harvard Business School where he received a master of Business Administration in 1980.

Professional Life: Early Career, Paulson & Co.

The intelligent Harvard graduate proved to be a risk-taker early on. In the 1970s, he took a break from his studies and went to Ecuador for entrepreneurial purposes. While in Quito, he started his earliest business of exporting children’s clothing to stores back in New York. Soon after he realized that there wasn’t enough profit in the business, he returned to New York University to continue his studies. After earning his MBA in 1980, he joined the consulting firm BCG, but left to start a profession on Wall Street. He worked for Gruss Partners, Odyssey Partners, and Bear Sterns before starting his own fund, Paulson & Co., in 1994.

Established in the year 1994 with one employee and $2 million, Paulson and Co. manage nearly $20 billion today. At its peak, the company had $38 billion under management. It focuses on event-driven arbitrage schemes including but not limited to M&A arbitrage, bankruptcy reorganization, distress credit, and structured credit.

Mr. Paulson rose to fame in 2007 during the financial crisis at the period. In 2007 alone, his firm, after more than a few bets and shorts against the housing market, recorded $15 billion in profit. Despite its success during the financial crisis, the firm went through turbulent times as well.

As of this, Paulson & Co. has over 200 employees in New York, Hong Kong, and London, and records assets worth more than $20 billion under management.

Personal Life: Wife, Kids, Private Interests

In 2000, John Paulson tied the knots with Jenny Zaharia in Southampton, New York, in an Episcopalian ceremony. Jenny is a Romanian immigrant. They have two daughters, Danielle and Giselle, and mostly reside in their lavish $14.7 million Upper East Side townhouse on East 86th Street. The businessman also has an estate in Southampton that he bought for $41 million in 2008, in addition to the home he owns in Aspen which he purchased in 2010 for $24.5 million.

On Sep. 21, 2021, Paulson filed for divorce from his wife. He later withdrew his divorce action so that both of them can negotiate out of court and privately from the media. He avoids the media and rarely gives television interviews.

John Paulson Net Worth: Salary, Income Sources, Real Estate

At this moment, there’s nothing available on his wages, bonuses, compensation, etc. He makes his wealth from his occupation as an entrepreneur who has found remarkable success as a dedicated hedge fund manager.

John Paulson’s net worth is $5 billion. He manages the hedge fund, Paulson & Co. which manages nearly $10 billion worth of assets after managing as much as $18 billion at its peak.

Together with his wife, he owns a luxurious $14.7 million Upper East Side mansion, an estate in Southampton that he bought for $41 million, and a home in Aspen which was purchased for $24.5 million.