The craziest of the crazy money washing round New York and London today must be in hedge funds, even despite the recent market downturn. If hedge funds were a country, they would be the eighth largest in the world. There are more than 8,000 worldwide worth an estimated $2 trillion. In April, Institutional Investor magazine noted that if Michael Dell and Bill Gates were starting out today, 'the chances are that these legendary empire builders would be running their own hedge funds, the best bet for making the biggest bucks the fastest in the post-industrial world'. It went on to observe that last year three hedge-fund titans each took home well over $1bn; the top 25 earners earned a total of more than $14bn, equivalent to the GDP of Jordan or Uruguay. Their average earnings were $570m - compared with some $30m for the highest-paid CEOs of the top 500 US corporations.That's a hell of a lot of cash, and it makes you wonder what the men are like who earn it and what kind of lifestyles thes...
