How John Paulson Became a Billionaire With One Trade

John Paulson made Wall Street's most lucrative trade of all time. One of our investors called me and he said John I just got the monthly results. I think there was a mistake. It was no mistake. Paulson's bet on the collapse of some prime mortgages in 2007 earned his firm 15 billion dollars. The largest one year payout in the history of financial markets. It's kind of like finding a needle in a haystack. Paulson's 2007 performance rocketed him to the ranks of superstar managers. At its peak his firm managed thirty eight billion dollars making it one of the largest hedge funds in the world. It opened up a lot of doors and became very interested in terms of the people that I met. Paulson has yet to repeat the success that made his fortune. Recently he joined the list of industry legends to quit the hedge fund business converting his fund into a family office. Personally I never really liked the business side of the business. I did like the investing side. He's also enjoyed giving away his fortune. He pledged 400 million dollars to Harvard University and donated 100 million dollars to the Central Park Conservancy. I wanted to give back to the institutions generally that were important to me.