Billionaire John Paulson, who netted $20 billion from the 2008 'Big Short' crisis, quits the hedge fund world

• John Paulson has quit the hedge fund world to focus on turning his business into a family office investment firm, according to Bloomberg.
• "With one chapter closing, a new one is beginning for me and I look forward to continuing as an active participant in financial markets," he said in a letter to investors seen by the news agency.
• Paulson is famous for betting against the US housing market before the financial crisis and reaping huge returns, reportedly making a $20 billion profit.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Billionaire John Paulson is the latest hedge fund celebrity to walk away from the business, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

64-year-old Paulson will be converting his hedge fund, John Paulson & Co, into an investment firm solely meant for his family.

"The last 26 years of running an asset management firm have been thoroughly rewarding," the billionaire wrote in a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg. "Recent volatility notwithstanding, I am proud of our long-term returns."

Early last year, Business Insider reported Paulson was weighing whether to convert his hedge fund into a family office within the "next year or two."

He had said his own wealth made up 75% to 80% of the firm's assets.

Paulson & Co was founded in 1994 with a $2 million investment. The fund managed roughly $9 billion as of 2019.

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In a podcast appearance in early 2019, Paulson cited fellow hedge-fund managers George Soros and Stanley Druckenmiller as two investors who had moved on from wealth management to focus on their personal fortunes, and ones he could follow.

Paulson netted huge profits for his clients by making bets against the US housing market in early 2006, when he was 49 years old.

Between 2007 and 2008, that trade paid off spectacularly as he managed to net $20 billion in profits for clients and employees.

His own personal gains at the time stood at nearly $4 billion — one of the largest fortunes accumulated from a crisis in the history of financial markets.

"With one chapter closing, a new one is beginning for me and I look forward to continuing as an active participant in financial markets," Paulson wrote in his letter to investors.

Paulson is the latest investing superstar to quit the hedge fund business. Last year, Louis Bacon shut his flagship Moore Capital hedge fund to external investors.

David Tepper also turned his fund into a family office, although he said he planned to retain a few outside clients.

Leon Cooperman called "private equity" a scam and returned billions of client money to run his own family-focused firm.

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