John Paulson

John Paulson
Born
John Alfred Paulson

(1955-12-14) December 14, 1955
New York City, U.S.
EducationNew York University (BA)
Harvard University (MBA)
Known forFounder of Paulson & Co.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Jenny Zaharia
(m. 2000; sep. 2021)
Children3 daughters

John Alfred Paulson (born December 14, 1955) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager. He leads Paulson & Co., a New York–based investment management firm he founded in 1994. He has been called "one of the most prominent names in high finance".

He acquired much of his fortune in 2007 when he earned almost $4 billion and was transformed "from an obscure money manager into a financial legend" by using credit default swaps to effectively bet against the U.S. subprime mortgage lending market. In 2010, Paulson earned $4.9 billion. The Forbes real-time tracker estimated his net worth at $3 billion as of January 2023.