New York Magazine had a piece in 2007 that sorted the hedge-fund elites into categories like “brainiacs” (like James Simon and Jim Chanos) and “bad boys” (like Daniel Loeb).

The category “Top dogs” (that is, the very best hedgies) includes SAC Capital Advisers/Steven Cohen ($12 b); Cerberus Capital/Stephen Feinberg ($19.5 b); Appaloosa Mgt/David Tepper ($5.3 b); ESL/Eddie Lampert ($18 b); Citadel Investment Group/Kenneth Griffin ($13.5 b); Manhattan/Michael Novogratz ($4.6b).

[Note: the figures were as of 2007].

This is the short list of the managers whom the industry thinks are top dogs, and of these six, one (Feinberg) is directly connected to Drexel Burnham Lambert, convicted junk bond financier Michael Milken’s bank; another (Cohen) is connected indirectly to Milken through Gruntal & Co.; and three are alumni of Goldman Sachs(Tepper, Lampert, Novogratz).

Five out of six and that’s just a cursory examination. I didn’t do anything more than google to get that.

And the financial press thinks there are no Sith Lords?

A more conventional ranking is found below:

Top hedge fund managers in 2008 (with any actual or potential Sith Lords highlighted).

(Rank, Name, Firm Name, 2008 Earnings; sorted by earnings; source: Institutional Investor – April 2009 Edition)

1. James Simons, Renaissance Technologies Corp., $2.5 billion.

[I haven’t highlighted Simons, who’s widely respected for his mathematical talents, but I should note that questions have been raised recently about the performance of one his funds, as well as about his managemetn fees (5% versus industry 2%) and cut from profits (35% versus industry 20%). One writer even drops the dreaded name of Madoff],

2. John Paulson, Paulson & Co., $2 billion. (Of the big banks, Paulson owns $2.2 billion shares in Bank of America; over a billion dollars in Citigroup; has sold all his Goldman shares; and has $2 million shares in J P Morgan, as of  November 2009)

3. John Arnold, Centaurus Energy, $1.5 billion.
4. George Soros, Soros Fund Management, $1.1 billion.
5. Raymond Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, $780 million.
6. Bruce Kovner, Caxton Associates, $640 million.
7. David Shaw, D.E. Shaw & Co., $275 million.
8. Stanley Druckenmiller, Duquesne Capital Management, $260 million.
9. (tie), David Harding, Winton Capital Management, $250 million.
9. (tie), Alan Howard, Brevan Howard Asset Management, $250 million.
9. (tie), John Taylor Jr., FX Concepts, $250 million.
12. James Chanos, Kynikos Associates, $225 million.
13. Michael Platt, BlueCrest Capital Management, $210 million.
14. Roy Niederhoffer, R.G. Niederhoffer Capital Management, $200 million.
15. John Horseman, Horseman Capital Management, $180 million.
16. Paul Touradji, Touradji Capital Management, $140 million.
17. Henry Laufer, Renaissance Technologies Corp., $125 million.
18. Kenneth Tropin, Graham Capital Management, $120 million.
19. (tie), Pierre Andurand, BlueGold Capital Management, $90 million.
19. (tie), Dennis Crema, BlueGold Capital Management, $90 million.
19. (tie), Christopher Rokos, Brevan Howard Asset Management, $90 million.
22. (tie), Christian Baha, Superfund, $85 million.
22. (tie), Christian Levett, Clive Capital, $85 million.
24. William Dunn, Dunn Capital Management, $80 million.
25. Andrew Hoine, Paulson & Co., $75 million.

For comparison:

These were the top earners in 2007

(Times Online, citing Alpha Magazine):

1. John Paulson, Paulson & Co., $3.7 billion

2. George Soros, Soros Fund Management, $2.9 billion

3.  James Simons, Renaissance Technologies Corp., $2.8 billion

4.  Philip Falcone, Harbinger Capital Partners, $1.7 billion

5.  Kenneth Griffin, Citadel Investment Group, $1.5 billion

6.  Steven Cohen, SAC Capital Advisors, $900 million

7.  Timothy Barakett, Atticus Capital, $750 million

8.  Stephen Mandel Jr., Lone Pine Capital, $710 million

9.  John Griffin, Blue Ridge Capital, $625 million

10. O. Andreas Halvorsen, Viking Global Investors, $520 million

Note that performance and managers earnings don’t track each other.

Here are the top 2007 Hedge Fund performers (according to Barron’s):

1. Hedge Fund: Passport II Global
Company: Passport Capital
2007 Return: 219.44%

2. Hedge Fund: Dynamic Power
Company: Goodman & Company
2007 Return: 38.60%

3. Hedge Fund: Paulson Enhanced
Company: Paulson & Co.
2007 Return: 129.13%

4. Hedge Fund: Balestra Capital Partners
Company: Balestra Capital
2007 Return: 199.14%

5. Hedge Fund: Renaissance Technologies Medallion Fund
Company: Renaissance Technologies
2007 Return: 73.70%

6. Hedge Fund: Metage Special Emerging Market
Company: HIG Capital
2007 Return: 61.65%

7. Hedge Fund: Atticus European
Company: Atticus Management
2007 Return: 27.86%

8. Hedge Fund: Harbinger Capital Partners Flagship Fund
Company: Harbinger Capital Partners
2007 Return: 116.10%

9. Hedge Fund: The Children’s Investment Fund
Company: The Children’s Investment Fund Management
2007 Return: 37.59%

10. Hedge Fund: Aisling Analytics Pte Ltd Merchant Commodity Fund
Company: Aisling Analytics Pte
2007 Return: 36.91%

11. Hedge Fund: Blackhorse Emerging Enterprises Fund
Company: Blackhorse Asset Mangement Pte.
2007 Return: 26.16%

12. Hedge Fund: Sabre Fund
Company: Mathews Capital Partners
2007 Return: 105.16%

13. Hedge Fund: Global Emerging Markets Fund (USD)
Company: Nevsky Capital
2007 Return: 40.72%

14. Hedge Fund: Long-Term Investment Fund (SIA) (USD)
Company: Strategic Investment Advisors
2007 Return: 46.20%

15. Hedge Fund: Zweig-DiMenna International
Company: Zweig-DiMenna International Managers
2007 Return: 79.10%

16. Hedge Fund: Polar Capital Paragon Absolute Return Fund (GBP)
Company: Polar Capital Partners
2007 Return: 15.76%

17. Hedge Fund: Eastern Advisors
Company: Eastern Advisors
2007 Return: 91.60%

18. Hedge Fund: Paulson Advantage
Company: Paulson & Co.
2007 Return: 94.77%

19. Hedge Fund: Value Partners Classic Fund
Company: Value Partners
2007 Return: 41.10%

20. Hedge Fund: SR Global Fund Class C – International Portfolio
Company: Sloane Robinson
2007 Return: 40.70%

21. Hedge Fund: Libra Fund
Company: Libra Advisors
2007 Return: 40.81%

22. Hedge Fund: Horseman Global Fund – Class A (USD)
Company: Horseman Capital Management
2007 Return: 32.93%

23. Hedge Fund: Nevsky Fund Limited – Class A (USD)
Company: Nevsky Capital
2007 Return: 29.77%

24. Hedge Fund: Blenheim Fund
Company: Blenheim Capital Management
2007 Return: 16.49%

25. Hedge Fund: SR Global Fund Class G – Emerging Mkts Portfolio
Company: Sloane Robinson
2007 Return: 33.80%