Forbes Billionaire List: Hedge Fund Managers That Made The Cut

Forbes is out with their annual list of billionaires and we're here to highlight the various hedge fund managers on the list. In the past, we'd also posted up last year's Forbes billionaire list if you wanted to compare between them.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim tops the list this time around, displacing Bill Gates from his previous perch. Slim's fortune now sits at $53.5 billion, up $18.5 billion from the year prior. Bill Gates increased his wealth by $13 billion to bring his total to $53 billion. Warren Buffett's fortune grew $10 billion, up to $47 billion now. We've covered Slim a few times on the site before, most notably for his investment in the New York Times (NYT). And of course we've detailed Warren Buffett's actions countless times on the blog, most notably with Buffett's portfolio and his recommended reading list. As for Gates, we'd posted his 2010 annual letter for those interested.

Here's the group of prominent hedgies that landed on Forbes' esteemed billionaire list with their rankings, respective fortunes, and links to our coverage of each manager:

1. Carlos Slim ~ $53.5b
2. Bill Gates ~ $53b
3. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway ~ $47b
35. George Soros of Soros Fund Management ~ $14b
45. John Paulson of Paulson & Co ~ $12b
59. Carl Icahn of Icahn Partners ~ $10.5b
80. Jim Simons of RenTec ~ $8.5b
113. Steven Cohen of SAC Capital ~ $6.4b
171. Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone Group ~ $4.7b
212. Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates ~ $4.0b
212. Daniel, Dirk & Robert Ziff of Och-Ziff ~ $4.0b
212. John Arnold of Centaurus Energy ~ $4.0b
258. Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates ~ $3.5b
258. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management ~ $3.5b
287. Daniel Och of Och-Ziff ~ $3.3b
297. Paul Tudor Jones of Tudor Investment Corp ~ $3.2b
316. Eddie Lampert of RBS Partners ~ $3.0b
354. Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital ~ $2.8b
374. David Shaw of DE Shaw Group ~ $2.5b
437. Julian Robertson of Tiger Management ~ $2.2b
488. Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners ~ $2.0b
488. Ken Griffin of Citadel Investment Group ~ $2.0b
488. Bill Gross of PIMCO ~ $2.0b
556. Alan Howard of Brevan Howard ~ $1.8b
582. Izzy Englander of Millennium Partners ~ $1.7b
582. Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway ~ $1.7b
655. Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital ~ $1.5b
655. Louis Bacon of Moore Capital Management ~ $1.5b
655. Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors ~ $1.5b
721. Marc Lasry of Avenue Capital ~ $1.4b
773. Richard Chilton of Chilton Investments ~ $1.3b
773. Glenn Dubin of Highbridge Capital ~ $1.3b
828. Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital ~ $1.2b
880. Nelson Peltz of Trian Partners ~ $1.1b
880. T. Boone Pickens of BP Capital ~ $1.1b
880. Henry Swieca of Highbridge Capital ~ $1.1b

On a year over year basis, Stephen Cohen increased his wealth by $900 million, while RenTec's Jim Simons boosted his fortune by $0.5b. Tiger Management's legendary fund manager Julian Robertson saw a $900 million increase in his net worth as well. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management saw an impressive increase as he gained $2.3 billion in one year's time as his hedge fund's bet on financials paid off handsomely. Besting Tepper though was John Paulson. The subprime maestro doubled his fortune from $6 billion last year to $12 billion this year as his impressive run continued. Overall though, the rich get richer. You can view Forbes' full list of billionaires here as well as Forbes' in-depth look here.

For more rankings in hedge fund land, head to the breakdown of the world's largest hedge funds, as well as last year's billionaires list.

Carlos Slim Discloses 16.21% Stake in New York Times (NYT)

Amongst all the reports that Carlos Slim's companies were going to give the New York Times (NYT) $250 million at (crazy) 14% interest, we finally get a raw number as to his position in the company. In a 13G filed with the SEC, Carlos Slim has disclosed a 16.21% stake in NYT with 25,754,000 shares of class A stock.

This adds to his investment arsenal of a 17.8% stake in Saks, and a 7.64% stake in Bronco Drilling, among other things.

Carlos Slim is a well-known Mexican businessman who amassed his wealth through telecom. He is known for his association with America Movil (AMX), Telcel, and Telefonos de Mexico (TMX) and was the second richest man in the world as of 2008. Slim has been busy in the markets recently.

Taken from Google Finance,

The NYT is "is a diversified media company, including newspapers, Internet businesses, television and radio stations, and investments in paper mills and other investments."

Disclosure: market folly was short NYT at the time of writing. Holdings can change at any time.

Carlos Slim Discloses 17.8% Stake in Saks (SKS) - 13G Filing

In a 13G filed with the SEC, Carlos Slim has disclosed he has a 18% stake in Saks (SKS). Carlos has upped his stake from his previous 10.9% stake. Saks (SKS) responded to this action by essentially adopting a poison pill where a penalty is established for anyone who accumulates a 20% stake in the company without approval from the Board. Should be interesting to see how this plays out, seeing how Carlos is already close to that threshold.

Carlos Slim is a well-known Mexican businessman who amassed his wealth through telecom. He is known for his association with America Movil (AMX), Telcel, and Telefonos de Mexico (TMX) and was the second richest man in the world as of 2008. Slim has been busy in the markets recently. As we noted earlier, Carlos Slim had also taken a stake in Bronco Drilling (BRNC), among other actions.

Taken from Google Finance, "Saks Incorporated operates Saks Fifth Avenue (SFA), Off Fifth and Club Libby Lu (CLL). Previously, the Company also operated Saks Department Store Group (SDSG), which consisted of Proffitt’s and McRae’s (Proffitt’s) (sold to Belk, Inc. (Belk) in July 2005), the Northern Department Store Group (NDSG) (operated under the nameplates of Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Herberger’s and Younkers, and sold to The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (Bon-Ton) in March 2006), and Parisian (sold to Belk in October 2006). SFA stores are principally freestanding stores in exclusive shopping destinations or anchor stores in upscale regional malls, and the stores typically offer an assortment of luxury apparel, shoes, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics and gifts."

Carlos Slim Shows Stake in Bronco Drilling (BRNC) - 13G Filing

In a 13G filed with the SEC recently, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim has disclosed a 7.64% ownership stake in Bronco Drilling (BRNC). He now owns 2,200,000 shares of the company.

Carlos Slim is a well-known Mexican businessman who amassed his wealth through telecom. He is known for his association with America Movil (AMX), Telcel, and Telefonos de Mexico (TMX) and was the second richest man in the world as of 2008.

Taken from Google Finance, Bronco Drilling "provides contract land drilling and workover services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. As of February 29, 2008, the Company owned a fleet of 56 land drilling rigs, of which 45 were marketed and 11 were held in inventory. Bronco also owned a fleet of 59 workover rigs, of which 49 were operating and 10 were in the process of being manufactured. The Company also owned a fleet of 70 trucks used to transport its rigs."

Carlos joins the ranks of many other investors that have taken advantage of the market volatility to increase/establish stakes in companies. Other recent action includes hedge fund Jana Partners taking a stake in Convergys (CVG), Blue Ridge Capital increasing their stake in Millipore (MIL), and Tremblant Capital establishing a stake in Advanced Medical Optics (EYE), among others.