market folly

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.