John Paulson

John Paulson
John Paulson
Born	John Alfred Paulson; December 14, 1955 (age 70); Queens, New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Hedge fund manager, investor
Years active	1980–present
Known for	Founder of Paulson & Co., profiting from the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis

John Alfred Paulson (born December 14, 1955) is a billionaire American hedge fund manager and the founder of Paulson & Co., an investment management firm based in New York that he established in 1994. He is widely regarded as a prominent figure within the financial industry.

Paulson amassed a substantial portion of his wealth in 2007 by strategically utilizing credit default swaps to short the U.S. subprime mortgage market, generating close to $4 billion and elevating his status from a relatively unknown investor to a renowned financial icon. In 2010, his earnings reached $4.9 billion. As of August 2025, Forbes valued his net worth at approximately $3.8 billion.

Early life and education

Born in Queens, New York City on December 14, 1955, Paulson was the third child among four siblings to Alfred G. Paulson (1924–2002) and Jacqueline (née Boklan, 1926–2018).

His father, originally named Alfredo Guillermo Paulsen, hailed from Ecuador and was of mixed heritage—his father was half French and half Norwegian, while his mother was Ecuadorian. Orphaned at age fifteen, Alfredo relocated to Los Angeles at sixteen. He served in Italy during World War II, where he sustained injuries, and later anglicized his surname from Paulsen to Paulson.

Jacqueline, John's mother, descended from Jewish immigrants who emigrated from Lithuania and Romania to New York City. She met Alfredo while attending UCLA, and after their marriage, they settled in New York City where Alfredo held positions at Arthur Andersen and subsequently served as CFO at the public relations agency Ruder Finn.

After initially leaving college to work in sales, John Paulson resumed his studies at NYU in 1976, demonstrating strong academic performance in business courses. He graduated as valedictorian with summa cum laude honors in finance from New York University's College of Business and Public Administration in 1978. Subsequently, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1980 as a George F. Baker Scholar—an honor awarded to the top five percent—supported by a Sidney J. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs scholarship.

Career

Paulson launched his professional journey at Boston Consulting Group in 1980, providing corporate advisory services before transitioning into investment roles on Wall Street. His career included tenures at Odyssey Partners alongside Leon Levy, followed by a position in mergers and acquisitions at Bear Stearns, and later becoming a general partner at Gruss Partners LP.

In 1994, he established the hedge fund Paulson & Co. with an initial capital of $2 million and a single employee, initially operating out of office space leased from Bear Stearns at 277 Park Avenue. The firm moved its headquarters to the intersection of 57th Street and Madison Avenue in 2001 and managed assets totaling $300 million by 2003.

Paulson & Co.’s investment approach centers on event-driven strategies—including mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and proxy battles—executing numerous transactions within these areas. A core tactic involves merger arbitrage: acquiring shares of target companies following acquisition announcements while shorting the stock of the acquiring company to capitalize on pricing discrepancies. For instance, Paulson supported Carl Icahn during Yahoo’s proxy contest in 2008.

In 2010, Paulson set a new record for hedge fund earnings by generating nearly $5 billion within a single year, largely through investments focused on gold. However, the following year saw setbacks due to losses on holdings such as Bank of America, Citigroup, and the embattled China-based Sino-Forest Corporation. His primary fund, the Paulson Advantage Fund, experienced significant declines during that period. Despite these challenges, Paulson continues to maintain substantial investments in gold.

Subprime mortgage crisis

Paulson rose to international prominence in 2007 by betting against the US housing market, predicting the subprime mortgage crisis and capitalizing on positions against mortgage-backed securities through credit default swaps. His firm generated billions in profits, with Paulson personally earning over $4 billion from these transactions.

He partnered with Goldman Sachs to inject liquidity into underperforming home loans across critical states. Together, they structured the Abacus 2007-AC1 investment product, which obscured Paulson's short exposure from investors. Although Paulson avoided legal charges by claiming he disclosed the associated risks, Goldman Sachs faced SEC allegations and agreed to a $550 million settlement—the largest fine imposed on a Wall Street firm at that time.

Political and economic views

From 2000 to 2010, Paulson donated a total of $140,000 to political candidates and committees, distributing 45% to Republicans, 16% to Democrats, and 36% to special interest groups, including former House Speaker John Boehner.

In 2008, Paulson co-wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggesting an alternative approach to the Treasury’s market stabilization strategy: utilizing Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to acquire senior preferred shares in distressed financial institutions instead of their lowest-quality assets.

During a congressional hearing that same year, Paulson defended the equity of low tax rates on long-term capital gains and carried interest. In a 2012 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, he criticized the Occupy Wall Street protests and pointed out New York’s elevated tax burdens, emphasizing that other regions such as Singapore actively compete to attract businesses like his.

Paulson contributed $1 million in 2011 to Mitt Romney’s Super PAC Restore Our Future and organized a fundraiser supporting Romney’s presidential bid in 2012.

At the 2014 Puerto Rico Investment Summit held in San Juan, Paulson expressed confidence in Puerto Rico’s potential to become the "Singapore of the Caribbean." Reports indicate he was investing in its municipal bonds and real estate sectors while also developing a private residence at a local resort.

Support for Donald Trump

Paulson attracted media attention by endorsing Donald Trump soon after Trump won the Republican nomination in 2016. He served as a senior economic advisor for Trump’s presidential campaign. Having previously sold the Doral Golf Resort & Spa to Trump in 2012, Paulson and his wife contributed $831,370 toward Trump’s 2020 campaign.

He has been a key fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 campaign. On April 6, 2024, the Trump campaign announced raising $50.5 million at an event hosted at Paulson’s Palm Beach home. Although Trump reportedly considered Paulson for the role of Secretary of the Treasury, the position ultimately went to Scott Bessent.

Wealth and philanthropy

From 2009 through 2011, Paulson made numerous notable philanthropic contributions, such as $15 million to the Center for Responsible Lending, $20 million to New York University Stern School of Business—where an auditorium bears his name—$5 million to the Southampton Hospital in Long Island, $15 million toward constructing a children's hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and £2.5 million to the London School of Economics to endow the John A. Paulson Chair in European Political Economy.

In October 2012, Paulson gave $100 million to the Central Park Conservancy, representing the largest single donation ever made to New York City's park system. By June 2015, he had donated $400 million to Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, marking Harvard’s most substantial gift and resulting in the school’s renaming. The subsequent month, he allocated $8.5 million to Success Academy Charter Schools to support the establishment of new middle schools in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant and Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhoods.

In 2022, New York University revealed a $100 million gift from Paulson designated for a new facility on its Washington Square Campus, named the John A. Paulson Center.

In 2024, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem honored Paulson with an honorary doctorate in recognition of his philanthropic efforts toward Israeli cultural and educational institutions. His donations include a $27 million pledge for the Paulson Bar-El Building dedicated to Computer Science and Engineering at Hebrew University. Additionally, he contributed to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art’s 90th anniversary celebrations in 2021 and supported the Jerusalem Campus for the Arts.

Personal life

Paulson wed Jenny Zaharia in 2000 during an Episcopalian ceremony held in Southampton, New York. Jenny, originally from Romania, immigrated to the United States following her brother George’s defection from Romania to Queens. The couple has two daughters and primarily resided in a 28,500-square-foot townhouse on the Upper East Side, purchased in 2004 for $14.7 million. Paulson also owned residences including a home in Aspen, Colorado, bought for $24.5 million in 2010, as well as an estate in Southampton acquired for $41 million in 2008.

In 2017, Paulson and his wife issued a letter to Manhattan’s Spence School threatening to withdraw their financial backing due to what they described as an “alarming pattern” of “anti-white indoctrination,” underscoring their commitment to merit-based achievement and academic excellence.

Paulson initiated divorce proceedings in September 2021 but later retracted them to pursue private negotiations. In 2022, Zaharia filed a lawsuit against Paulson seeking $1 billion in damages. By 2024, reports indicated that Paulson was engaged to clinical dietitian Alina de Almeida.

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