By Stephen Taub
The world may still be coming out of the Great Recession, but for the richest hedge fund managers, 2009 was the best year ever. And it couldn't have happened without the carnage of 2008.
Altogether, the 25 top-earning hedge fund managers made a record $25.33 billion, beating the 2007 record of $22.3 billion. It was a huge comeback from 2008, when the heavyweights' earnings were more than cut in half, to about $11.6 billion.
AR: Absolute Return+Alpha's Rich List, our ninth annual ranking of the highest-earning hedge fund managers, is once again dominated by many of the old, familiar names that run some of the largest firms.
The No. 1 spot this year goes to the bravest: Appaloosa Management's David Tepper, who hasn't been on the list since 2007, earned $4 billion—a record sum. Tepper stepped in to buy bank stocks as early...