Top priority on Wall Street is adding quantifiable value to your employer.
The most important contribution financiers bring to their firm is revenue. But value is also added by good management and presenting a positive image to the public.
So in judging Wall Street's Most Valuable Players, we looked at the people on Wall Street who bring the most total value to their firm in those three areas: revenue, good management, and positive press coverage.
The decision process
First we asked you, our readers, to nominate the financiers who matter the most at their firm. From a list of over 150 players in private equity, asset management, and investment banking, we then narrowed the list down to 100 and asked you to rank each of them on a scale from (1) "empty suit" to (5) "extremely valuable."
A clear winner emerged, and so did the 50 most valuable players on Wall Street. Their firms would be lost without them. Without further ado, we proudly present the 50 MVPs on Wall Street.
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Complete Coverage
John Paulson
CEO, Paulson & Co
Why he's on the list: John Paulson was the clear winner in our poll. In the past year, his gold-denominated fund (he was the first hedge fund manager to launch such a fund) returned 35% in 2010. In total, his funds produced over $8.4 billion of gross gains (before fees) for investors in 2010. Also notable is that under Paulson, Brad Rosenberg traded over $100 billion in fixed income securities in 2010. Unfortunately, his biggest fund, Advantage, is down a bit (-1.2%) this year. But other funds are up, like Credit Opportunities (up 7.8% YTD) and the Recovery fund (up 5.7% YTD).
Fun Fact: On April 13th and 14th, he was in Vegas for the Advantage Fund's investor conference. Harrah's CEO and MGM's CEO spoke. Evening activities: Cirque du Soliel. Day activities: a golf outing. He's holding a mid-year investor conference in Paris from June 7-8. Also, Paulson is the first (and so far he's the only) finance guy to get a shout-out on 30 Rock.
Quote: "There are serious uncertainties about the exit strategy of the Fed. I'd be very surprised if there was a third round of QE." - Paulson, April 2011
George Soros
Founder and Chairman, Soros Fund Management
Why he's on the list: George Soros has been rampantly pushing for a new global economy this year and, bearish as he is on the dollar, he believes it will no longer be the world's reserve currency. In line with his vision of the future is a greener economy and the Soros Fund recently partnered with Silver Lake Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a new clean energy fund that invests in particular in “clean tech” businesses, companies that use technology to improve energy efficiency.
Fun Fact: According to Glenn Beck, he is public enemy #1.
Quote: "I think we are now in a period of great confusion because when financial markets were globalized then that globalization was connected with deregulation and that spread like wildfire like a virus because once the major countries were liberalized then capital would go to the countries where it was not regulated and not taxed. And as a result the other countries had to follow suit. But that was a false idea that markets correct their own excesses and you can really allow markets to operate without regulation." - Soros, April 2011
Ray Dalio
CEO, Bridgewater
Why he's on the list: Ray Dalio manages the biggest hedge fund in the world, with $86 billion under management. Behind John Paulson, Dalio brought home the most money in 2010 because of he generated such great returns. Bridgewater put up its best numbers in its 36-year history.
Fun Fact: Dalio practices Transcendental Meditation and he has built into everyday office life at Bridgewater.
Quote: "The first stock I bought was a company called Northeast Airlines and the only reason I bought it was that it was the only company I heard of that was trading for less than $5 per share, so I could buy more shares, which I figured was a good thing. It went up a lot. It was about to go broke but another company acquired it, so it tripled." -Dalio on the first stock he every bought when he was 12 years old.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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