[Photo:  James Simons, YouTube]

By Howard Haykin

Last year was difficult for hedge fund investors, with fair-to-middling results and significant redemptions. Yet, some hedge fund managers ‘managed’ to take down large paychecks for themselves - though it should be noted that, for most managers, the "earnings" figures include the appreciated returns on their own capital in the funds.

According to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine, the nation’s top 25 hedge fund managers earned a collective $11 billion for 2016, even though nearly half of them underperformed the S&P 500 Index - although it's nearly half of what the top 25 managers earned 3 years ago, when they pulled down $21.2 billion. It should be noted that much of their 'earnings' 

Here’s the Top 10 money earners, according to Alpha: 

1.  James Simons,  Renaissance Technologies  .....  $1.6 billion
2.  Ray Dalio,  Bridgewater Associates  .....  $1.4 billion
3.  John Overdeck,  Two Sigma  .....  $750 million
4.  David Siegel,  Two Sigma  .....  $750 million
5.  David Tepper,  Appaloosa Management  .....  $700 million
6.  Kenneth Griffin,  Citadel  .....  $600 million
7.  Paul Singer,  Elliott Management Corp.  .....  $590 million
8.  Michael Hintze,  CQS  .....  $450 million
9.  David Shaw,  DE Shaw Group  .....  $415 million
10.  Israel Englander,  Millennium Management  .....  $410 million

Among those sent from this year's Top 25 were Pershing Square's Bill Ackman (who stumbled on Valeant Pharma) and Paulson & C).'s John Paulson (who had a 2nd consecutive year of double-digit losses).