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Paulson & Co.
John Paulson converted his hedge fund firm into a single-family office in 2020, managing a fortune built on the most famous trade in hedge fund history.
Paulson & Co.
Founded in 1994 as a hedge fund manager, Paulson & Co. made its name — and John Paulson’s personal fortune — through a massive bet against the U.S. housing market in 2007. The firm returned all outside capital in 2020, converting to a single-family office that manages Paulson’s wealth exclusively. The fortune also seeds the Paulson Family Foundation. The office invests across event-driven public equities, distressed credit, venture-stage private companies, and commercial real estate. Confirmed positions span an activist stake in a major gold producer and luxury hospitality assets in Puerto Rico: the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, and the La Concha Renaissance San Juan Resort. The real estate portfolio also includes the AIG office building in San Juan and residential holdings in Southampton, Aspen, and Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The investment posture blends contrarian public-market bets with hard-asset accumulation in tax-advantaged jurisdictions. Paulson remains the sole decision-maker. The firm operates from New York with no disclosed additional offices or professional headcount. Paulson sits on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, and the Partnership for New York City. In April 2024, Paulson hosted a $50 million fundraiser for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign at his Palm Beach home (per The New York Times, 2024). The structural differentiator is concentration risk taken to an extreme. Where most family offices institutionalize and diversify, Paulson & Co. runs like an extension of the founder’s personal conviction — one investment committee of one, with no fiduciary obligation to external LPs and no visible plan to build a professionalized investment team beyond the founder.
General information
Firm type
Single Family Office
Year founded
1994
AUM
~$4B (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Principals
John A. Paulson
President and Portfolio Manager
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Paulson & Co.?
John A. Paulson serves as President and Portfolio Manager with final authority over all investment decisions. The firm has not disclosed a formal investment committee or chief investment officer beyond Paulson himself. No outside clients or limited partners constrain his mandate since the 2020 conversion to a family office.
How did John Paulson generate the wealth this family office manages?
The wealth originates from Paulson’s management of event-driven hedge funds at Paulson & Co., most notably the 2007 bet against the U.S. subprime mortgage market. That trade, executed through credit default swaps, generated roughly $15 billion in profits for the firm and made Paulson personally a multi-billionaire. The firm returned all outside capital in 2020, leaving the converted family office to manage Paulson’s own assets.
What does the firm’s Puerto Rico real estate exposure include?
Paulson & Co. owns a portfolio of luxury hospitality and commercial properties in Puerto Rico, confirmed through property records and local reporting. Holdings include the St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, the La Concha Renaissance San Juan Resort, the AIG office building in San Juan, and residential developments at Harbour Lakes in Palmas del Mar. The concentration makes Puerto Rico the firm’s most visible physical asset base.
Does Paulson & Co. still run hedge fund strategies?
The firm converted from a registered investment adviser to a single-family office in 2020 and no longer manages outside capital. Its current investment activity spans public equities, private credit, distressed debt, and venture-stage opportunities, but all investments are made on Paulson’s own balance sheet. No external fund vehicles are known to be actively marketed.
What is the firm’s relationship with Donald Trump?
John Paulson is a major political donor to Donald Trump, having hosted a $50 million fundraiser for the 2024 presidential campaign at his Palm Beach residence. Paulson’s name was circulated in media as a potential Treasury Secretary contender in a second Trump administration. The relationship is characterized by direct financial support and personal proximity to Trump’s political operation.
Does John Paulson maintain any philanthropic structures?
The Paulson Family Foundation serves as the primary philanthropic vehicle. Among known charitable commitments, Paulson name-d a building at Hebrew University in honor of his sister Theodora Bar-El. The family office does not publicly disclose grantmaking levels or programmatic priorities.
Where is the firm’s portfolio geographically concentrated?
Confirmed geographic exposure includes North America and Europe. Within North America, the visible concentration is in Puerto Rico — where Paulson owns multiple luxury hotels and commercial buildings — followed by residential holdings in New York, Southampton, and Aspen. The Donlin Gold project in Alaska represents a natural-resource position. No significant real-asset footprint outside the United States has been disclosed.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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