The Rise of Said Haidar: A Lesser-Known Hedge Fund Boss with a 193 Percent Return

Posted: 1 year, 1 month ago // Feb. 17, 2023 3:37 p.m. UTC

Said Haidar, the founder of Haidar Capital Management, has been named as one of the top-earning hedge fund managers of 2022. According to Bloomberg, Haidar made $859 million last year, putting him in sixth place on the annual ranking. Haidar's success is due to his conviction that inflation was set to explode globally, which led him to bet big that interest rates would climb rapidly. The hedge fund's 193% return for investors was a result of the surge in inflation that led to the most aggressive central bank tightening campaign in a generation.

Haidar's success is a reflection of the resurgence in the hedge fund world's old guard, as macro specialists, quants, and multi-strategy funds have seen big gains in the past year. However, other hedge fund managers who have made big bets on tech stocks and private startups have posted some of their worst annual returns ever. The losses were felt particularly by those who started their careers at Julian Robertson's Tiger Management, who have earned the nickname "Tiger Cubs."

Despite the success of some hedge fund managers, the $13.8 billion collected by the top 15 highest earners was the lowest annual total since 2019. In contrast, the losses incurred by some hedge funds were enormous, with Tiger Global's public funds shrinking due to its bets on China, tech stocks, and private startups.

As for Haidar, he got off to a rocky start in 2023 after his fund sank 13% in January due to an unexpected drop in bond yields. Despite the setback, Haidar remains confident that inflation will remain elevated, forcing central banks to keep raising interest rates. He stated in a recent interview that "if inflation does come down as quickly as central banks predict, it'll be because they get really lucky."

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