Millennium's Englander tops hedge fund Rich List at $4 billion

Millennium Management founder Englander earned $4 billion in 2024, topping Institutional Investor's 24th annual Rich List of the highest-earning hedge fund managers.

Ken Griffin of Citadel ranked second at $3.3 billion, and Englander's return to the top was his first since 2020. The top 25 managers' 2024 earnings totaled $30.045 billion, just short of the $31.71 billion record set for 2020.

For allocators, the $375 million floor and the multiasset concentration at the top mean the list measures personal economics, not whether performance fees are being charged. Because Institutional Investor counts each manager's gains on their own capital plus their share of fees, the totals do not show whether performance fees are being charged. Diligence remains with fee terms, capacity and how much of a principal's own money sits in the strategy, read from documents rather than a table of personal earnings.

The minimum to qualify was $375 million, earned by Dan Sundheim of D1 Capital Partners, the highest minimum in the ranking's 24-year history. Eleven of the 25 made at least $1 billion; the 12th, O. Andreas Halvorsen of Viking Global Investors, made $970 million. The average was about $1.2 billion and the median $930 million.

Five of the top six earners run multiasset strategies, per the ranking. Six of the 25 trace their roots to Julian Robertson Jr.'s Tiger Management, including Halvorsen, Sundheim, Philippe Laffont of Coatue Management, Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management, Stephen Mandel Jr. of Lone Pine Capital and Robert Citrone of Discovery Capital Management. Josh Resnick, founder of Jericho Capital Asset Management, is the lone newcomer, ranked 19th with $475 million.

The ranking flags a change from the prior year: in 2023 many top earners made money only from capital appreciation because they were below their high-water marks, while this year few entered in the red.