[2] He acquired much of his fortune in 2007 when he earned almost $4 billion and was transformed "from an obscure money manager into a financial legend"[3] by using credit default swaps to effectively bet against the U.S. subprime mortgage lending market.
They wed and moved to New York City, where Alfredo worked at Arthur Andersen[9] and later as the CFO at public-relations firm Ruder Finn.
[10][11] After dropping out of college then realizing that his previously chosen career path in sales would not provide a steady and secure cash flow, John Paulson returned to NYU in 1976, where he began to excel in business studies.
[9] In 1978, he graduated valedictorian of his class summa cum laude in finance from New York University's College of Business and Public Administration.
[12] He went on to Harvard Business School, on a Sidney J. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs scholarship, earning an MBA as a George F. Baker Scholar (top 5 percent of his class) in 1980.
[13] In 1994, he founded his own hedge fund, Paulson & Co., with $2 million and one employee,[14] located in office space rented from Bear Stearns on the 26th floor of 277 Park Avenue.
[1] Paulson became world-famous in 2007 by shorting the US housing market, as he foresaw the subprime mortgage crisis and bet against mortgage-backed securities by investing in credit default swaps.
[17] Paulson worked with Goldman Sachs to provide liquidity for low-performing home loans in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.
[20] Paulson contributed $140,000 to political candidates and parties between 2000 and 2010, 45% of which went to Republicans, 16% to Democrats, and 36% to special interests,[21] including former House Speaker John Boehner.
[3] In 2008, Paulson co-wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece suggesting an alternative to the Treasury Secretary's plan for stabilizing the markets.
Paulson was reportedly investing in the territory's municipal debt and real estate developments, and was building a home at a resort.
[30][31] On April 6, 2024, the Trump campaign self-reported a $50.5 million fundraising haul at John Paulson's Palm Beach house.
[41] In 2024, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem awarded Paulson an honorary doctorate in recognition of his extensive philanthropic contributions to Israeli cultural and educational institutions.
His support for Israeli initiatives includes a $27 million commitment to establish the Paulson Bar-El Building for Computer Science and Engineering at Hebrew University.
In the letter, they stated: "In fact for children of all races, we strongly believe that schools should value and define success in terms of hard work, earned accomplishment, merit, a commitment to academic rigor, and personal integrity.