Despite the worst year for hedge funds in memory, four of the industry's top fund managers each earned more than $1 billion (£700 million) last year.

The top 25 hedge fund managers individually earned a total of $11.6 billion between them, according to Alpha magazine. That makes it the third best year on record even if most managers took home considerably less than in 2007.

James Simons, boss of Renaissance Technologies, leapt to the top of the list with earnings down only slightly from $2.3 billion in 2007 to $2.5 billion. New York-based Simons generated what Alpha described as a "hard to fathom" 80% return on his 20-year-old Medallion fund. He charges a whopping 5% management fee and a 44% performance fee.

That pushed back John Paulson, who has made a fortune from the credit crunch - not least by shorting UK banks - into second place with earnings of $2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in 2007.

George Soros slipped from second to fourth place. He earned $1.1 billion against 2007's $2.9 billion.