It looked like JP&Co. may have turned the corner in January. This proved illusory.

The New York-based firm’s flagship hedge funds swung into the red last month, with February’s losses swamping January’s gains. Paulson’s Advantage Plus Fund fell 3.4% last month and the more highly-levered Advantage Plus Fund 4.7%, Bloomberg News reports. The former is now down 2.5% through the first two months of the year and the latter 3.5%.

Paulson & Co.’s Gold Fund is already down by double-digits in 2013.

The $900 million fund, which invests primarily in gold-mining equities, is down 10% through February, CNBC reports. The fund lost 25% last year.

Of course, if you are an investor in a smaller Paulson fund, you’re probably not so much worried. You’re up, in fact. And, amazingly, a not-insignificant number of Paulson Gold investors want things to stay just as they are.

Despite the big losses—which have come as physical gold prices have doubled—Paulson is sticking with its strategy. Firm founder John Paulson argues that when all of the money printed by central banks as part of quantitative easing programs comes into circulation, a growing demand for a limited supply of the precious metal will make his mining bets pay off. The firm has no plans to shutter the fund.

That’s apparently fine by many of the fund’s investors. According to CNBC, some have threatened to redeem if Paulson abandons its three-to-five year thesis, even as some investors, such as Lyxor’s hedge fund platform, have already given up on the fund.

Paulson Flagships Fall In February [FINalternatives]
Paulson Gold Fund Extends Losses, But Isn’t Giving Up [FIN]

Comments (21)

  1. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 12:03 PM

    Easier (and likely will take less time) than waiting for a quality Shazar post.

  2. Posted by guest | March 8, 2013 at 12:12 PM

    One trick pony!

  3. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 12:38 PM

    At some point you got the impression that negative post about shazar = hilarious. Not so. If you can't be original, can you try to be funny?

  4. Posted by Guesti | March 8, 2013 at 12:38 PM

    Still waiting for you to produce an original piece of work.

  5. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 12:40 PM

    fyi, if your one trick yields you an 11 figure fortune, there's no real shame in it.

  6. Posted by Guestalt | March 8, 2013 at 12:50 PM

    Easily the best part of Shazar's posts is scrolling down to the 'stories from around the web' to look at Brooklyn Decker's sweater puppies.

  7. Posted by Wire | March 8, 2013 at 12:51 PM

    My one trick was the ol' piece of spaghetti in one nostril and out the other. John Paulson > me.

  8. Posted by Fort. son | March 8, 2013 at 12:51 PM

    Losing an 11 figure fortune trying to repeat that trick is problematic

  9. Posted by DJ Obvious | March 8, 2013 at 1:02 PM

    What morons still have money with this moron? How much proof do we need he was just LUCKY??

  10. Posted by Wild Bear Stearns | March 8, 2013 at 1:03 PM

    John "Shit Tsar" Shazar

  11. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 1:21 PM

    he is rumored to have been worth about $100 million BEFORE the mortgage bet. if true, there's your proof.

  12. Posted by VandelayCapital | March 8, 2013 at 1:26 PM

    In Obama's America, tax losses are the new gold. Paulson is a genius.

  13. Posted by guest | March 8, 2013 at 1:26 PM

    He is one of those morons.. its mostly his own money

  14. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 1:53 PM

    Totes illusory Jon; totes illusory

  15. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 2:16 PM

    Let us know when you start compounding money at absurd rates

  16. Posted by guest | March 8, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    "Despite the big losses—which have come as physical gold prices have doubled"

    This is how you can be right and wrong at the same time. Peter Schiff has the same problem. The ability to predict the future is worthless (and can be harmful) if you can't execute on it properly.

    Ok here's a joke b/c it's Friday and my comment wasn't really funny.

    A trader's girlfriend walks into his apartment and the trader says "honey pack your bags – I just made a fortune in the market!" and she says "Should I pack for winter or summer?" and the trader says "I don't care just get the hell out"

  17. Posted by J Paulson | March 8, 2013 at 2:35 PM

    If I could only find a way to short Jon Shazar's career…

  18. Posted by Guest Beans | March 8, 2013 at 3:17 PM

    Um you really think anybody would take the the other side of that position?

  19. Posted by Basis Capital | March 8, 2013 at 3:34 PM

    Uh . . . maybe.

  20. Posted by Guest | March 8, 2013 at 5:28 PM

    He seems like a capable blogger to us.

    -AIG FP

  21. Posted by Irony | March 8, 2013 at 6:54 PM

    According to a forbes list I was one of the top earning HFM last year.

    Methodology Quant.