Page "Hedge fund" Paragraph 19

Top hedge fund managers earn what has been termed " extraordinary " amounts of money, with the highest-grossing getting up to $ 4 billion per year.

Earnings at the top are far higher than in any other sector of the financial industry.

" They wouldn't even consider getting out of bed for the $ 13m (£ 8m ) Goldman Sachs ' boss Lloyd Blankfein was paid last year ," writes Richard Anderson, a BBC Business reporter.

Collectively, the top 25 hedge fund managers regularly earn more than all 500 of the chief executives in the S & P 500.

Most hedge fund managers are remunerated much less, however, and the competitiveness of the industry, along with the structure of financial incentives, means that failure can lead to not getting paid.

The BBC quotes an industry insider who says " a lot of managers are not making any money at all.