Hard Times for Some Hedge-Fund Managers

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Some hedge-fund managers made huge personal gains last year despite the market turmoil. But there were eight -- including some well-known names -- who lost a combined $6.2 billion in personal wealth last year, according to Alpha magazine.

That comes after the eight men made a combined $3 billion in 2007.

The investors include billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens, who lost $450 million as his fund, BP Capital MGMT, dropped 60% and investors pulled about two-thirds of their assets; and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who lost $400 million as his firm, Icahn Enterprises LP, lost 35%, mostly from its holdings of Yahoo Inc. and Motorola Inc.

Mr. Pickens moved BP Capital's assets out of the stock market and into cash in October and allowed major redemptions from investors.

The list was topped by Kenneth Griffin from Citadel Investment Group, who lost $2 billion, Edward Lampert of ESL Partners, who lost $1 billion; and Steven Cohen from SAC Capital Advisors, who lost $750 million.

The other big money losers as disclosed by Alpha were Jeffrey Gendell, who lost $625 million; Stephen Mandell Jr. of Lone Pine Capital, who lost $550 million; and David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, who shed $425 million.

Hedge funds are coming off their worst year on record last year, as the financial crisis spurred investors to convert their holdings to cash and many funds faced disruptions in their trading strategies, including temporary bans on short-selling stock.

The 25 highest-earnings hedge-fund managers took home a combined $11.6 billion last year, Alpha reported Wednesday. Despite the stock market losing roughly a third of its value last year and the hedge-fund industry posting its worst-ever performance, those 25 fund managers took home, on average, $464 million apiece.

Write to Kerry E. Grace at kerry.grace@dowjones.com