25 top hedge fund managers earned $11.6 billion in 2008

At the times of turbulence in the financial markets and a global economic crisis, the 25 top-earning hedge fund managers of the world have in total collected $11.6 billion last year, as found by Alpha magazine.

The annual ranking conducted by the magazine showed that on an average, one of those managers has raked $464 million.

James Simons from New York's Renaissance Technologies, appeared to be on top of the list with $2.5 billion. John Paulson, the No. 1 in 2007, was the second and this time he had a total of $2 billion. They were followed by John Arnold, founder of Centaurus Energy, with the earnings of $1.5 billion; and George Soros, with $1.1 billion.