Behind Paul Singer’s Fearsome Reputation

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The following is excerpted from Merger Masters: Tales of Arbitrage by Kate Welling and Mario Gabelli Copyright © 2018 Kate Welling and Mario Gabelli. Used by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

There’s a set of mind that is an absolute requirement. If you’re not a person whose starting point is “what am I missing?” rather than “how frickin’ great am I?” you are missing something essential to survival. “What am I missing?” is like oxygen. If you’re asking, “How great am I?” you’re the Night of the Living Dead.

Paul Singer

Take it as a given, based on that quote, that you’re not going to encounter Paul Singer tooting his own horn – though he is reputed to rock the piano, strictly among friends. To be sure, Singer, the founder, president, and co-CEO at Elliott Management Corporation, the $34 billion hedge fund he founded with $1.3 million of family and friends’ money in 1977, doesn’t have to boast. His fearsome reputation precedes him.