Excess Returns · Saturday, August 8, 2026
David Rosenberg shared a personal anecdote about John Paulson during the 2008 financial crisis, noting that while Rosenberg and his then-colleague Rich Bernstein had their reputations on the line, Paulson, who was shorting mortgage-backed securities, was on the verge of going out of business before becoming a billionaire.
“You know, when one of our clients at, uh, Merrill, who I got to know very well, was John Paulson, uh, who, you know, we were shorting those, uh, mortgage back securities. And, and he was going to be out of business in a matter of weeks before the bad stuff hit the fan. And then he became an instant billionaire.”
“So, you know, Rich and I weren't running money, but we had our reputations on the line.”