By Jules Rimmer
Sir Christopher Hohn's TCI Fund Management made $18.9 billion in 2025, beating the previous record set by  Citadel's Ken Griffin.
Hedge funds made $543 billion last year for their investors last year, according to LCH Investments.
A U.K.-headquartered hedge fund, TCI Fund Management, made $18.9 billion for its investors in 2025. This is the largest profit ever delivered in a single year by a hedge fund, comfortably exceeding the previous best of $16 billion achieved by Ken Griffin's Citadel in 2022.
The record-setting gains were highlighted in an annual report published Monday by LCH Investments, a fund-of-hedge funds and part of the Edmond de Rothschild group, providing hedge fund industry analysis.
The chair of LCH, Rick Sopher, pointed out that the money-weighted return of the top 20 fund managers was 15.7%, which outperformed the rest of the hedge-fund universe last year.  Separate data from HFR finds the typical fund gained 12.6% last year.
The concentration was also underlined by the fact that there were no new entries into that top twenty over the course of 2025.
Considering the success of these elite managers, accessing these funds is, unsurprisingly, not straightforward. Sopher notes: &#34;most managers in the top 20 either limited inflows or returned capital to investors, thereby limiting the size of their assets under management.&#34;
Hohn's achievements at TCI are remarkable with Sopher also pointing out that TCI has made $40 billion, net of fees, for investors over the last three years. Hohn has adapted his strategy since the early days of TCI; now, in addition to his activist investing, TCI is making big, longer-term, strategic bets on companies like GE Aerospace (GE), Safran (FR:SAF) and Airbus (FR:AIR), all of which are expected to benefit from the current boom in rearmament and defence spending, as well as companies like Microsoft (MSFT) and Visa (V).
The report is notable for a chart listing &#34;The Top 20 Great Money Managers&#34; by their net gains since inception. The most successful in terms of aggregated profit since inception is Citadel with $90.4 billion, followed by DE Shaw with $79.9 billion, Bridgewater $79.1 billion, Millennium $73.4 billion and then TCI with $68 billion. The latter, however, has made its money much faster, racking up that sum since 2005 while the others had a head starts ranging from 29 years to 14 years.
TCI has made more money for investors than most of its top competitors in much less time.
TCI's 27% return in 2025 also enabled it to overtake Elliott Management and move into fifth place on the list, despite Paul Singer launching his fund in 1977.
-Jules Rimmer
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01-20-26 0556ET

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<p>TCI Fund Management, led by Sir Christopher Hohn, achieved a record profit of $18.9 billion in 2025, surpassing Citadel's previous record of $16 billion. Hedge funds collectively earned $543 billion last year, with the top 20 fund managers averaging a 15.7% return. TCI has generated $40 billion for investors over three years, focusing on strategic investments in companies like GE Aerospace and Microsoft. The report highlights TCI's rapid success, ranking it fifth among top money managers with a 27% return in 2025.</p>

- TCI Fund Management earned $18.9 billion in 2025, surpassing Citadel's previous record by $2.9 billion.  
- Hedge funds overall generated $543 billion for investors last year, with TCI achieving notable returns amidst a concentrated top management landscape.  
- TCI's strategy evolved to include long-term investments in companies benefitting from defence spending, resulting in a remarkable 27% return that positioned it fifth among the top managers.

This U.K. firm chalked up the biggest hedge-fund profit ever last year