Paulson, who got his bachelor’s degree from New York University, founded his investment firm in 1994. He discovered a way to bet against the overvalued housing market with contracts that rose in value as mortgage-backed bonds declined. In 2007, when the credit crisis began, the firm made about $15 billion for Paulson, his staff and investors.
Biggest Gifts
Adjusted for inflation, Paulson’s donation would be the fourth-biggest cash gift to higher education on the Million Dollar List of Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which dates to 2000. The largest is a 2001 donation to Stanford University from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation that would be worth $532 million today.
It’s the second large gift to an Ivy League university from a Wall Street billionaire in the last month. In May, Stephen Schwarzman, founder, chairman and chief executive of Blackstone Group LP, gave $150 million to Yale University for a student center.
Paulson’s philanthropy to Harvard surpasses a $350 million gift last year from the family of the late T.H. Chan, for whom the Chan School of Public Health is now named.