50 Ways to Leave Your Hedge Fund

Quitting is never easy -- especially for the alpha types who make up the $3 trillion hedge fund industry. Yet some of the best-known founders have thrown in the towel this year after fortune-making decades in the business.

These traders all had their own reasons to hang it up. But there were some common factors behind the decisions: the challenge of competing with an ever-rising stock market, the difficulty of raising enough assets and, for many, the march of time. As 63-year-old Jonathan Kolatch told investors earlier this month when announcing his retirement: “If I don’t step away now, it’s not clear I will ever get away from my desk.”

But while the reasons are few, the ways to leave, as Paul Simon knows, are many. In an industry built on the cult of the successful money manager, stepping away isn’t always straightforward. Below, we take a look at the various methods some of Wall Street’s biggest names — from David Tepper to Louis Bacon — have chosen to say `goodbye’ this year.