[lbo-talk] WSJ: 38 yr old paid US $300 mil to stay at failing firm

[B.]

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB121842438993429049-lMyQjAxMDI4MTE4MTQxMjE0Wj.html

 	
Trader Lands $300 Million
To Stay Put At Fortress

By PETER LATTMAN
August 11, 2008; Page C1

Eager to keep one of its key employees, publicly
traded Fortress Investment Group LLC has lavished a
$300 million share grant on one of its star traders,
38-year-old Adam Levinson.

Mr. Levinson, who also is the chief investment officer
of one the firm's main funds, joins the private-equity
and hedge-fund giant's five other controlling
shareholders, who together hold some $3 billion of
company stock. These executives haven't sold any
shares since the company went public in 2007 and own
77% of the business.

Fortress has struggled mightily in its 18 months as a
public company, losing two-thirds of its peak value
amid brutal markets for financial firms.

[...]

The sport of global-macro investing is a 24-hour
business. Mr. Levinson wakes up at his downtown
Manhattan loft at 5:10 a.m. each morning and does 20
minutes of Mysore yoga, a self-directed form of
Ashtanga yoga named after the southern Indian city. He
arrives at the office by 6:10 a.m. for calls with his
Asian and London teams.

The only natural break comes at 4 p.m., when the U.S.
market closes and Mr. Levinson heads to the gym. 

[...]