2016 was a tough year for hedge funds.
The industry as a whole only delivered a 5.4% return for clients, well below the S&P 500's return of 11.9%, according to data from eVestment.
Poor performance and high fees drove money out of the money managers' funds by about $70 billion last year, the biggest drop since 2009, according to data tracker HFR.
This backdrop, however, had little impact on the bottom line of many of the top hedge fund managers of the world.
According to Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine's recently released list of the top-earning hedge fund managers, the top 25 hedge fund heads earned $11 billion in total last year.
Among the billionaires who posted subpar returns are Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel, who pocketed $600 million despite making investors in his main flagship funds just over 5%, according to the New York Times. And Dan Loeb, founder of Third Point, earned $260 million after his fund posted gains of just 6%.
To be sure, some fund managers performed well, such as Renaissance Technologies. The firm's Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund and Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha Fund gained 21.5% and 11%, per the Times.
While the amount of total money that managers made last year is down from others, according to the Times, it's still double than what it was in 2000, the year that Institutional Investor first rolled out the annual list.
Following are the top nine earnings from the list:
9. David Shaw, founder of DE Shaw & Co - $415 million
8. Michael Hintze, founder of CQS LLP - $450 million
7. Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management - $590 million
See the rest of the story at Business Insider