Agree makloda, hedge fund returns are "awful" :
Renaissance Technologies is a hedge fund management company. Renaissance was started by James Simons in 1982. At March 31, 2007, it held some $27 billion in public equity positions. Its $6 billion Medallion Fund has averaged 38% annual returns after fees, since 1989, and is considered in the industry to be the most consistently successful hedge fund, yielding returns ten percentage points higher than legendary investors Bruce Kovner, George Soros, or Paul Tudor Jones.
Because it is so successful, it charges a 5% management fee and a 44% incentive fee. A measurement of the risk (like beta, volatility, or leverage figures) which accompanied its high annual returns is apparently not publicly available. Extremely secretive (though unlike certain other investment management companies, not as secretive as to not have a public website), the company operates in East Setauket, Long Island, New York, near Stony Brook University. Administrative functions are handled out of offices in Manhattan.