John Paulson

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE: Paulson—“J.P.” to his friends—saw the subprime crash coming and figured out how to capitalize on it: by some estimates he personally reaped as much as $3.7 billion last year alone. Now he’s looking to squeeze some blood out of Yahoo—he started buying up 50 million shares of the beleaguered Web portal after Microsoft’s unsolicited bid, and supported “activist investor” Carl Icahn’s overhaul of Yahoo’s board. His next target: distressed financial companies.

CRUCIFIXION-AVOIDANCE MOVE: Donated $15 million to a legal fund for families fighting foreclosure.

MANIFEST DESTINY: In the mid-1990s, Paulson, 52, bought a New York apartment and a mansion in the Hamptons at foreclosure sales.