Buy the panic, size the bottom
Tepper made his legend buying what everyone else was forced to sell — junk bonds in 1990, bank stocks at the 2009 bottom for a $7B year, and whatever the crowd next abandons. Distressed instincts, macro overlay, and the nerve to be biggest exactly when it's scariest.
Net worth
Estimatedyearly estimates from public reporting · risk pane = rolling volatility, the standard deviation of annual growth wealth managers useThe allocation
Estimatedmodeled from public reporting — a wealth manager's sketch, not a statementConcentrated equities + credit
Returns
EstimatedAmong the best hedge-fund records ever
Concentrated conviction with distressed optionality
Portfolio highlights
public & private — widely reported positions; weights are member-gated- Appaloosa bookfund
Mostly his own capital since 2019
- Carolina Panthersprivate
Controlling stake
Private allocations
best public information — stakes and terms mostly undisclosedPlus Charlotte FC in MLS
The pillars
- Panic is a price, not a signal — buy it
- Concentrate when the odds are silly, hedge when they're not
- Return outside money when the edge shrinks — family office freedom
Signature moves
- The 2009 bank trade: bought Bank of America and Citi near the bottom — a reported $7B profit year
- Returned outside capital in 2019 to run Appaloosa as (mostly) his own money
The tax playbook
Editorialstrategies widely reported around Tepper — never tax adviceThe New Jersey exit
His 2016 move to Florida was so fiscally material that New Jersey officials publicly worried about the budget — state-tax domicile as a nine-figure decision.
Franchise amortization
The Panthers purchase price amortizes against income like any sports franchise — shelter that compounds alongside the trophy asset.
Compiled from public reporting on structures these investors are widely reported to use. Tax outcomes depend entirely on individual circumstances — this is background reading, not tax advice.
On the wire
tracked filings & reports — live from SEC EDGAR and pressLoading the wire…
Recent moves
from public filings & press — quarter-level, not live data- FILINGQ2 2026
Appaloosa's 13F kept its concentrated tech-and-China tilt with fresh credit hedges
- BUY2025
Added to beaten-down China exposure — the classic Tepper panic buy
Sources
Where this profile's information comes from — filings first.
This profile is an editorial summary compiled from public sources. Allocation, return, and prediction figures are MODELED ESTIMATES — informed guesses, not verified data; predictions are illustrative scenarios only. No affiliation with or endorsement by David Tepper is implied, and nothing on this page is investment advice.