The hedge funder whose GameStop short bets led to a 53% January loss took home $846 million in 2020

<p><img src="https://static2.businessinsider.com/image/60240fdccca90200129b77c4-2000/Gabe Plotkin:Alex Flynn:Bloomberg.jpg" border="0" alt="Gabe Plotkin" data-mce-source="Alex Flynn/Getty Images/Bloomberg" data-mce-caption="Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Gabe Plotkin, the founder of short-seller Melvin Capital, took home $846 million in 2020, netting him a spot among the top hedge fund earners last year, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-10/chase-coleman-leads-23-billion-payday-for-15-hedge-fund-earners">according to Bloomberg</a>.&nbsp;</p><p>In total, the 15 hedge fund managers, all men, took home an estimated $23 billion in 2020. Taking the top spot was Tiger Global Management founder Chase Colman who earned $3 billion, according to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/">Bloomberg.</a></p><p>Plotkin's Melvin Capital found itself at the center of the GameStop short-squeeze saga that captivated markets in January as an army of Reddit day traders sparred with hedge funds to push shares of the video-game retailer through the roof. The result for Melvin Capital was a stunning 53% loss and a $460 million loss of Plotkin personally, Bloomberg reports.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/elon-musk-dogecoin-tweets-bought-for-son-crypto-bitcoin-tesla-2021-2-1030067740">Elon Musk says in a tweet that he bought dogecoin for his son, sparking a 16% surge in the 'meme' token</a></em></p><p>New York-based Melvin Capital closed its short position in GameStop on on January 27. The fund began this year with $12.5 billion in assets under management, and ended January with over $8 billion. Billionaire investors Steve Cohen and Ken Griffin <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/steve-cohen-ken-griffin-invest-3-billion-gamestop-short-seller-2021-1-1030003305'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">invested $2.75</a> billion in the fund as losses piled up.&nbsp;</p><p>As of Monday, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/gme-stock'utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">GameStop</a> has lost over $20 billion in market cap since the stock's Reddit-saga peak back on January 27, falling from intraday highs of over $450 to just over $50.</p><p><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/melvin-capital-gabe-plotkin-took-home-846-million-in-2020-2021-2-1030067950#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/melissa-maker-clean-your-home-quickly-cleaning-expert-2017-4">A cleaning expert reveals her 3-step method for cleaning your entire home quickly</a></p>
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