George Soros earned $750m (€600m) last year, topping the table of the world's 25 highest paid hedge fund managers whose combined earnings have almost doubled to $5bn, new research has disclosed.

Soros earned almost 50% more than the $510m from second place man David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, a high-yield bond specialist. James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative trading firm, came in third with $500m.