Paulson Earns $1 Billion on Citigroup (NYSE:C) Stake

Contrarian investor John Paulson ended another good year with the help of Citigroup (NYSE:C), which generated about $1 billion for the hedge fund in 2010.

Over the last year, shares of Citigroup have gained close to 50 percent.

Typical negative response from pundits came when Paulson lost money earlier in the year, but he was again exonerated when losses turned to double-digit gains later in the year for his flagship funds.

For the year, Paulson's gold fund was up 35 percent, and his Advantage Plus Fund gained 17 percent.

Citigroup's fortunes haven't been as good in the early part of 2011. They're trading today at $4.8, down $0.055, or 1.13 percent, as of 12:42 PM EST.