Value-oriented stockpicker Kerr Neilson, the founder of one of Australia's first and largest hedge fund firms, Platinum Asset Management, is frequently compared to billionaire stockpicker Warren Buffett for his high-performing stock picks. Take the year 2000 when the tech bubble burst and the Nasdaq composite index tumbled 30 percent. The hedge fund firm's flagship Platinum International Fund climbed 18 percent, thanks to prescient short bets on Deutsche Telekom and France Télécom, which fell 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively. The following year the fund jumped another 30 percent, compared to an 8 percent loss for the MSCI world index. In 2002 Platinum International was down only 3.9 percent while the MSCI world index fell 27.2 percent. Firmwide assets grew by about $1.1 billion that year…