Appaloosa Management

David Tepper, a former Goldman Sachs junk bond trader, launched Appaloosa Management in 1993 after famously being passed over three times for a partnership at Goldman. Twenty years later, Tepper has turned Appaloosa into one of the most successful hedge fund firms in the world, appearing on Alpha's Hedge Fund 100 ranking for all thirteen years of its existence. The firm was up 72 percent in its first six months and has generated gross annualized returns of 36 percent since then. That performance explains why Tepper was inducted into Alpha's Hedge Fund Hall of Fame in 2013: $1 million invested in the Short Hills, New Jersey-based firm in 1993 is now worth…