Legendary hedge funder Michael Steinhardt has been merely an interested bystander in this year's hedge fund blowup.

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Michael Steinhardt is now on CNBC as a touted expert on the markets.

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Eventually luminaries such as George Soros and Michael Steinhardt emerged from the ruins, but for the industry it was a long, hard slog.

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It began when hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt appeared poised to launch a hostile bid for US Air, acquiring about 6% of the company.

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Indeed, some hedge fund old-timers like Michael Steinhardt think that their modern-day counterparts are far too namby-pamby and are too ready to be content with single-digit annual performance.

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After we made the deal, Michael Steinhardt went away.

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He's also been spotted dining out for lunch at the famed eatery Michael's with hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and he attended financier and philanthropist Michael Steinhardt's 70th birthday party last Saturday at the Four Seasons restaurant.

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Rather than compete with his peers for trendy new art, hedge-fund manager Michael Steinhardt and his wife, Judy, are building several collections around comparatively obscure niches like ancient Peruvian feather ponchos, Cycladic stone figures and 15th-century rugs.

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