(MSIA). Business career Republic and Keystone After earning his MBA in 1982, Tepper accepted a position in the treasury department of Republic Steel in Ohio. In 1984, he was recruited to Keystone Mutual Funds (now part of Evergreen Funds) in Boston. Goldman Sachs In 1985, Tepper was recruited by Goldman Sachs as a credit analyst, which was forming its high yield group in New York City. Within six months he became its head trader, remaining at Goldman for eight years. His primary focus was bankruptcies and special situations. He is credited with playing a major role in the survival of Goldman Sachs after the 1987 stock market crash. He bought underlying bonds in the financial institutions that had been "crippled by the crash”, which soared in value once the market picked up again. He assumed he would be made a Goldman partner but was passed over, partly because his “loud and profane” manner rubbed other more restrained Goldman executives the wrong way. Appaloosa Management In December 1992, after being passed over for partner at Goldman Sachs twice in two years, Tepper quit. He began operating from a desk in the offices of mutual-fund manager and Goldman client Michael Price, aggressively trading his personal account in hopes of raising enough money to start his own fund. He created Appaloosa Management in early 1993. In 2001, he generated a 61% return by focusing on distressed bonds, and in the fourth quarter of 2005 he pursued what he saw as better opportunities in Standard & Poor's 500 stocks. Tepper “keeps the market on edge” and makes significant gains year after year by investing in the “diciest of companies,” such as MCI and Mirant. Investments in Conseco and Marconi also led to huge hedge fund profits for the company. In a 2010 speech he recommended several supposedly risky investments, including AIG debt, Bank of America equity, and European banks. Citing experts who predicted hyperinflation or depression and deflation, he argued neither would happen: “The point is, markets adapt, people adapt. Don’t listen to all the crap out there.” In 2009, Tepper's hedge fund earned about $7 billion by buying distressed financial stocks in February and March (including Bank of America common stock at $3 per share), and then profiting from their recovery that year. $4 billion of those profits went to Tepper's personal wealth, making him the top-earning hedge fund manager of 2009 according