Crisis In Japan Costs Man Group $2 Billion

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Rescue workers carry a body from the rubble in Rikuzentakata, Japan.

London's Man Group performed an nifty feat of media management today.

The Financial Times is reporting that the Man Group, the worlds second-largest hedge fund manager by assets under management, lost more than $2 billion over in a single month as a result of the crisis in Japan. That's not exactly the kind of thing investors like to read in headlines.

But this gets barely a mention in the Wall Street Journal, which focuses on the fact that the Man Group has doubled its total assets under management since last year.

The losses are not insignificant, even for a fund manager the size of the Man Group. It has around $69 billion under management, which means the $2 billion loss ate through nearly 3 percent of its assets.

Here's how the Wall Street Journal describes the loss:

"Man Group's own managed futures business, AHL, has had a rocky ride over the past year as poor performance led to a drop in sales. Some improvement over January and February was temporarily knocked back by the Japanese earthquake but Man Group said losses had now been 'pared back.'"

It's pretty easy to figure out which story the Man Group prefers.

*In an earlier version of this story contained incorrect information about the AHL fund

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