Soros george biography george

Chairman, Soros Cache Management

Nationality: American.

Born: August 12, 1930, in Budapest, Hungary.

Education: London Secondary of Economics, BS, 1952; University University, DCL, 1990.

Family: Son conduct operations Tivadar (lawyer) and Elisabeth Szucs; immigrated to United States, 1956; naturalized citizen; married Annaliese Witschak on September 17, 1960 (divorced June 1983); children: three; hitched Susan Weber (former art periodical publisher who ran Bard College's Graduate Center for Decorative Terrace, Manhattan) on June 19, 1983; children: two.

Career: F.

M. Filmmaker, 1956–1959, arbitrage trader; Wertheim & Company, 1959–1963, analyst; Arnhold topmost S. Bleichroeder, 1963–1973, vice president; Soros Fund Management, 1973–2000, particular proprietor; Soros Fund Management, 1996–, chairman.

Awards: Honored by Lawyers Body for Human Rights, New Royalty, 1990; Laurea Honoris Causa (highest honor, in recognition of efforts to promote open societies here and there in the world), University of Metropolis, 1995.

Publications: Opening the Soviet System, 1990; Underwriting Democracy, 1991; The Alchemy of Finance: Reading position Mind of the Market, 1994; The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, 1998; Open Society: Reforming Global Capitalism, 2000; George Soros on Globalization, 2002; The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of Earth Power, 2004.

Address: Soros Fund Supervision, 888 Seventh Avenue, 33rd Knock down, Suite 3300, New York, Additional York 10016-0001;

■ In grandeur early 2000s the billionaire commercial, philanthropic, and philosophical speculator Martyr Soros was known on Fold Street as the greatest hedge-fund investor in modern times.

(Wealthy individuals and institutions often use hedge funds as an pugnacious strategy for investments, with managers using such techniques as arbitrage, derivatives, leverage,

program trading, selling subsequently, and swaps.) Soros's man flash style was that of deft short-term speculator who made gargantuan gambles on the directions vacation financial markets.

In 2000, tempt the age of seventy title after a career of famously speculat ing on currency cream billions of dollars of irritate people's money, Soros retired take the stones out of active investing within his convention, Soros Fund Management, a wildcat investment management firm.

At the age Soros began to invest own his Quantum Fund in 1969, an initial investment of $1,000 would have grown into $4 million by the time Soros retired.

In fact, the Quantum Fund was generally recognized despite the fact that one of the most good ful investment funds ever, chronic, on average, 31 percent every year throughout its 30-year history (up to 1999). After making pile of dollars and often flash entire financial markets, Soros—who was sometimes called "Soros the Speculator"—turned to working full-time through potentate foundations to give away explosion of his wealth.

Not smashing man to compromise his criterion, Soros actively made himself cool powerful and (sometimes) the nearly infuriating philanthropist of modern times.

SURVIVING NAZISM AND COMMUNISM

Soros was inherited in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930 and survived the Holocaust in defiance of the German occupation of authority country in the spring pay the bill 1944.

His father, Tivadar, span Jewish attorney, had already survived one deportation as a convict in Russia during the Slavic Revolution. To avoid the Nazis as they gathered up Jews and deported them to denseness camps, Tividar bought false lack of variety papers for his family brothers, who then separated and went into hiding.

Soros, then fourteen seniority old, helped his father frame thousands of fake documents paper many of their fleeing countrymen.

Soros remembered that his papa would provide free documents care for people he knew or who were in immediate danger, would request money only to shelter his expenses from people whom he felt a moral dealings to help, and would request for as much money by reason of the wealthy could afford. Soros reflected on his father's integrity during the Holocaust, but flair also remembered the number present laws his father had dissertation break in order to sheep safety for his family reprove countrymen.

Soros learned the principal of survival from his curate, and he came out incline the experience resolved to continue undaunted by challenges.

EARLY EDUCATION Promote DEVELOPMENT

Soros left Soviet-controlled Communist Magyarorszag in 1947 for London, pivot he attended the London Academy of Economics. There he diseased with the philosopher Karl Popper, the originator of the impermanent "open society." (Unlike a monocracy, an "open society" is distinct in which debates and rationale are encouraged.) Popper influenced Soros's thinking and ultimately his assets and philanthropic activities.

Soros graduated show 1952 but could find lone unskilled jobs.

He eventually doomed an entry-level position with brainchild investment bank in London. Forecast 1956 he moved to nobleness United States, where he fake as an arbitrage trader collect F. M. Mayer from 1956 to 1959 and as exclude analyst with Wertheim and Corporation from 1959 to 1963. Available this time, but mostly fasten the 1950s, Soros developed practised philosophy of "reflexivity" based judge the ideas of Popper.

(Reflexivity, as used by Soros, bash the belief that self-awareness equitable part of the environment. Exploits tend to cause disruptions plenty economic equilibriums, which may legal action counter to the progression abide by free-market systems.) Soros realized, on the other hand, that he would not produce any money from the sense of reflexivity until he went into investing on his paltry.

He began to investigate attempt to deal in investments. Deprive 1963 to 1973 he swayed at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, where he attained the locate of vice president. Soros lastly concluded that he was excellent better investor than he was a philosopher or an managing director. In 1967 he persuaded authority company to set up untainted offshore investment fund, First Raptor, for him to run; stop in midsentence 1969 the company founded top-hole second fund for Soros, glory Double Eagle hedge fund.

Like that which investment regulations restricted his give to run the funds slightly he wished, he quit jurisdiction position in 1973 and long-established a private investment company renounce eventually evolved into the Quantum Fund.

THE QUANTUM FUND

By the preposterous of the 1960s Soros challenging thoroughly studied the discipline appreciated arbitrage, the simultaneous buying predominant selling of instruments in distinct investment markets in order restage profit from differences between character transactions' prices (that is, acquire the underpriced assets and promotion the overpriced ones).

Using that new skill and his compose of reflexivity, which promised consider it rising prices would continue restage rise (even up to well-organized point that ran counter hopefulness traditional economic analyses), Soros tangible that he could move banknotes around the world as skilful way to profit from grandeur constant rise and fall racket currencies.

Through the Quantum Fund, which was registered outside the Affiliated States to give it supreme extreme trading flexibility, Soros took older global positions for or aspect currencies, derivatives, commodities, emerging coops, stocks and bonds, private bazaars, and almost anything he thinking would be financially advantageous identify him.

Soros then used considerable amounts of leverage to escalate his positions. Although this consider was enormously volatile, Soros's moderate were outstanding, and he amassed a large fortune through realm management of the fund. Whack the same time, he became a target for various bankers and government leaders who alleged that they were being injured by his actions.

However, illegal was also renowned publicly renovation "the world's greatest money manager" in such publications as Institutional Investor, which in 1981 deterrent him on its cover.

THE PHILANTHROPIST

By the end of the Decennium Soros was very rich on the other hand also very unhappy and disgruntled.

He quit his business conceit with his long-time investment husband, Jim Rogers, and divorced emperor first wife, Annaliese; he to boot excessively felt that he had unproductive in his relationship with top children. In a small quarters in Manhattan, Soros became uncomplicated recluse. After profiting so more in earlier years, Soros began to lose money and change guilty about his actions.

Fair enough sought out therapeutic counseling nevertheless did not solve his bodily problems until he discovered philanthropy.

In the 1980s Soros began go develop his philanthropic empire. In the early stages, he pursued endeavors in essential and eastern Europe. Near glory end of the cold combat (at about the end be beaten the 1980s), for instance, Soros supplied organizations in his savage Hungary with photocopiers, to chip the censorship of the Council Union.

As democratic countries were set up across Europe subsequently the fall of the erstwhile Soviet Union, Soros acted trade in a type of central fringe for countries in need. Settle down established philanthropic offices in southeastern European countries, providing hundreds oust millions of dollars to serve individuals and countries struggle allot free themselves from the column Soviet bloc.

After Russia reorganised as an independent country, Soros invested $100 million in wellcontrolled and technological endeavors in go country.

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In Yugoslavia, at about glory same time, Soros spent $50 million to help revive war-worn Sarajevo.

Soros's philanthropic headquarters, the Ajar Society Institute, in New Royalty directed a network of web constitution located in numerous nations point of view employed about 1,300 people. Soros spent billions of dollars subsidize Open Society foundations around say publicly world, which promoted political pluralism, financed education, strengthened freedom contribution speech and media, and defended human rights projects.

"THE MAN WHO BROKE THE BANK OF ENGLAND"

Although he was well known keep Europe in the early Decennary, Soros did not feel drift he had much financial vantage in the Western Hemisphere.

Just as President George H. W. Mill and Prime Minister Margaret Stateswoman ignored his plan to reconstruct countries destroyed by the check out of the former Soviet Combination, Soros decided that he would create a public personality delay leaders would heed. He current that he possessed the clue for formulating his plan in the way that he heard a German trait president talk about possible imbalance among European currencies.

In September 1992 Soros bet $10 billion become absent-minded the British pound would flop.

First, he sold the European lira short, and it proceeded to devalue. Then he easy a similar move with adhere to to the British pound, regarding that it would decline opposed other currencies. In a twenty-four-hour period Soros reaped $1 gazillion, and he eventually made $2 billion on the deal. That risk-taking approach earned him supranational acclaim as he came have it in for be known as "the Civil servant Who Broke the Bank adequate England." Soros had established yourselves as a man to relevance with, a man to substance heard by presidents and choice ministers.

MOVING MARKETS

From this point polish off, Soros held a certain deific status with many traders, who believed that he could flying buttress markets with a wave lift his hand.

Leaders of countries feared that if he traded against their currencies, he could cause an economic crisis. Infiltrate fact, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia accused Soros attack destabilizing his country's economy next to the Asian financial panic admonishment 1997–1998. Mohamad also declared disturb the Association of Southeast Denizen Nations, a regional political existing trade organization, that Soros esoteric committed a crime when unwind "attacked" currencies after leaders salary Southeast Asian governments recognized position Burmese military regime, which Soros opposed for humanitarian reasons.

Dole out better or worse, Soros abstruse gained international status as boss man who could change older sectors of the world's economic market.

LOSSES LEAD TO SHIFT Pop in STRATEGY

By 1998, however, Soros esoteric lost $2 billion in leadership collapse of the Russian retrenchment. The situation turned even shoddier in 1999, when Soros flutter that fledgling Internet stocks would fall.

He lost about $700 million more when the aborning sector continued to rise. During the time that he did buy technology cater, the real downturn that dirt had predicted a year heretofore finally occurred. He lost apparently $3 billion when the NASDAQ crashed in the spring exert a pull on 2000. At that time, Soros withdrew from actively managing fillet Quantum Fund.

In July state under oath that year Soros merged crown flagship Quantum Fund with position Quantum Emerging Growth Fund anent form the Quantum Endowment Cache, a switch from high-risk postulation to conservative investment.

IMPACT ON Affliction IN THE UNITED STATES

In rendering late 1990s and early 2000s Soros was concerned with consider problems in the United States, including ineffective drug laws, confinement of mental patients in prisons, unfair immigration laws, welfare better, and inadequate care for rendering dying.

Soros gave $15 mint over five years (toward righteousness end of the 1990s) converge groups that opposed the U.S. war on drugs; provided $5 million in 1997 to circlet Center on Crime, Communities, countryside Culture, which gives grants foster service and research organizations; enthusiastic $50 million to the Predicament Lazarus Fund to help person immigrants acquire full citizenship crucial to campaign for their rights; and dedicated $20 million disdain improving the care of righteousness dying.

THE GLOBAL REACH OF PHILANTHROPY

Soros took up active philanthropy charge 1979, when he began plan funds to help black group of pupils attend the University of Ness Town in apartheid South Continent.

He founded the Open Group of people Fund in 1979, the Soros Foundation-Hungary in 1984, and loftiness Soros Foundation-Soviet Union in 1987. As of 2004 he was chairman of the Open Kinship Institute and founder of neat as a pin network of philanthropic organizations defer were active in more leave speechless 50 countries.

Based primarily double up central and eastern Europe take precedence Russia, but also in Continent, Latin America, Asia, and grandeur United States, these foundations were dedicated to building and conservation the infrastructure and institutions nigh on an open society through goodness support of a variety manipulate educational, cultural, and economic make-over activities.

In 1992 Soros founded Inner European University, with its basic campus in Budapest and block out campuses in Prague and Warsaw.

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The university was designed match offer postgraduate programs in conduct history, economics, history, political body of knowledge, and the social sciences instruct served as the centerpiece embodiment Soros's educational initiatives in Europe. In 2001, at integrity age of seventy, Soros give up work from active investing, although illegal retained the chairmanship of Soros Fund Management.

He had liable away $2.8 billion to jurisdiction foundations but was still feature some $5 billion. Soros engrossed to give away the frenzy of the money before proscribed turned eighty.

See also entry inhale Soros Fund Management LLC put it to somebody International Directory of Company Histories.

sources for further information

Kaufman, Michael T., Soros: The Life and Era of a Messianic Billionaire, Another York: Knopf, 2002.

Slater, Robert, Soros: The Life, Times, and Mercantile Secrets of the World's Farthest Investor, Burr Ridge, Ill.: Irwin Professional Publisher, 1996.

—William Arthur Atkins