George Soros
George Soros
MICHEL GANGNE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Money manager. NYC, Long Island. 56. Divorced, remarried; 4 children. Born Budapest; London School of Economics grades not good enough to make professor, emigrated to U.S. 1956. Currency trader, stock analyst; started Curacao-based Quantum Fund for foreign investors 1973. Hit for fences: shorted Avon at 120. Now manages $2 billion, some 19% his. Hobnobs with finance ministers in 5 languages. Dubbed “world’s greatest money manager”: 16,300% return on investments since 1969. “We start with the assumption that the stock market is always wrong. If you copy everybody else, you’re doomed to do poorly.” Lately one-third of Quantum is in 19 of 30 DJIA stocks. Soros worth far over $300 million.
From the Forbes 400 1987 Issue
Money manager. London; NYC; Southampton, N.Y. 63. Divorced, remarried; 5 children. Hungarian born, hid from Nazis in family’s attic. Paris after war; London School of Economics; Wall Street 1956 as analyst, currency trader. Started Curacao-based Quantum Fund 1969: non-U.S. investors only. Brilliant long-term record. Quantum now $4.2 billion, $2 billion more than previous year. Now-famous Billion-Dollar Year in currency markets, played British pound and Italian lira short, German mark long; 68% return. Wrote books on investing, politics. Remembers origins, warmhearted. Funded Budapest business school, first in Eastern Europe; also foundations aimed at Eastern Europe civil society development; gave $100 million to former Soviet Union for scientific research, $50 million to Bosnia for humanitarian purposes; made $25 million loan to former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia for purchasing heating oil. Set up Hungary Fund 1989, but quit 1991 to avoid conflict of interest; adding new funds. Soros makes strategy, has eye for like geniuses; travels frequently to do research firsthand. Pays off: his interests in own funds now estimated over $1.1 billion.
From the Forbes 400 1993 Issue
$2.5 billion. Money manager. London, NYC. 66. Divorced, remarried; 5 children. After lackluster 1994, early 1995, Soros and top fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller swing heavily into U.S. securities. “They were buying up everything.” Overall returns may be as much as 30% per annum. Wall Street analyst 1956, advised Americans on Europe after formation of European Common Market 1957: “… for a brief period I ruled as a one-eyed king among the blind.” Spent 1963-66 revising never-published The Burden of Consciousness. Then Quantum Fund: Curacao-based hedge fund 1969; brilliant long-term record. Currency speculator: the man who “broke” the British pound, forcing U.K. out of European exchange rate mechanism 1992; made $1 billion. Recovered from $600 million loss betting against yen early 1994. Considers Karl Popper a mentor. Substantially handed over fund investment to right-hand man Druckenmiller 1989; performance improved: “I became the coach, he became the competitor.” Childhood belief he was God persisted into adulthood. In all seriousness: “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” Claims to be giving away more than $300 million a year toward open society in Eastern Europe; also U.S. causes: drug policies, inner-city problems, people with fatal diseases. Advocates marijuana legalization for medical purposes. Member since 1986.
From the Forbes 400 1996 Issue
$5 billion. Hedge funds. Bedford, N.Y. 70. Divorced, remarried; 5 children. Lives and bestows like a king, sometimes thinks like a young activist. This year recanted 1998 prediction that global capitalism would disintegrate in 2 years, but still worries globalism is threat to democracy. Investors have more prosaic concerns about his storied hedge funds: Lost $2 billion during 1998 Russian economic collapse, additional $3 billion this year during spring Nasdaq drop. Retrenching: Now relying on outside money managers for advice after departure of chief strategist and Quantum Fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller. Soros counseling investors to expect more modest gains. Flagship Quantum Fund renamed Quantum Endowment Fund; Soros says his proceeds will be used to pay for his philanthropic pursuits. Last June told British press that he, family own 60% of group’s $11 billion under management; hedge fund rivals think numbers may be inflated.
From the Forbes 400 2000 Issue
$11 billion. Hedge funds. Westchester, N.Y. 78. Twice divorced, 5 children. Founded Quantum Fund 1969; one of nation’s first hedge funds. “Broke” British pound in 1992 with Stanley Druckenmiller; shorted England’s currency, said to have made $1 billion in one day when Bank of England stopped fixing exchange rate. Not so lucky in Soviet Union: lost several hundred million in telecom investment when Soviet economy collapsed. Since 2000 has closed door to new investors; today the majority of Quantum Endowment Fund’s $20 billion in assets are believed to be his. Sons Robert and Jonathan involved in business. Last summer made bearish bets; fund up 32% in 2007. Says U.S. on brink of prolonged recession after 25-year “superbubble.” Has given away $6 billion since 1979 via Open Society Institute.
From the Forbes 400 2008 Issue
$19 billion. Hedge funds. Katonah, N.Y. 82. Soros retired in 2011 and turned his hedge fund into a family office, returning just under $1 billion in assets to outside investors. Soros also brought in a new investment officer to help oversee the remaining assets belonging to his family and his foundations. Outspoken on world economic policies and unapologetic proponent of European integration, Soros has recently called the design of the euro “very flawed” and described the situation as an “existential crisis” for Europe. Since 1979 he has given away $8.5 billion to human rights, education and public health groups; $6 billion has gone to international causes and $400 million to fight poverty. Among his notable recent gifts: $160 million toward improving the lives of Europe’s Roma (Gypsy) minority and $100 million to overcome barriers faced by African-American boys and men. He announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Tamiko Bolton, 42 years his junior, at his 82nd birthday party in August, at his summer home in Southampton. The couple plans to marry next summer.
From the Forbes 400 2012 Issue