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The rise and fall of billionaire george soros in a brief biography. Who is George Soros? Soros how old is he

Billionaire George Soros is known as a successful investor, philanthropist and writer. He is one of the most famous financial speculators of the 20th century, the founder of several hedge funds and the international charitable organization Open Society.

Brief information:

FULL NAME: George Soros (Schwartz)
Date of Birth: 08/12/1930
Education: higher education
Business Start Date/Age: 1963 / 33 years old
Type of activity at the start: investor
Current activity: charity
Current status:$8 billion (according to Forbes magazine)

George Soros is one of the most famous financiers, speculators and political lobbyists of our time. During his work, he influenced the development of international political processes, founded a business and several funds operating around the world, became famous for successful high-risk investments.

Short biography of George Soros

The American financier of Jewish nationality was born in the capital of Hungary on August 12, 1930. The real name of George Soros (György Soros) is Schwartz. He was brought up in a middle-class family.

His parents gave important life lessons and played an important role in the brief biography of George Soros:

mother Elizabeth taught her son to be creative, awakened a love for music and drawing. Thanks to his out-of-the-box thinking, George (György in the Hungarian dialect) achieved success: he was able to see, use new opportunities;
Father Tivadar was a lawyer who went into exile in Siberia during the First World War. When Hungary was under Nazi occupation, he was engaged in forging documents, thus saving members of the Jewish diaspora in Budapest.

Statement. My father was not afraid to take risks. A life lesson that I learned during the war is that sometimes you can lose everything, even your own life, if you do not take risks.

It was this idea that became the key to the success story of George Soros as a fantastically successful investor.

A sharp mind and the ability to think outside the box allowed him to learn 4 languages: English, German, French and, of course, Hungarian.

For most of World War II, he hid in basements, attics and other nooks and crannies so that Nazi soldiers would not find him. At that time, the largest Jewish community in Eastern Europe lived in Hungary, and the occupying German troops were especially zealous in looking for people of this nationality here.

Through the efforts of his father in 1944, George emigrated to the UK. A year later, after the victory of the USSR and the allies in the war, he returned back, even recovered at school. But even then, the idea matured in him to be based in the West and achieve great success.

In 1947, at the age of 17, Soros left his native Hungary alone. First he stopped in Switzerland, then in the capital of England, London. Here the money that his father gave him ended. The future billionaire had to survive with temporary and casual jobs: as a waiter in a status restaurant, an apple picker on a farm, and even a house painter.

In 1949 he entered the London School of Economics and graduated in two years. At the same time, I got acquainted with the philosophical book "The Open Society and Its Enemies", imbued with ideas and wanted to put them into practice, to make capital on this. Soros was very attracted to the investment business.

In the early 50s, he got a job as an intern at the Singer and Friedlander bank, where he dealt with the shares of various companies, in particular gold mining companies. George made money by buying and reselling securities. He really liked working in the money markets, even despite the fact that at first he could not achieve much success.

In 1956, having earned some money, he went to the United States, determined to succeed in the investment business.

Work in New York

Soros was helped to find a job in the business center of the United States by one of his colleagues from London, who recommended him to the investment firm of F. Mayer. Soon the young businessman took up currency arbitrage.

Having gained experience and made acquaintances, in 1963 he moved to the large company Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, which is engaged in investing in foreign markets. Considering good experience, acquaintances in Old Europe and knowledge of foreign languages, George was admitted to the state as a priority.

The investor was of the opinion that the economy, despite clear laws, is essentially subjective, as people with their own characteristics stand behind it.

Quote. Facts and opinions do not exist independently of each other. And opinions change facts.

In the 1960s, there was no internet and no such rapid exchange of information and news. The entrepreneur admits that sometimes for subsequent calculations he set the indicators he needed - no one could check whether they were true.

All businessmen try to take into account future events, risks and opportunities. Soros played on this, speculating with valuable information.

Creation of offshore funds

In 1967, a successful investor convinced the management of his company to create several independent funds and provide the opportunity to manage their activities. As a result, by 1969, Soros had two funds under his control: First Eagle, Double Eagle, and $250,000 of his own funds.

Figure 1. George Soros, photo session.
Source: rinf.com

Through his acquaintances, he was able to attract another $6 million, and a little later - funds from wealthy Arabs and Latin Americans. No taxes were levied on the capital raised, as the funds were registered offshore.

George invested skillfully, buying shares in companies in Canada, France, Holland and Japan. In the 1970s, during the structural economic crisis, unlike many other players, the entrepreneur only benefited:

for 5 years to 1974, the securities of the Double Eagle fund tripled to $ 18 million;
in 1976-77, the value of the fund increased by almost 100%. For comparison, the Dow Jones index fell by 13% at that time.

In 1979, the fund changed its name from Double Eagle to Quantum. Then he was able to earn $ 100 million on the fall of the British pound sterling. English state. bonds were in great demand, Soros bought them for $1 billion, and then unexpectedly sold them. And very soon the pound fell seriously.

By the early 1980s, looking back over 10 years, the value of the Quantum (Double Eagle) hedge fund was almost 103%. This brought the investor not only universal respect and recognition, but also solid wealth - at the end of 1980, his fortune was estimated at $ 100 million.

In 1981, for the first time, the unprecedented happened - the fund's securities fell by almost 23%, and the year ended without a profit. This led to the fact that a third of the investors withdrew their money from Quantum. However, the very next year, the shares rose by 57%.

The businessman, sensitive to change, realized that the company needed change. To replace him, he found a talented manager from Minneapolis, Jim Marquez, who began work in 1983. According to its results, the fund's assets in value increased by 24.9% to $385.5 million.

From now on, Soros managed only half of all investments. This made it possible to do other things, foreign trips around the world.

White and black stripe

Figure 2. George Soros at the WEF.
Source: www.qoshe.com

Quantum continued to develop, and 1985 was a time of victory for him and his founder.

The growth in the value of the fund amounted to 122.2%, in monetary terms - from $449 million to $1 billion.
Soros earned a total of $93.5 million.

Interesting fact! Particularly noteworthy is the story of the Japanese yen. On September 22, 1985, the businessman bought several million Japanese government bonds. But the very next day, the dollar fell 4.3% against the yen, which George took advantage of, earning $40 million overnight.

For the next currency speculation, a talented investor was called "the man who brought down the Bank of England."

In 1992, Soros opened a position on the British pound sterling for more than $ 10 billion on the stock exchange. A bold step and further actions brought him a fantastic profit - $ 1.1 billion. This led to a chain of events: intervention by the British Central Bank, the withdrawal of the British pound from the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), a significant drop in its exchange rate.

All this made the entrepreneur one of the richest people in the world, richer than some states. In 1993, he had more capital than the 42 countries that are members of the UN.

The losing streak began in 1997. In cooperation with Vladimir Potanin, he invested in Russia, bought shares in one of the companies. As a result of a series of operations, the 1998 crisis, Soros lost most of his investments, was forced to sell an unprofitable investment, but did it unsuccessfully. If the businessman waited a little, he could sell the asset for twice the price, which could recoup the cost.

In 1999, his core fund, Quantum, lost $1 billion in a bad investment. Other funds also lost significant funds: in total, they amounted to $ 500 million. Business circles began to say that George had lost his flair, lost the tail of luck out of his hands. Businessmen began to urgently withdraw their capital from Soros organizations.

But the entrepreneur did not want to give up: he attracted new investors, businessmen saw that some assets of the funds continued to grow. At the turn of the millennium, George invested heavily in the internet.

At first, things went well: the total value of Quantum exceeded $10 billion, but in the early 2000s, the so-called “dot-com crisis” occurred. The fund's forecasters did not take into account a number of processes that caused the collapse of the NASDAQ index. As a result, losses exceeded $5 billion.

Soros realized that "the time for big deals" was over, and closed his largest foundation, deciding to turn to charitable work, writing books.

Controversial philanthropist and philosopher

Back in 1979, the entrepreneur created the first charitable foundation "Open Society", which is actively working to this day; annual funding from the creator is about $ 300 million. The organization has more than 30 representative offices in different countries. The Fund finances a number of projects in the field of education, medicine, civil society, etc.

Interesting fact! In Russia, the Open Society appeared in 1995, actively issued grants for 8 years, in 2015 it was banned and recognized as an undesirable organization.

Speaking about activities in the Russian Federation, the following results can be distinguished:

computer equipment was donated to educational institutions;
$100 million allocated to support Russian science and scientists;
purchased and provided scientific equipment, reagents;
funded trips to scientific conferences;
in 1996-2001, within the framework of the program "University Internet Centers", 33 Internet centers were opened, etc.

With the money of the Open Society, a number of educational institutions, funds for the study of economics, sociology, culture, support for publishing, the development of information technologies, etc. have been created.

Despite outwardly plausible goals and objectives, many questions arose about the Soros Foundation. There are cases when real and potential scientists were taken abroad and started working for the interests of Western countries (the so-called "brain drain").

In particular, in Russia, the philanthropist is accused that charity is a guise under which scientific developments are collected, society is divided, false propaganda and disinformation are spread.

Interesting fact! Russian and foreign publics are well aware of the negative attitude of George Soros towards Russia. He repeatedly called her "enemy number 1."

After the collapse of the USSR, the entrepreneur took up the creation and distribution of textbooks for lower and higher education in Russia. The quality of these publications was very low, information was presented in them in such a way as to belittle the contribution and importance of Russian culture and statehood, information was disseminated that did not correspond to reality.

According to experts and historians, the purpose of such actions was to create a "guilt complex" among the Russian people, a destructive effect on the collective conscious and unconscious.

The activity of the Soros Foundation is called into question by many countries. According to the latest news:

in the homeland of the financier, in Hungary, the work of his charitable organization creates serious problems;
in Turkey, a large-scale operation is being carried out against all institutions of the fund;
Austria gave 28 days to close the office.

George Soros is criticized by many politicians. One of the leaders of Croatia believes that the businessman supports traitors, promotes dangerous ideas in society. The President of Romania accused the investor of subversive, malicious activities.

It is believed that Open Society took a direct part in organizing revolutions in Georgia, the countries of Central Asia, Ukraine and other states. The foundation's institutions supported Hillary Clinton extensively during the last US presidential election in 2016.

Soros is one of the only ones who profited well from the Brexit procedure - the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.

You can learn more about what “Brexit” is in the article: “Brexit: what is it, analysis of results and consequences”.

The entrepreneur is one of the richest people in the world. In 2009, his fortune was estimated at $ 11 billion, in 2012 - already $ 19 billion. Now, according to Forbes magazine, he has $ 8 billion, although more recently his fortune was $ 23 billion. Soros transferred a little more than $ 17 billion to the activities of his fund " Open Society".

The 87-year-old businessman is in his third marriage, he has 5 children in total.

We continue to publish articles about the success stories of famous people. George Soros- no doubt a well-known financier and investor. At the time of this article's publication, he has also become involved in philanthropy. George Soros is known not only as an investor (like), but also as a speculator. George Soros is treated ambiguously all over the world. But everyone agrees that this is an extraordinary and interesting person.

George Soros was born on August 12, 1930 to a Jewish family in Budapest. Father Tivadar Soros (Shorosh) was a lawyer and tried to engage in the publishing business. Soros' father fought in World War I against Russia and was captured by the Russians, eventually spending three years in the camps. This is probably the reason why his son George Soros dislikes Russia and Russians. This follows from numerous media publications.

George Soros was a talented child and learned not only his native Hungarian, but also German, English and French. Also, Soros was fond of sports in childhood and played Capital (this is a variation on the theme of the Monopoly game). Classmates remembered George Soros as a man with a tough, aggressive and domineering character.

During the Second World War, Soros's father was engaged in forging documents, which saved many Jews from death. Those who did nothing were at greater risk than those who risked forging documents. Soros Jr. learned this life lesson. As he says: sometimes you can lose everything, including your own life, if you do not take risks.

After the Second World War, George Soros moved to England, where he worked as a waiter. It also happened that he finished eating food for the guests, because. was completely broke. How many post-war years George Soros spent in poverty and doing odd jobs. For example, he worked at picking apples, and also painted something there.

1949 George enters the London School of Economics, where he listened to lectures by very talented teachers. As a result, Soros not only became interested in economics, but also in philosophy. In particular, he was interested in the book The Open Society and Its Enemies. According to the future billionaire, philosophy, however paradoxical it may sound, can really help make money.

At 22, Soros received a degree in economics and this did not help him much in moving up the career ladder. Nevertheless, he sent his resume to a number of investment companies, and in one of them Soros was offered a trainee position. It was there that Soros got a taste for stock trading. Subsequently, the young investment banker moved to New York, where he got a job in an investment firm and began to engage in foreign exchange trading.

In 1963, Soros got a job at Arnold & Blackhreder, America's leading foreign injection firm. That's what came in handy knowledge of George Soros several European languages and connections in the Old World.

Previously, it was believed that economic phenomena are objective. However, according to George Soros, if we consider economics to be a science, then we must be objective. So, the participants in economic processes (people, households and firms - they all do not always behave rationally. Therefore, Soros understood that our opinion about stock markets and financial markets have little in common with what is actually happening there.

Soon, George Soros, with the support of Arnold and Blackhreder, will establish an offshore investment fund and entrust the management of this fund to Soros. He understood that she was much better able to invest than to work among the top management. Subsequently, Soros invested both personal money and the money of many of his clients through offshore companies. Offshore funds allowed tax evasion.

In the early seventies, many of the wolves on Wall Street were not doing well. At the same time, George Soros was an exception to the rule, and his investments grew in price sometimes by tens of percent a year. George Soros bought up shares of companies from Europe and Asia and tried to buy real pearls of business for a penny. Soros also became famous for collapsing the British pound sterling. It is unclear what was the cause and what was the effect. In any case, we know for sure that Soros sold the British pounds on the eve of the collapse of this currency. Together with the talented financier, his investors also grew rich rapidly. By 1980, the Soros Foundation had never closed a year with a loss for 12 consecutive years without exception, and in 1980, his fund showed a growth rate of 102% per annum. But later there were also bad years. In the 80s, Soros became more actively involved in speculation, influencing the dynamics of the markets, as well as the exchange rates of entire states, because. the amount of managed funds has already become significant. On these fluctuations in stocks and currencies, Soros earned a lot of money.

Soros' talent is hard to deny. For example, in the press there was a publication that in 1993 alone, George Soros earned more money than the McDonald's company, which at that time employed 169,000 employees. Financial World writes that Soros made the most money on Wall Street that year.

George Soros' Secret of Success

Analysts believe that one of the main reasons for the success of George Soros was his excellent and sharp mind. He sees cause and effect relationships well and is therefore able to make forecasts in the markets and use this knowledge.

Another important quality of George Soros is the ability to make tough decisions quickly. Active risk management in a dynamic environment requires decisiveness and does not tolerate much thought. At the same time, the work is going on with huge sums. According to many financiers, in order to work with such huge money, you need to have iron balls.

At the same time, Soros's temperament is such that in case of a mistake he does not lose his mind, but remains in his sober mind, knows how to admit his mistake and exit the game in time, fixing losses.

Those who worked for Soros say that he has a very developed intuition. I think that this intuition has developed with experience in the market for decades. Also, many say that George Soros is characterized by self-discipline, as well as an understanding that both objective and subjective factors act on the markets.

Perhaps also one of the reasons for the success of a talented investor was his circle of friends - the leaders of states, who could provide valuable information for investment when communicating.

In 1997, Soros made a mistake with the Russian stock market. Investments in Russia's Svyazinvest on the eve of the financial collapse in Russia amounting to almost two billion dollars were a serious mistake. Then there were serious miscalculations regarding the dot-com bubble. Ultimately, Soros decided he had lost his senses and moved away from actively managing big deals.

George Soros and Philanthropy

Soros is known as a person who is actively involved in charity work. And the first charitable foundation back in 1979. For a long time, Soros was also involved in charity work, including in Russia. Some people believe that charitable activities in Russia are a cover for some kind of espionage business, or that the opposition used to be funded in this way. There are similar opinions about Soros funds and from residents of other countries.

Is George Soros an enemy of Russia?

Soros is also accused that, under the guise of charitable activities, scientific developments created during the USSR were exported to Russia, helping the so-called brain drain. Soros himself does not deny that he purposefully financed the forces directed against the Soviet state. For some reason, Soros is against the current political system in Russia. Perhaps the reason is that his father was a prisoner in Russia for several years or maybe he really believes in an "open society".

Bottom line, Soros is a talented financier and investor, but his activities in relation to Russia raise big questions.

George Soros- a brilliant financier, philosopher, politician, philanthropist and at the same time a speculator with radical views, adventurous inclinations and innovative thinking. No one can predict in advance his next step in work and life. He does not walk the beaten path, but he himself paves new paths, as well as new doctrines.

His activities on a global scale are evaluated ambiguously.

There was even a term soros”, implying speculators who artificially create currency crises for the sake of profit. On the other hand, Soros created a network of charitable organizations around the world under the general name "". He is a member of the executive committee of the non-profit international organization International Crisis Group, the essence of which is to prevent political conflicts.

Education

Career:

Brokerage Firm F. M. Mayer, Arbitrage Trader - 1956–1959
Investment company Wertheim & Company, analyst - 1959-1963
Arnhold Investment Company and S. Blaikroeder, Vice President - 1963-1973
Quantum Group Foundation, Sole Proprietor - 1973-2000
Soros Foundation, Chairman - 1996

Prizes:

Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, New York - 1990
University of Bologna - 1995

Address:

Soros Foundation Office, 888 Seventh Avenue, 33rd Floor, Suite 3300, New York, NY 10016-0001; https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/ .

Biography of George Soros

George Soros (George Soros), formerly Gyorgy Shorosh, and even earlier - Gyord, that is, Georg Schwartz, was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest, into a Jewish family. His father, Tivadar Shorosh, a lawyer, went to the front as a volunteer in the First World War. Having been in Russian captivity and learning what Siberia is, in 1920 he fled home.

"To survive, you have to circumvent the law."

Elizabeth's mother advised her son to get an education, and his father taught survival methods. During the Nazi occupation, the family survived only thanks to forged documents that the father made. It was an important life lesson - to act according to one's own reasons, and not according to established laws.

In 1947, George moved to London, where he met the anti-communist philosopher Karl Popper and his treatise " open society". It is this theory of market dependencefrom psychology will permeate Soros' activities throughout his life. Future core fund " Quantum” will get its name, also based on the treatise.

“Alchemy does not work with chemical elements. But it works in the financial markets, because spells can influence the decisions of people who shape the course of events.”

Career in New York

In 1956, Soros moved to America, where he got a job in a small investment firm. F.M. Mayer. He invented and implemented new methods of work.

Since 1963, Soros has excelled as a financial analyst for a leading investment campaign. Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder who has worked with overseas clients. After some time, he reached the post of vice president. But then Kennedy's executive order came out on additional taxes on foreign investment, and work began to decline.

Soros came up with a new way of trading - internal arbitrage. He sold securities from a block of shares, bonds, powers of attorney separately before they were officially divided. However, this seemed to him not enough.

"I don't play within a given set of rules, I seek to change the rules of the game."

He quit investing and resumed writing his old dissertation - " Heavy burden of consciousness". After 3 years, he realized that he could still achieve much more in the field of investment. In 1966 he returned to business, and in 1967 the same company Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder entrusted him with the creation and management of several offshore funds.

The first two funds furst needle" And " Double ing in 1967 cost the company $250,000. But he managed to attract wealthy clients from Europe, South America and the Arab countries. Main officewas located in New York, and the funds were registered in the Antilles - offshore allowed to evade taxes. Under the leadership of Soros, incomes grew, although other investors suffered losses.

Creation of the first fund

“Nothing will make you concentrate like a possible danger. In order to reach the maximum level of clear thought, I need inspiration, and it is desirable that it be associated with risk.

In 1969, having made his own capital in 3 years of successful work, George Soros decided to create his own hedge fund. Such an enterprise is characterized by the fact that it uses aggressive tactics, is free from regulations, and can choose its own strategies and instruments for investment. This path leads either to super profits or to large losses.

George Soros becomes co-owner and leader Double Eagle Fund”, (Double ing), investing $ 4 million from personal capital. Later, the fund will turn into the famous "Quantum Group", which will bring Soros the main wealth and fame.

Over the years" Quantum has experienced its ups and downs, but contributors have earned a total of $32 million that is still unattainable today.

"I never play within one set of rules, but always try to change the rules of the game, adjusting them for myself"

Soros added his knowledge and experience to the ideas of Karl Popper and gave his own theory the name "reflexivity". Theorists of the time believed that professional investors assess the futuremarket movement based on traditional analytics. Soros turned everything upside down. He is sure that the psychology of the investor occupies the leading place in forecasting.

In 1973, George Soros, together with a former colleague and wealthy investor Jim Rogers, founded his own company. The junior partner, Roger, did fundamental analysis, and the senior, Soros, made deals. They were attracted by moments of risk, when the course maintained a delicate balance, but could swing in any direction at any moment.

Here is an example of Soros's methods: during the conflict between Israel and Egypt, Soviet weapons turned out to be more powerful than the Pentagon expected. Soros realized that the United States would now begin to actively build up the defense industry, and invested in military enterprises. As a result, by 1974, the fund's shares increased from 6.1 million to 18 million. In 1976, their value increased by 61.9%, and then - by 31.2%.

1980 showed that in the 10 years after the renaming of the Double Eagle fund to Quantum, the value of assets increased to 10.6%, which amounted to $ 381 million. Personal capital totaled $ 100 million. Soros made rich not only himself. His first investors, already rich people, thanks to the talent of Soros, became simply incredible rich.

Business or philanthropy?

By the end of 1980, his fund, renamed Quantum, had increased its initial capital by 100 times. And it was equal to 381 million dollars. But Soros fired Jim Rogers, and soon the figures began to creep down. A year later, he lost 23%, then the company's equity was halved. From the balance of $ 200 million, he returned the money to depositors, and he himself decided to take a break. He divorced his first wife Annelis, relations with children were not getting better. George Soros began visiting a psychoanalyst, looking for remedies for depression and decided to focus on philanthropy.

Unexpectedly, in the summer of 1981, the magazine "Institutional Investor" prints his portrait with the inscription: " World's Greatest Investment Manager". A laudatory article listed his successes and lifted him up. Among his clients were such magnates as Geldring, Pearson, Rothschild.

However, regular customers were spooked by previous losses. They took away their assets, believing that Soros was exhausted. Securities "Quantum" fell by 22.9%. For the first time in his life, he decided to fly to Europe to stop the flow of refugees, but it was all in vain. For the first time in 12 years of existence, the financial year ended with a minus.

By the end of 1982, a frustrated Soros still raised the value of assets by 56.9%, but decided to retire and began to look for a suitable successor. It was Jim Marquez, a 33-year-old child prodigy from Minnesota who manages the IDS Progressive Fund.

On January 1, 1983, Marquez began his career with Soros. The funds were divided into two parts. One was run by George Soros himself, and the other by 10 managers. The annual result was a real breakthrough. Assets grew by 24.9%, which corresponds to 75.4 million dollars, which amounted to no more, no less, 385,532,688 dollars.

It was officially believed that Soros retired from work, but this is not entirely true. Most of the time he traveled around Europe and Japan, visiting each country for a month. And only in the summer he remained in New York on the island of Long Island.

Return to business

“My personality is that I don't have any particular investment style. Every time there is something new – new approaches, new methods, new ways of achieving the set goals.”

In 1985, the fund's shares soared again. It took just one year to increase asset growth by 122.2% from $448.9 million to $1,003 million. Quantum's profit was $548 million. Soros' share was 12%, that is, 66 million dollars. If you include in this amount 17.5 million taxes and10 million in client bonuses, then the annual earnings will be 93.5 million dollars. It is easy to calculate that from the year the fund was opened in 1969, each dollar invested then became worth $164. Inspired George Soros again embarked on the path of active action.

On September 22, 1985, US Treasury Secretary James Baker met with his counterparts from Great Britain, France, Germany, and Japan to jointly depreciate the dollar. Soros bought millions of yen the day before the dollar collapsed and made $30 million overnight on the depreciation (from 239 to 222.5) as the yen rose 4.3% against the dollar and then 7% .

And although Soros did not know about the upcoming changes, many began to call him a living legend in the foreign exchange market. George Soros himself said that he, like everyone else, makes mistakes, but one major success overshadows everything. In total, in 1985, he earned $ 230 million. Whether it was a well-thought-out calculation, or a simple accident, Soros reacted to such a jump with the definition - “ sheer nonsense».

“Success requires leisure. You need time that belongs solely to you.”

Now the tycoon could afford to quietly manage his empire from the height of a penthouse in Manhattan, communicating with the world's largest bankers in 5 languages. Edition The Economist called him " the most intriguing investor in the world". A magazine Fortune described him as " the most successful investor of his time, endowed with the gift of foresight».

How Soros scammed the Bank of England

“It doesn't really matter if you're right or wrong. What matters is how much money you make when you're right and how much money you lose when you're wrong."

On October 5, 1990, 60-year-old Soros met with a 30-year-old fund manager on Wall Street. Despite the difference in age, they understood each other perfectly and became close friends. Two years later, Stanley Druckenmiller headed the fund " Quantum Fund» George Soros.

September 16, 1992, Wednesday, Soros played a big game. In recent years, he has gradually bought up the currency and government bonds of Britain. But then it happened that the pound began to fall and steadily declined during the week. Druckenmiller suggested to Soros " help» the British currency to fall even lower.

He added personal capital of about 5 billion pounds sterling to the assets and put on a short position at once more than 10 billion. The rate immediately dropped to a minimum. Once again buying stocks and currencies at the lowest price, George Soros made £1 billion in one day.

Thus, he forced the Bank of England to carry out a massive injection of foreign exchange from government reserves and withdraw from the sphere of influence on European currencies. Soros has since earned the status of "The Man Who Toppled the Bank of England".

The following year, 1993, George Soros became the most successful trader in the investment market. World Finance magazine calculated that his earnings for 1993 were equal to the GDP of 42 countries. With this amount, it was possible to purchase 5,790 Rolls-Royce cars or pay for studies at the higher educational institutions of Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia University in 3 years. He alone earned as much as the largest corporation "".

Attack on South Asia

In 1997, Soros carried out an attack similar to that of England to depreciate the currencies of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. It caused a deep economic crisis in these countries and the return of the economy 15 years ago. The next attempt was an attack on China, but it was thwarted by Chinese experts. The leaders of many countries began to worry. If Soros willtrade their currency, an economic crisis may begin. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad effectively blamed Soros for destabilizing his country's economy during the Asian financial panic of 1997–1998. The tycoons of capitalism gained status as a person who could change the direction of the financial world market.

Massive failures

“By and large, I’m not afraid to lose everything. After all, I still have a head on my shoulders, and in this head there are still brains ... ".

In 1997, Soros, according to him, committed biggest mistake in my life, which was the first in a further series of failures. Together with the Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, he created the offshore Mustcom and acquired a 25% stake in the Russian company Svyazinvest. 1998 fell on the crisis, prices fell almost three times. The purchase of Svyazinvest cost Soros $1.875 billion. And its sale in 2004 to Access Industries, headed by Leonard Blavatnik, was 625 million.

Second mistake was predicted in 1999 the decline in the assets of Internet enterprises. They, on the contrary, went uphill, and 700,000,000 dollars were lost for nothing. The next puncture was a bet on the growth of the euro. 300,000,000 were also lost. The Quantum Fund has lost almost one billion dollars.

Other funds by mid-1999 also showed a disgraceful result of minus $500 million. The total loss was one and a half billion dollars. Clients in a panic pulled out their money. It was an unprecedented failure in his entire career. But Soros wouldn't be Soros if he hadn't stopped the pullback. Moreover, he found a way to attract new investors by investing in Internet companies again, but this time to increase the price. The turnover of the Quantum Fund by 2000 had grown to $10,500,000,000.

In 2000, at the age of seventy, George Soros decided to retire, although he retained leadership of the Soros Foundation Office. He put $2.8 billion into the fund, but he still had about $5 billion left. Soros promised to add the rest of the money before he turned 80.

Unexpectedly, the course, the Internet collapsed, and in April " Quantum” emptied by 3 billion. The total loss in the first quarter was $5 billion. This is 2.5 times higher than the losses in 1999. In 2004, Soros liquidates the fund. Since 2011, he decides from now on to earn only for himself and his family.

His two sons, Jonathan and Robert, commented that the liquidation is due to the emergence of new laws that significantly restrict the activities of hedge funds. The latest regulations make it necessary to make the business transparent, to disclose data about investors, which is basically impossible to do.

By 2010, Soros was considered the largest philanthropist, according to The Cronicle Of Philanthropy. Total Fund " Open Society Fund» received $332 million from Soros's personal capital to support democracy inCentral Europe, Eastern Europe and the territories of the former Soviet Union. By 2011, his fortune was estimated at 14.5 billion. According to Forbes, Soros was the 46th richest person in the world.

Retired George Soros

But by the time Soros retired, of course, he was not left empty-handed. He now lives in New York and has five children. Three - from the first wife of Anna-Lisa Witchak, with whom he lived for 23 years. His second marriage was in 1983 to Susan Weber, an art critic from New York who is 25 years his junior. Together they lived for 22 years. From this marriage two children were born.

Then, for more than five years, his girlfriend of life was a 28-year-old Brazilian TV star, Adriana Ferreira. In 2001, after parting, she demanded through the courts compensation of 50 million dollars. Soros called the lawsuit "completely unfounded." His lawyer expressed his opinion: "It is clear that this is nothing more than an attempt to blackmail money from a wealthy person."

And there is nothing surprising in the fact that in 2013, at the age of 83, he married for the third time. Brazilian Tamiko Bolton, 42 years old, previously sold dietary supplements online and later became the owner of an online yoga company.

At the moment, the family piggy bank holds 29 billion dollars in its assets.

The Secret of Soros' Wealth

"God gave me an extremely short memory, which allows me to deal not with the past, but with the future."

Despite the fact that George Soros owns a large group of companies " Quantum Group of Funds", all major operations are carried out through a secret, the largest offshore fund" Quantum Fund NV”, which was listed on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
He made his fortune playing in a bear market, that is, betting on a fall. Here he used his theory " Market Reflection". It says that the price forecast in the future is based not only on economic and political changes, but also on psychological factors. For example, in order to reduce the value of the currency of any country, you need to use the world's media, while simultaneously putting pressure on analysts and traders. This is how crises are caused that destroy the lives of many thousands of people.
The decisive nature of the financier also played a role - the harsh childhood and the example of his father affected. Soros himself emphasizes that the ability to survive is the key to investment success. This means that the trader intuitively feels when to lower rates and when to raise. Sometimes it's a fraction of a second, a moment. Extremely developed intuition, multiplied by the inquisitiveness of the mind, gives an excellent result.
Soros has excellent control over his actions. Having made a wrong move, he does not continue the game, but stops or withdraws assets altogether. After all, further play in the wrong direction incurs losses. This business requires extraordinary self-discipline. As a result, Soros was able to enter the international unofficial club, which includes 2,000 major personalities - the elite of international politics and economics.
Many believe that Soros' virtues are only part of the truth. It is assumed that having secured friendship with the powerful of this world, he used classified official information for personal gain. In 2002, he was even fined 2.2 million euros for obtaining classified information for profit.

Political ambitions

George Soros was not a businessman in the usual sense of the word. The fact is that a lot of money made it possible to lobby for the necessary laws, to sponsor color revolutions. It was not without his participation that power changed in Eastern European countries, as well as in Georgia and Ukraine. No wonder Petro Poroshenko in November 2015 awarded him the Order of Freedom. Soros himself admitted tofollowing the theory of reflexivity of stock markets. Its essence is that the market does not move by itself. It is formed by people who influence political and economic circumstances. So, for example, in order to bring down the currency of a country, it is necessary through the media, analysts, currency traders to shake the currency or stock market in advance.

Charity

The only US citizen, he gives to charity 50% of his income, which is 300 million a year. The first charitable foundation called " open society» ( Open Society Fund) Soros discovered in 1979. Immediately he began to allocate money for the study of black students in South Africa.

In 1992 Soros founded the Central European University with the main building in Budapest. The Open Society Foundations operate in more than 100 countries. Their annual expenditure in 2011 reached $835 million.

In 1984 he created in Hungary the first Open Society Institute with a budget of $3 million. In 1990, the Central European University was opened with branches in Prague and Warsaw. Similar funds were created in the USA, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Their goal is to promote the ideas of the "Open Society", bring democracy and freedom, fight against dictators and tyranny. He has spent more than $8 billion on sponsorship since 1984. in 70 countries.

In reality, the Soros Foundations are aimed at corrupting the youth and undermining the state from within. He supports same-sex marriage, the legalization of marijuana.

Romania, Croatia, Belarus banned its activities in their countries. Many states believe that Soros supports traitors and is a sponsor of various opposition societies. Soros is a representative of the shadow world government, which benefits from subordinating the economy of other countries. Therefore, his philanthropy is so ambiguous.

George Soros in Russia

Of the $5 billion donated to charity, $1 billion went to Russia. In 1987, for the first time, a Soviet-American foundation was opened under the name "Cultural Initiative". But he did not last long, as the funds were simply embezzled. In the same year, together with Potanin, an offshore was formed, which, due to the crisis, lasted only one year.

In 1988, the Cultural Initiative charitable foundation was founded to promote science and culture. Soon it was closed, as the money again went into the pocket of interested parties. In 1995, Soros returned to the Russian market with a fund« open society”, but the story with non-targeted money repeated itself. Then the joint program "University Internet Centers" was opened. The Russian government has invested 30 million dollars in it, and Soros - 100 million dollars.

For 5 years, from 1996 to 2001, 33 Internet centers were created for $100 million. A free magazine was published for young people coolant, which had a social and scientific direction. But, as you know, only cheese in a mousetrap is free. The ideology of history and cultural studies textbooks was aimed at strengthening the opposition. In 2003, Soros curtailed the activities of Russian foundations, and in 2004 he closed the grants. But the funds created with his help and the societies are still working. This:

Petersburg Institute of Culture "PRO ARTE"
Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences
Fund for Book Publishing, Education and Information Technology Support
Pushkin Library

In those days, the Funds came in handy. The country was at a crossroads, the economy was in complete collapse, and there is nothing to say about the humanitarian sectors. They set up the production of textbooks without the Soviet ideology, replenished the libraries with books. But there was one trick. All programs contained oppositional ideas. The ideological sabotage was designed for the youth and intelligentsia.

In November 2015, at the suggestion of the State Duma deputies, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation recognized the Open Society Foundation in Russia as undesirable, as it posed a threat to the constitutional order of Russia. 53 humanitarian textbooks were burned at the Vorkuta Mining College. 14 books written off for destruction at the Polytechnic College. Ukhta University was preparing to seize 413 books.

What is the danger of Soros funds

Readers of the online publication Human Events - powerful voices conservative rated billionaire George Soros as "the single most destructive left-wing demagogue in the country" and named 10 arguments:

Issuing billions to societies with leftist views

Using Open Society as a pipeline, George Soros has donated over $7 billion to left-wing groups. Here are some of them: ACORN, Apollo Union, La Resa National Council, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post, Southern Poverty Law Center, Soujourners, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women.

Influence on American elections

George Soros set a goal in 2004 to remove President George W. Bush, allocating $23.58 million to 527 anti-Bush groups. Soros helped Barack Obama launch a political career.

Desire to reduce American sovereignty.

Soros would prefer America to become subject to international organizations. This would strengthen the power of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In his opinion, it is necessary to reduce American influence in the IMF.

Media dictatorship.

Soros is the financial patron of the American media, where he pursues the line of his interests. But there is a progressive media group in the world that resists conservative pressure. Its founder, David Brock, openly declared war on Fox News, initiated "guerilla warfare and sabotage" against the cable news channel. He tried to destroy the business of the owner Rupert Murdoch, since by law the educational foundation has no right to engage in partisan political activities.

MoveOn.org Society.

George Soros was a major investor in the MoveOn.org advocacy and political action campaign for millions of liberal candidates. On its website, the society compared George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler.

Center for American Progress.

The Center for American Progress provided the Obama administration with topics for negotiations and policy positions. Soros also funded the Obama-led White House and staffed its administration.

environmental extremism.

George Soros funded Van Jones with his leftist environmental ideas to support societies: the Ella Baker Center, Green For All, the Center for American Progress, and the Apollo Alliance, which contributed $110 billion in environmental support. This was part of Obama's economic stimulus package. Soros also funded Climate Policy Initiative funds due to global warming, gave money to the Friends of the Earth society.

American Association.

Soros gave almost 20 million to societies with one goal - to defeat President Bush. Such support strengthened the campaign brigades at the place of residence, it got to the point that even criminals were involved. Voter registration was riddled with fraud. They handed out leaflets and called voters by phone, misleading them.

currency manipulation.

Soros made a significant part of his multi-billion dollar fortune from currency transactions. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused him of undermining the national currency. In Thailand, he was called an "economic war criminal". Soros initiated the British financial crisis. He dumped 10 billion sterling, which caused the devaluation of the currency, and he himself received 1 billion in profit.

Books by George Soros:

Alchemy of Finance - 1987
Discovering Soviet Power - 1990
Supporting Democracy - 1991
Democracy Guarantee -1991
Reading the Mind of the Market - 1994
Soros on Soros - 1995
The Crisis of Global Capitalism: The Endangered Open Society - 1998
Open Society: Reshaping Global Capitalism - 2000
George Soros on Globalization - 2002
The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power - 2004
George Soros on Globalization -2002
Bubble of American Supremacy -2005
A New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The 2008 Credit Crisis and Its 2009 Significance
Financial crisis in Europe and the United States -2012
Tragedy of the European Union - 2014

Conclusion

“I never tried to stand out. Even when I already had more than one million, I tried to live very modestly, much easier than my finances allowed me.

George Soros, despite the ambiguity of thinking, is considered the great financier of our time. He survived more than one crisis, turned millions of deals, lost millions, but, in the end, turned out to be a winner. Not everyone agrees with his principles. But non-standard thinking and courage in making unexpected decisions make us respect this extraordinary person.

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George Soros (Eng. George Soros, Hung. Soros György), real name is Schwartz. Born August 12, 1930 in Budapest. American financier, investor. A supporter of the theory of an open society and an opponent of "market fundamentalism" (in this direction, close to the social ideas of Karl Popper). Creator of a network of charitable organizations known as the Soros Foundation. Member of the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group.

His activities are controversial in different countries and different circles of society. Often referred to as a financial speculator, as well as a supporter of the legalization of marijuana for medical use. Considered "the man who ruined the Bank of England", the scientific term "soros" was formed from his name to refer to large speculators who launch currency crises for "profit and pleasure" (Paul Krugman, 1996).

Born into a Jewish family of average income. His father, Tivadar Schwartz, was a lawyer, a prominent figure in the city's Jewish community, an Esperanto specialist, and an Esperantist writer. In 1936, the family changed their surname to the Hungarian version of Shorosh (Soros). The elder brother is engineer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Soros (1926-2013).

In 1947, Soros moved to England, where he entered the London School of Economics and Political Science and successfully graduated three years later. He was lectured by the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, who had a great influence on him, whose ideological follower he became. In England, he found work in a haberdashery factory, and then turned into a traveling salesman, but did not leave the search for work in a bank. In 1953 he got a job at Singer & Friedlander. Work and at the same time an internship took place in the arbitration department, which was located next to the stock exchange.

By 1956, Soros began his career as a financier. He arrived in New York at the invitation of the father of his London friend, a certain Mayer, who had his own small brokerage firm on Wall Street. A career in the United States began with international arbitration, that is, buying securities in one country and selling them in another. Soros created a new method of trading, which he called internal arbitrage - selling separately combined securities of stocks, bonds and warrants before they could be officially separated from each other. In 1963, Kennedy introduced a surcharge on foreign investment, and Soros closed his business. By 1967 he was head of research at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, a prominent European stock brokerage firm.

In 1969, Soros became the head and co-owner of the Double Eagle fund, which later grew into the famous Quantum Foundation. Soros named the fund after Karl Heisenberg, a German theoretical physicist, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, and his uncertainty principle. The Fund carried out speculative operations with securities with varying success.

It is believed that on the sharp fall of the British pound against the German mark on September 16, 1992, Soros earned more than a billion dollars in a day. Soros began to call this day, known as "Black Wednesday" - "White Wednesday", and he himself is celebrated as "the man who broke the Bank of England", although his role in the fall of the pound is clearly exaggerated.

After that, a “black streak” began in the life of Soros. In 1997, together with Potanin, he created the Mustcom offshore, which paid $1.875 billion for a 25% stake in Svyazinvest, but after the 1998 crisis, the share price fell by more than half. Soros angrily called this purchase "the worst investment in my life." After long attempts, in 2004 he sold shares in Svyazinvest for $625 million to Access Industries, headed by Leonard Blavatnik, who is also a shareholder in TNK-BP. At the end of 2006, Blavatnik sold a blocking stake for $1.3 billion to Comstar-UTS, which is part of AFK Sistema.

Gradually, Soros moves away from financial speculation and declares charitable activities, including in the field of education and scientific research. He makes statements about the need and usefulness of restrictions in the financial sector, including to reduce the investment opportunities of large financial structures.

On July 26, 2011, he announced the closure of his investment fund and the return to third-party investors of their investments in the amount of about one billion dollars. The investors were informed about this decision by the head of the fund by a special letter. As Soros announced on the same day, starting next year, he will only increase his personal capital and the funds of his family. Soros's sons Jonathan and Robert, deputy chairmen of the board of the fund, explained that the decision to close the fund is due to changes in US legislation that are being developed as part of the ongoing financial reform in the US. We are talking about the new Dodd-Frank law, known by the name of its developers - congressmen Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, which imposes a number of significant restrictions on hedge funds: until March 2012, all hedge funds operating in the country must be registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and hedge funds are required to disclose all information about their investors, assets, investment policy, as well as possible conflicts of interest.

In September 2013, he married for the third time, 42-year-old Tamiko Bolton became his chosen one, they met five years ago, and in August they announced their engagement.

He became famous after the "black Wednesday" on September 16, 1992 - the day of a significant drop in the value of the pound sterling against the German mark. It is believed that in one day his profit amounted to more than a billion dollars. It is known that on the eve of Soros spoke with Helmut Schlesinger, President of the Bundesbank, and found out the intentions of Germany, which allowed him to act more confidently.

The main speculations in the global financial markets were carried out through the Quantum Fund NV hedge fund, registered on the Caribbean island of Curacao, owned by the Netherlands, due to offshore conditions. It is the largest fund within the Soros-controlled Quantum Group of Funds.

There are two main points of view regarding the financial success of Soros. According to the first point of view, Soros owes his success to the gift of financial foresight. Another says that in making important decisions, Soros uses insider information provided by high-ranking officials from the political and financial circles of the largest countries in the world.

Soros himself tried to explain the tremendous success by applying his theory of the reflexivity of stock markets, according to which decisions about buying and selling securities are made on the basis of future price expectations, and since expectations are a psychological category, they can be the object of information influence. An attack on the currency of any country consists of successive information strikes through the media and analytical publications, combined with the real actions of currency speculators, shaking the financial market.

In 2002, a Parisian court found George Soros guilty of obtaining confidential information for profit and sentenced him to a fine of 2.2 million euros. According to the court, thanks to this information, the millionaire earned about $ 2 million on the shares of the French bank Societe Generale. Subsequently, the fine was reduced to 0.9 million euros. Soros appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, but in 2011 he did not see in the condemnation of violations, by four votes to three.

In the political field, he proved himself as a sponsor and an influential lobbyist. He was instrumental in the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe during the Velvet Revolutions of 1989. He also played a prominent role in the preparation and conduct of the Georgian Rose Revolution of 2003, although Soros himself claimed that his role was greatly exaggerated by the press.

Mikhail Kasyanov recalled how, when Russia received IMF support in the difficult situation of 1998, on August 13, “George Soros made a statement that Russia needed devaluation and that the IMF underestimated the seriousness of the problem. The market opened and immediately “died”. The next day, Friday, the president swore that there would be no devaluation…”.

In the United States, he was very active during the 2004 presidential campaign, because he considered Bush's policy to be dangerous for the United States and the world. He spent $27 million promoting change in American politics. Since 2005, he has contributed to the creation and funding of the Democratic Alliance (Democracy Alliance) - an organization that unites and guides American progressives within the Democratic Party. Soros will support the candidacy of Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election in 2016.

It is considered one of the main sponsors of campaigns for reforms in the legislative regulation of drug trafficking, including the movement for the legalization of marijuana and the decriminalization of drug use. In his opinion, the legalization of marijuana will simultaneously increase budget revenues and reduce the number of crimes that accompany drug trafficking.

From 1994 to 2014, Soros donated about $200 million to support reforms in this industry. The largest recipient of his donations is the Drug Policy Alliance. In 2007, he sent 400 thousand dollars to support the passage of an act in the Senate and House of Representatives of Massachusetts to liberalize and mitigate penalties for possession and consumption of marijuana), in 2008 this law was passed. In 2010, Soros donated $1 million to a similar initiative in California, but the referendum ended in its rejection.

In early January 2015, Soros called for urgent financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 20 billion euros to support the “belligerent side”. German Economic News quoted Soros as saying that "Russia's attack on Ukraine is a direct attack on the EU and its principles."

On the night of August 12, 2012, George Soros during the celebration of his 82nd birthday with 40-year-old Tamiko Bolton (Tamiko Bolton). The fiancée of a well-known investor, formerly an online dietary supplement trader, now owns a company offering online yoga classes.

American financier, founder and head of charitable foundations, George Soros (real name - Gyorgy Shorosh) was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest (Hungary) into a middle-class Jewish family. George's father was a lawyer and publisher. In 1914, he volunteered for the front, was captured by the Russians and was exiled to Siberia, from where he fled back to his native Budapest.

During World War II, thanks to false documents made by his father, the Soros family escaped Nazi persecution and emigrated to the UK in 1947. At this time, George Soros was already 17 years old. He entered the London School of Economics and successfully graduated three years later. During his studies, he was particularly influenced by the philosophy of Karl Popper and the economic theory of John Maynard Keynes.

In England, he found work in a haberdashery factory, where he began working as a salesman. Then he got a job as a traveling salesman, offering goods to various merchants in the seaside resorts of Wales. In 1953, Soros got a job at Singer & Friedlander. Work and at the same time an internship took place in the arbitration department, which was located next to the stock exchange. Its leader traded shares of gold mining companies.

In 1956, Soros arrived in the United States at the invitation of the father of his London friend, who had his own small brokerage firm on Wall Street. Soros' career in the United States began with international arbitrage, that is, buying securities in one country and selling them in another. After the Suez crisis, this kind of business did not go as well as Soros wanted, and he created a new method of trading, calling it "internal arbitrage" (separately selling combined securities of stocks, bonds and warrants before they could be officially separated from each other). friend). Prior to President Kennedy's introduction of a surcharge on foreign investment, this type of activity brought Soros a good income. But after that everything went into decline, so he also had to leave this type of business.

From 1963 to 1966 Soros tried to rewrite his dissertation, which he began working on after business school, and returned to writing his treatise The Heavy Burden of Consciousness, but was not satisfied with the result. This ended the career of Soros as a philosopher, and he returned to business.

In 1966, Soros created his first investment fund with a total capital of $4 million. During the three years of the existence of the investment fund, George Soros has received significant profits. In 1969, Soros became the head of the Double Eagle Fund, which later grew into the Quantum Group. By the mid-1990s, the fund's capital was already $10 billion.

On September 15, 1992, the day that went down in history as "Black Wednesday", George Soros earned about a billion dollars. He undertook a series of operations that were associated with the rapid fall of the British pound. It was after this machination that the nickname "The Man Who brought down the Bank of England" firmly stuck to Soros.

George Soros earned all his money by playing for a fall. Soros's main tactic is the theory of stock market reflexivity. According to this tactic, all trading decisions are made by the speculator based on future price expectations.

Some experts believe that Soros owes his success to the gift of financial foresight. According to another version, Soros receives insider information from high-ranking intelligence, political and financial circles of the largest countries in the world. In 2002, he was found guilty of obtaining confidential information by a Paris court and sentenced to a fine of 2.2 million euros. The court considered that due to the fact that Soros was in possession of confidential information, he managed to earn more than $ 2 million on the shares of the French bank Societe Generale.

In 1979, George Soros became active in philanthropy. In New York, he founded his first foundation, the Open Society Foundation. That same year, he set up a fund to support black students at the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa. The first Eastern European Soros Foundation was founded in Hungary in 1984.

In 1987, he launched an initiative to help an open society in Russia. In addition to the foundations he established throughout the former Soviet Union, Soros created the International Science Foundation (ISF) in 1992 to help scientists in Russia and the former Soviet bloc get through the hardships of the transition without stopping their research or emigrating to other countries. By giving away more than $115 million through the MNF, Soros has played a significant role in reducing the brain drain and preventing Russia's intellectual and scientific resources from being used for destructive purposes.

In 1990, on the initiative of Soros, the Central European University was founded in Budapest, Prague and Warsaw.

The network of philanthropic organizations founded by Soros operates in more than 50 countries around the world. Located primarily in Central and Eastern Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union, as well as in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the United States, these foundations are dedicated to building and maintaining the infrastructure and institutions of an open society.
Each year, George Soros's network of funds spends hundreds of millions of dollars to support certain categories of citizens and even entire states.

George Soros is the president and chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, a privately held investment management firm, and a senior advisor to several international investment firms, the Quantum Group of Funds. In July 2000, Soros merged his flagship Quantum Fund with the Quantum Emerging Growth Fund to form the Quantum Endowment Fund.

Soros is known not only as a financier and philanthropist, but also as a social thinker, for whom the formation of an open society in the post-communist world is a fundamental value and central idea.

In addition to numerous articles, he has written a number of books, including "The Alchemy of Finance" (1987), "Discovering the Soviet System" (1990), "Supporting Democracy" (1991), "The Guarantee of Democracy" (1991), "Soros on Soros" ( 1995, Russian translation, 1997), "George Soros on Globalization" (2002); "Bubble of American Supremacy" (2005); "A New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The 2008 Credit Crisis and Its Significance" (2009); "The Financial Crisis in Europe and the United States" (2012).

His articles and essays on politics, society and economics are regularly published in the mainstream press and magazines around the world.
Soros actively interferes in politics. In addition to participating in US public life, he supported the opposition in Georgia, Ukraine and several other countries.

George Soros received honorary degrees from the New School for Social Research, Oxford University, the University of Economics in Budapest, and Yale University. In 1995, the University of Bologna awarded Soros with its highest distinction, the Laurea Honoris Causa, in recognition of his efforts to support open societies throughout the world.

George Soros has been married twice. He divorced his first wife, Annalize Whitshuck, in 1983 after 23 years of marriage. In the same year, he married Susan Weber, an art critic from New York, who was 25 years younger than the businessman. The couple spent 22 years together. George Soros has five children from two marriages. In 2011, his second son Jonathan quit his father's investment fund and started his own company.

For more than five years, the financier's companion was the Brazilian TV star Adriana Ferreira.

In August 2011, she sued the billionaire,. She accused Soros of breaking promises and violence.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources