George Soros (present. Supporter of the theory of open society, and opponent of "market fundamentalism".
Founder of a network of charitable projects known as the Soros Foundation. Member of the Executive Committee of the International Crisis Group. As of 2019, his fortune is estimated at $ 8.3 billion.
There are many interesting facts in Soros's biography, which we will talk about in this article.
So, here is a short biography of George Soros.
Soros biography
George Soros was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest. He grew up and was raised in a Jewish family. His father, Tivadar Schwartz, was a lawyer and expert in Esperanto, an international artificial language designed for communication. Mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a silk shop owner.
Childhood and youth
The head of the family was a participant in the First World War (1914-1918), after which he was captured and convoyed to Siberia. After 3 years in captivity, he managed to return home.
Having experienced many difficulties in his life, Soros Sr. taught his son to survive in this world. In turn, his mother instilled in George a love of art. During that period of his biography, the boy especially liked painting and drawing.
Soros showed good language learning skills, mastering English, German and French. In addition, he took a keen interest in swimming, sailing and tennis. According to his classmates, George was distinguished by impudence and liked to participate in fights.
When the future financier was about 9 years old, the Second World War (1939-1945) began. Since he and his relatives were Jews, they feared falling into the hands of the Nazis, who had a particular disgust for this people. For this reason, the family was in constant fear, hiding from persecution in one place or another.
At that time, Soros's father was engaged in forging documents. Thanks to this, he was able to save relatives and other Jews from certain death. After the end of the war, the young man continued his studies at school, but the memories of the horrors of Nazism did not give him rest.
In 1947, George decides to leave for the West. He initially went to Switzerland, from where he soon moved to London. Here he took on any job: he worked as a waiter, picked apples and moonlighted as a painter.
A couple of years later, Soros entered the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied for 3 years. Having become a certified specialist, at first he could not find a suitable job, as a result of which for about 3 years he worked as a lifeguard in the pool, and then as a doorman at the station.
Later, George was able to get a job as an intern at a bank. In 1956, the guy decided to go to New York in search of a better life.
Business
Soros began his career in New York by buying securities in one country and reselling them in another. However, when an additional levy on foreign investment was introduced in the United States, he left this business, due to its lack of prospects.
In the following years of his biography, George Soros headed the research brokerage company Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder. In 1969 he took over the Double Eagle Foundation, which belonged to the company.
After 4 years, the man decided to quit his job as a manager. After that, he and Jim Rogers opened a personal foundation called Quantum.
Quantum has carried out speculative transactions in stocks and currencies, reaching great heights in this area. An interesting fact is that the partners have never suffered losses, and Soros's personal fortune reached $ 100 million by 1980!
Nevertheless, in the midst of Black Monday 1987, during which there was one of the largest stock market crashes in world history, George decided to close his positions and get out in cash. After such unsuccessful actions of the financier, his fund began to operate at a loss.
The following year, Soros began partnering with respected investor Stanley Druckenmiller. Thanks to the efforts of the latter, he managed to increase his capital.
A separate date in the biography of George Soros was September 16, 1992, when the British pound collapsed against the background of the German mark. In one day, he increased his capital by $ 1 billion! It is worth noting that many call Soros the culprit in the collapse.
In the late 90s, the financier began cooperation with the Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin. Together, the men bought 25% of the securities of Svyazinvest, which cost them $ 1.8 billion! However, after the 1998 crisis, their shares have depreciated about 2 times.
After the incident, George Soros called this acquisition the worst investment in life. In 2011, Soros announced publicly that his investment fund would cease operations. From that moment on, he began to engage only in increasing his personal capital.
Fund
The George Soros Foundation, called the Open Society, was established in 1979 with branches operating in dozens of different countries. An interesting fact is that his Soviet-American fund "Cultural Initiative" operated in the USSR.
This organization was engaged in the development of culture, science and education, but was closed due to high corruption. At the end of the 20th century, the Soros Foundation invested about $ 100 million in the Russian project "University Internet Centers", thanks to which Internet centers were launched in dozens of educational institutions.
Later, the organization began publishing a magazine designed for high school students. In addition, history textbooks began to be published, which were immediately subjected to harsh criticism for distorting historical facts.
At the end of 2003, George Soros stopped providing material support for his activities in Russia, and a few months later, the Open Society stopped giving grants.
In 2015, the Soros Foundation was declared an “undesirable organization” in the Russian Federation, as a result of which its work was banned. However, many of the billionaire's charitable projects continue to work in the country today.
Condition
At the beginning of 2018, Soros's personal fortune was estimated at $ 8 billion, despite the fact that he donated over $ 32 billion to his charitable foundation.
Some experts describe George as a gifted financial prophet, while others attribute his success to the possession of classified inside information.
Soros is the author of the theory of the reflectivity of stock markets, through which he allegedly managed to achieve such heights in the financial sector. Over the years of his biography, he wrote many works on economics, stock trading and geopolitics.
Personal life
The first wife of the billionaire was Ennalisa Whitshack, with whom he lived for 23 years. After that, Soros married the art critic Susan Weber. This marriage lasted about 22 years.
After the divorce from Weber, the man began an affair with the television actress Adriana Ferreira, but the matter never came to a wedding. An interesting fact is that after the breakup, Adriana filed a lawsuit against him, demanding $ 50 million in compensation for harassment and moral damage.
In 2013, George went down the aisle for the 3rd time with 42-year-old Tamiko Bolton. From the first 2 marriages, the financier had a daughter, Andrea, and 4 sons: Alexander, Jonathan, Gregory and Robert.
George Soros today
In 2018, the Hungarian government approved the Stop Soros bill, according to which any fund that helps migrants is taxed at 25%. As a result, the Central European University founded by Soros had to relocate a significant part of its activities to neighboring Austria.
According to data for 2019, the billionaire donated about $ 32 billion to charity. The man is interested in world politics and continues to participate in charity, which causes mixed opinions among many experts.
Soros Photos
