George Soros is a U.S. billionaire financier who became famous for his activities in currency speculation and philanthropic support. Current chairman of Soros Fund Management and Open Society Institute, George Soros can be considered the father creator of Hedge Funds that have emerged in the 1970s. In following forty years, George Soros accumulated nearly $ 7.2 billion and became one of the richest men in the United States.
Born August 12, 1930 in Budapest, Hungary, George Soros is the son of Tivadar Soros. This man is none other than one of the creators of the Esperanto language. It is also one of the native languages of George Soros. Before 1936, the Soros family was called the Schwartz family. He experienced the Nazi occupation of Hungary. This family of Jewish origin was forced in 1936 to change their name to escape the Nazis. He fled the communist regime in 1947 by initially living in Britain. He joined the London School of Economics, and followed the course of the anti-communist philosopher Karl Kopper. In 1956 he emigrated to the United States with one goal in mind: to win half a million dollars. Finance would be his chosen field. Mission accomplished, to fortune now stands at $14.5 billion, which sets up the 46th to the level of wealth according to the Forbes Global 2011’s.
George Soros became a trader in New York Stock Exchange. Just installed, he created his first investment fund The Soros Fund, which will be the cornerstone of the financial empire of Soros. In 1973, he founded Quantum Fund with Jim Rogers. For ten years, this fund will beat all records with gains consistently exceeding 30%.
The public will learn to know him through the crisis of 1992. George Soros became famous particularly in an operation of speculation against the pound sterling, an operation that made him famous and made him feared at the same time as a speaker on the major foreign exchange market.
The general public discovered him during the great crisis of 1992. Speculating on a fall in sterling, he caused such fluctuations that the British currency was forced out of the monetary system. The stunt earned him gain nearly a billion in one night and being dubbed “the man who broke the Bank of England.”
But if he is an outstanding speculator, he is also an unconventional philanthropist. Boasting of being the disciple and friend of the philosopher Karl Popper, Soros also made philanthropic work. With Open Society Institute which brings together twenty foundations, whose purpose is to defend human rights and promote democratic governance, he extends his influence to politics. George Soros described himself as a “stateless head of state.” Through these foundation launched in 1984 and the Open Society Institute, George Soros has distributed more than $8 billion to various humanitarian causes in 70 countries around the world.
The man who wanted to be a philosopher and writer looks forward, building on his foundation, to fully participate in the transformation of society. He, the speculator, has become the destroyer of excessive liberalism and unrestrained capitalism.
Today, George Soros calls for better regulation of financial markets.