They call it Soros. The biography of George Soros is a billion-dollar story. Large financial losses

George Soros (English: George Soros, Hungarian: Soros György), real name is Schwartz. Born on 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 he is 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. He is often described as a financial speculator, as well as a supporter of the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. Considered "the man who broke the Bank of England", the scientific term "Soros" is derived from him to refer to large speculators who trigger currency crises for "profit and pleasure" (Paul Krugman, 1996).

Born into a middle-income Jewish family. 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 Soros. The older 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 and whose ideological follower he became. In England, he found work in a haberdashery factory, and then became a traveling salesman, but did not give up his search for work in a bank. In 1953 he received a position at Singer and Friedlander. The work and at the same time the internship took place in the arbitration department, which was located next to the stock exchange.

Soros's career as a financier dates back to 1956. 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. His career in the United States began with international arbitrage, that is, buying securities in one country and selling them in another. Soros created a new method of trading, calling it 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 foreign investment surcharge and Soros closed his business. By 1967, he was head of research at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, a well-known brokerage firm specializing in European stock markets.

In 1969, Soros became the director and co-owner of the Double Eagle Foundation, which later grew into the famous Quantum fund. Soros named the foundation after Carl Heisenberg, the German theoretical physicist who co-created quantum mechanics, and his uncertainty principle. The Fund carried out speculative transactions with securities with varying degrees of success.

It is believed that from the sharp fall of the English 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 this, a “dark streak” began in Soros’ life. In 1997, he and Potanin created the offshore Mustcom, which paid $1.875 billion for a 25% stake in Svyazinvest OJSC, but after the 1998 crisis, the share price fell by more than half. Soros angrily called this purchase “the worst investment of his entire life.” After many attempts, in 2004 he sold the shares of Svyazinvest OJSC for $625 million to Access Industries, headed by Leonard Blavatnik, who was also a shareholder of TNK-BP. At the end of 2006, Blavatnik sold a blocking stake for $1.3 billion to Comstar-UTS, part of AFK Sistema.

Gradually, Soros is moving away from financial speculation and declaring charitable activities, including in the field of education and scientific research. Makes statements about the necessity and usefulness of restrictions in the financial sector, including to reduce the investment opportunities of large financial institutions.

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. 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 be engaged in increasing only his personal capital and the funds of his family. Deputy chairmen of the fund's board, Soros' sons Jonathan and Robert, explained that the decision to close the fund is related to changes in American legislation, which are being developed as part of the financial reform currently underway in the United States. 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 register with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and hedge funds are required to disclose all information about their investors, assets, investment policies, and possible conflicts of interest.

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

He became famous after “Black Wednesday” on September 16, 1992 - the day of a significant drop in the value of the pound sterling relative to the German mark. It is believed that in one day he made more than a billion dollars in profit. It is known that the day before Soros spoke with Helmut Schlesinger, President of the Bundesbank, and found out Germany's intentions, which allowed him to act more confidently.

The main speculation in global financial markets was carried out through the hedge fund Quantum Fund NV, registered on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao due to offshore conditions. This is the largest fund within the Soros-controlled Quantum Group of Funds.

There are two main points of view regarding Soros' financial success. According to the first point of view, Soros owes his successes 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 using his theory of reflexivity of stock markets, according to which decisions on purchases and sales of securities are made based on expectations of prices in the future, and since expectations are a psychological category, they can be the object of informational influence. An attack on the currency of a country consists of successive information attacks through the media and analytical publications, combined with the real actions of currency speculators that undermine the financial market.

In 2002, a Paris 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 from shares of the French bank Societe Generale. The fine was subsequently reduced to 0.9 million euros. Soros appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, but in 2011 it did not find any violations in the condemnation, by four votes to three.

In the political field, he proved himself as a sponsor and influential lobbyist. He played an important role 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 extremely exaggerated by the press.

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

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

He is considered one of the main sponsors of campaigns for reforms in drug regulation, including the movement to legalize marijuana and decriminalize 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 $400,000 to support the passage of an act in the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives to liberalize and mitigate penalties for the possession and consumption of marijuana), and 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.

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

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

Its activities on a global scale are assessed ambiguously.

Even the term “ Soros”, implying speculators who artificially create currency crises for the sake of profit. On the other hand, Soros has created a network of charitable organizations around the world under the general name "". He is on 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
• Investment Company Arnhold and S. Blakeroeder, Vice President - 1963–1973
• Quantum Group Foundation, sole owner - 1973–2000
• Soros Foundation, Chairman - 1996

Awards:

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

Address:

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

Biography of George Soros

George Soros (George Soros), formerly György Shoros, and even earlier - Györd, that is, Georg Schwarz, 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 was like, in 1920 he fled home.

“To survive, you have to bend 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 prepared by the father. This was an important life lesson - to act according to your own considerations, 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 dependencepsychology will permeate Soros' activities throughout his life. Future fixed assets " Quantum"will get its name also based on the treatise.

“Alchemy does not work with chemical elements. But it works in 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 thrived as a financial analyst for a leading investment company. Arnhold & S.Bleichroeder, who worked with foreign clients. After some time, he achieved the post of vice president. But then Kennedy issued a decree on additional taxes on foreign investments, 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, and 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 strive to change the rules of the game.”

He abandoned investments 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 investments. 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 " First Eagle" And " Double ing"in 1967 cost the company $250 thousand. But he managed to attract wealthy clients from Europe, South America and Arab countries. Main officewas in New York, and the funds were registered in the Antilles - the offshore allowed him to evade taxes. Under Soros' leadership, income grew, although other investors suffered losses.

Creation of the first fund

“Nothing will force you to concentrate more than possible danger. In order to achieve the maximum level of clear thought, I need inspiration, and it is desirable that it be associated with risk.”

In 1969, having accumulated his own capital over 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 tools for investment. This path leads either to super-profits or to large losses.

George Soros becomes co-owner and director Double Eagle Fund", (Double ing), investing $4 million from his 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“experienced ups and downs, but investors earned a total of $32 million, an unattainable amount to this day.

“I never play within one set of rules, but always try to change the rules of the game, adjusting them to suit myself.”

Soros added his knowledge and experience to the ideas of Karl Popper and gave his own theory the name “reflexivity.” Theorists of that time believed that professional investors assessed the futuremarket movement based on traditional analytics. Soros turned everything upside down. He is confident that investor psychology plays a leading role in forecasting.

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

Here is an example of Soros' 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 expand its defense industry, and invested capital in military enterprises. As a result, by 1974, the fund's shares increased from 6.1 to 18 million. In 1976, their value increased by 61.9%, and then by 31.2%.

1980 showed that in 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 amounted to $100 million. Soros made not only himself rich. His first investors, already rich people, became incredibly rich thanks to Soros' talent.

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 numbers went down. A year later, he lost 23%, then the company's equity capital was halved. From the balance of $200 million, he returned the money to investors, and he decided to rest. He divorced his first wife, Annelies, and his relationship with his children did not improve. George Soros began visiting a psychoanalyst, looked for a cure for depression and decided to focus on philanthropy.

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

However, regular customers were spooked by previous losses. They took their assets, believing that Soros was exhausted. Quantum securities 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 disappointed Soros still raised the value of his assets by 56.9%, but decided to retire and began looking for a suitable successor. It was Jim Marquez, a 33-year-old prodigy from Minnesota who runs the IDS Progressive Fund.

On January 1, 1983, Marquez began his career with Soros. The funds were divided into two parts. One was managed by George Soros himself, and the other by 10 managers. The annual result was a real breakthrough. Assets increased by 24.9%, corresponding to $75.4 million, which amounted to neither more nor less than $385,532,688.

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

Back to business

“My personality is that I don’t have any particular investment style. Every time there’s something new – new approaches, new methods, new ways to achieve your goals.”

In 1985, the fund's shares soared again. It took just one year to increase the growth of assets by 122.2% from 448.9 to 1003 million dollars. Quantum's profit amounted to 548 million dollars. Soros's share was 12%, that is, $66 million. If we include in this amount 17.5 million taxes and10 million in the form of 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, every dollar invested then became worth $164. Inspired, George Soros again took the path of active action.

On September 22, 1985, US Treasury Secretary James Baker met with his colleagues from Great Britain, France, Germany, and Japan to jointly reduce the dollar exchange rate. Soros bought millions of yen the day before the dollar fell and earned $30 million overnight from the fall in exchange rate (from 239 to 222.5), as the yen rose 4.3% against the dollar, and then by 7% .

And although Soros did not know about the upcoming changes, many began to call him a living legend of 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 thoughtful calculation or a simple accident, Soros reacted to such a jump with the following definition: “ sheer nonsense».

“Leisure is necessary for success. You need time that completely belongs only to you.”

Now the tycoon could afford to quietly manage his empire from 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 cheated the Bank of England

“It doesn’t matter at all whether you are right or wrong. All that matters is how much money you make when you are right and how much money you lose when you are wrong.”

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

On Wednesday, September 16, 1992, Soros played a big game. In recent years, he has been gradually buying up British currency and government bonds. But then it happened that the exchange rate of the pound began to fall and declined steadily over the course of the week. Druckenmiller suggested to Soros " help"The British currency will fall even lower.

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

Thus, he forced the Bank of England to carry out a massive foreign exchange injection from government reserves and withdraw from its sphere of influence over European currencies. Since then, Soros has received the status of “The Man Who Bring Down 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 in 1993 were equal to the GDP of 42 countries. For this amount one could purchase 5,790 Rolls-Royce cars or pay for studies at higher educational institutions at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia University for 3 years. He alone earned as much as the largest corporation "".

Attack on South Asia

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

Epic failures

“By and large, I’m not afraid of losing everything. After all, I still have a head on my shoulders, and in this head I still have brains...”

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

Second mistake It was predicted in 1999 that the assets of Internet enterprises would decline. On the contrary, they were going uphill, and $700,000,000 was wasted. The next mistake was the bet on the growth of the euro. 300,000,000 were also lost. The Quantum Fund lost almost one billion dollars.

Other funds also showed a shameful result of minus $500 million by mid-1999. The total loss amounted to one and a half billion dollars. Clients pulled out their money in a panic. It was an unprecedented failure in his entire career. But Soros would not be Soros if he had not stopped the rollback. Moreover, he found a way to attract new investors by again investing in an Internet company, but at an increased rate. By 2000, the turnover of the Quantum fund 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 Management. He invested $2.8 billion in the fund, but still had about $5 billion left. Soros promised to add the rest of the money before he turned 80 years old.

Unexpectedly, the exchange rate, the Internet collapsed, and in April " Quantum"emptied by 3 billion. Total losses in the first quarter amounted to $5 billion. This was 2.5 times higher than the losses of 1999. In 2004, Soros liquidated 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 limit the activities of hedge funds. The latest regulations force us to make business transparent and disclose information about investors, which is basically impossible to do.

By 2010, Soros was considered the largest philanthropist, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Total fund " Open Society Fund"received $332 million from Soros' 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 when he retired, Soros, of course, was not left empty-handed. He now lives in New York and has five children. Three are from his first wife, Anna-Lisa Witchak, with whom he lived for 23 years. He married for the second time in 1983 to Susan Weber, an art critic from New York, who is 25 years his junior. They lived together for 22 years. From this marriage two children were born.

Then, for more than five years, his lifelong friend was a 28-year-old TV star, Brazilian Adriana Ferreira. In 2001, after breaking up, she demanded through the court payment of compensation of 50 million dollars. Soros considered the lawsuit “totally unfounded.” His lawyer opined: “It is clear that this is nothing more than an attempt to blackmail money from a wealthy person.”

And it is not surprising that in 2013, at the age of 83, he got married for the third time. Brazilian Tamiko Bolton, 42 years old, previously sold dietary supplements via the Internet, and later became the owner of an online yoga company.

Currently, the family piggy bank holds $29 billion in assets.

The secret of Soros's 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, largest offshore fund " Quantum Fund N.V.", listed on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
• He made his fortune by betting on the bear market, that is, by betting on the downside. Here he used his theory " Market reflection" It states that future price forecasts are based not only on economic and political changes, but also on psychological factors. For example, to reduce the value of any country's currency, you need to involve 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 character of the financier also played a role - a harsh childhood and the example of his father had an impact. Soros himself emphasizes that the ability to survive is the key to success in investments. This means that the trader intuitively feels when to lower rates and when to raise. Sometimes it’s a split second, a moment. Extremely developed intuition, coupled with an inquisitive mind, gives excellent results.
• Soros has excellent control over his actions. Having made a wrong move, he does not continue the game, but stops or withdraws his 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 thousand 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 powers that be, he used classified official information for selfish purposes. In 2002, he was even awarded a fine of 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 huge amounts of money made it possible to lobby for the necessary laws and sponsor color revolutions. Not without his participation, power changed in Eastern European countries, as well as in Georgia and Ukraine. No wonder Petro Poroshenko awarded him the Order of Freedom in November 2015. Soros himself admittedfollowing the theory of reflexivity of stock markets. Its essence is that the market does not move on its own. It is shaped by people who influence political and economic circumstances. So, for example, in order to bring down the currency of any country, it is necessary, through the media, analysts, and currency traders, to undermine the currency or stock market in advance.

Charity

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

In 1992, Soros founded the Central European University with its 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 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”, to bring democracy and freedom, to fight against dictators and tyranny. Since 1984, he has spent more than 8 billion on sponsorship. in 70 countries.

Many believe that Soros's foundations are aimed at corrupting youth and undermining the state from within; Soros also supports same-sex marriage and the legalization of marijuana, which is not welcomed in many cultures and countries.

Romania, Croatia, and Belarus banned his 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 economies of other countries. That is why his philanthropy is so ambiguous.

George Soros in Russia

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

In 1988, the Cultural Initiative charity foundation was founded for the development of science and culture. It was soon closed, as the money again went into the pockets of interested parties. In 1995, Soros returned to the Russian market with a fund« Open Society“, but the story with misdirected money repeated itself. Then the joint program “University Internet Centers” was opened. The Russian government invested 30 million in it, and Soros - 100 million.

For 5 years, from 1996 to 2001, 33 Internet centers were created at a cost of 100 million dollars. 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 grants. But the foundations and societies created with his help are still operating. This:

• St. Petersburg Institute of Culture "PRO ARTE"
• Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences
• Foundation 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 was nothing to say about the humanitarian sectors. We started publishing textbooks without Soviet ideology and replenished libraries with books. But there was one trick. All programs contained opposition ideas. Ideological sabotage was aimed at young people and intellectuals.

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

What is the danger of Soros funds

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

1. Giving billions to leftist societies

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

1. Influence on American elections

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

1. The desire to reduce American sovereignty.

Soros would prefer that America 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.

1. Dictatorship in media matters.

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

1. Society MoveOn.org.

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

1. Center for American Progress.

The Center for American Progress provided the Obama administration with talking points and policy positions. Soros also financed the Obama White House and staffed his administration.

1. Environmental extremism.

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

1. American Association.

Soros gave almost 20 million to 527 societies with one goal - to defeat President Bush. Such support strengthened the campaign brigades at the place of residence, to the point that even criminals were involved. Voter registration was riddled with fraud. They distributed leaflets and made phone calls to voters, misleading them.

1. Currency manipulation.

Soros earned a significant part of his multibillion-dollar fortune from currency transactions. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused him of driving down 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
• Guarantee of Democracy -1991
• Reading the Market's Mind - 1994
• Soros on Soros - 1995
• The Crisis of Global Capitalism: The Endangered Open Society - 1998
• Open Society: Transforming Global Capitalism - 2000
• George Soros at 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 Implications -2009
• 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 simpler 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, made millions of transactions, lost millions, but, ultimately, turned out to be a winner. Not everyone agrees with his principles. But unconventional thinking and courage in making unexpected decisions make us respect this extraordinary person.

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George Soros - a fortune of 26 billion, the start-up capital began to be collected from an income of 4 pounds a week, the first jobs that he mastered were: apple picker, waiter and porter at the station.

George Soros

For many years, George Soros repeated a phrase that was remembered - “first of all, strive to survive, and only then make money.” George Soros did not accept the rules written by others, but wrote his own.

George Soros' childhood

George Soros was born on August 12, 1930 in Budapest. In a Jewish family with average income. His father was a lawyer and was involved in publishing. In 1947, fleeing Nazi repression, the Soros family emigrated to the UK using forged documents prepared by their father. Then Soros turned 17 years old. Soros entered and successfully graduated from the London School of Economics.

George Soros got his first job

George Soros took a job in England at a haberdashery factory. Although the job title was “assistant manager,” it was actually a sales job. Later, George became a traveling salesman: he drove a wretched Ford along the coast of Wales, offering goods to merchants. While still hoping to get a job at a bank, he was a waiter in a restaurant, picked apples, and even worked as a porter at the station. Already at that time, he scrupulously kept accounting of his finances. “When I started, my weekly budget was £4, then I cut my expenses to less than £4, I kept a diary of my income and expenses,” the now billionaire recalls, smiling.

Relocation of George Soros to the USA

In search of new options, George Soros immigrates to the United States in 1956. This is where the personal growth of George Soros began. First aid was provided by a father's friend from London. He got George to work at a brokerage firm, where the future billionaire mastered securities trading - international arbitration. Soros invented his own method of trading - internal arbitrage. The idea was to sell separately combined securities of stocks, bonds and warrants before they could be officially separated from each other.

Business of George Soros became unprofitable after Kennedy introduced new fees and he again took up philosophy. He is trying to work on his dissertation, which he began writing after graduating from business school. Soros resumed writing his treatise “The Heavy Burden of Consciousness.” But in 1966, George Soros decides to go back into business, leaving his work unfinished.

While working at Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder, George Soros founded an offshore investment fund, First Eagle. Later, in 1969, he established another hedge fund, Double Eagle. George Soros managed these funds until 1970. In 1969, George Soros turned his attention to a new fund - Quantum. Thanks to speculative transactions with securities, over the 10 years of the fund’s existence, the profitability amounted to 3365% per year. Mainly this fund provided George Soros with a huge fortune.

In 1997, George Soros failed after acquiring a 25% stake in the Russian company Svyazinvest. This event marked the beginning of a “dark period” when almost all investments brought losses. Soros decided to leave business and engage in charity - funding education and scientific research.

George Soros developed his own “theory of market reflexivity” , based on the views of his teacher Karl Popper, and successfully applied it in the game on the stock exchange. The essence of this theory is that traders, when making decisions about buying and selling securities, proceed from the expected future price. And the expectations of market participants can be influenced psychologically in order to change the influence of fundamental factors on the market.

George Soros took a risk by conducting transactions using loans, although the market usually prefers safer methods. But he has already reached the pinnacle of his personal growth; he especially loves the excitement of the stock exchange game and the opportunity to emerge as a “winner” from a difficult situation.

George Soros now lives in an apartment in downtown New York, not far from the UN headquarters. Half a century ago, he came to Manhattan with a couple of dollars and big ambitions. Today, it has more influence and capital than some states. George Soros managed to realize the American dream, earn 20 billion in just a year and become famous for the collapse of the Bank of England. He will remain a mystery to the world in many ways. Neither journalists nor biographers can come to a common opinion: what is the secret of George Soros’ success and what motives does he pursue?

Your personal and financial growth, He expressed frugality by constantly optimizing items of income and expenses and did not lose sight of them for a day. Ask George Soros at any time what his income was yesterday, he will answer without pause.....

If you are an experienced and active investor or just starting out in this role, then you simply need to know who George Soros is. Since this person is an Investor with a capital letter. By studying his life experience, you will gain a lot of new and very useful information for your investment activities.

Every sphere of human activity has its own legendary personalities. These are individuals who became famous for their great achievements, discoveries and other actions that changed the world. If you are interested in the history of the world of finance, you will definitely come across the name of George Soros. This is a controversial figure who has become a subject of imitation, in some cases of censure, but much more often of admiration. Who is George Soros and what is the alchemy of his finances, you can find out in this article.

Today D. Soros is the most famous billionaire, investor and philanthropist. This is how his personality is characterized today. But not everyone knows how this figure appeared on the pages of world history.

As Wikipedia says, he is considered an adherent of the theory of an open society and, at the same time, an opponent of the theory of “market fundamentalism.” Soros is known not only as a financial genius who has earned billions, not only as an investor, but also as the creator of the charitable organization “Soros Foundation.” Also, D. Soros occupies an honorable place on the executive committee of the International CrisisGroup agency.

George's activities most often cause ambiguity in assessments. He is often condemned for his impudence in stock market speculation and is remembered as the man who ruined the Bank of England. Using his name, such a financial term as “Soros” was even formed. That is, stock speculators who move very large sums of funds and “move” the markets in the direction they need. Also, the name of Soros appeared several times in companies aimed at legalizing marijuana in America for medical purposes and other non-standard social programs.

Biography of George Soros and the first steps of formation

The biography of such a person as George Soros is the story of a man who created himself. The path of his formation passed through many obstacles and difficulties. Now he occupies the top of the rankings of the richest people in the world, and in his youth he made money by picking apples in the suburbs of London. His career growth has become an example to follow for tens of thousands of aspiring financiers and traders in every corner of the planet. And, probably, there is no trader who has not at least once in his life met the name surrounded by myths - George Soros. Of course, George appears in the media every now and then as a financial expert and plays the role of an investor or philanthropist in various charitable projects.

Childhood

D. Soros was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1930. George's father earned money from publishing and worked part-time as a lawyer. At the very beginning of World War II, using forged documents independently prepared by George's father, the Soros family, fleeing German repression, left Budapest and moved to the UK. There they were able to settle on the outskirts of the capital, London. From that moment on, George's biography began a new chapter, where the cruel reality of that period of time forced him to quickly grow up.

Soros acquired his primary education at a regular high school, where he studied until he was 17 years old. At that time, George began to become interested in finance and after graduating from school he became a student at the School of Economics in London, where he studied for 3 years. Things weren't going well for his family. Therefore, already at that time, Soros was forced to look for ways to earn money and, without sufficient education, took on any low-paid and not prestigious part-time job, ranging from an apple picker to a dishwasher and a waiter in London pubs.

Youth

After graduating from economics college, George began looking for a real job in his specialty, but all that the young specialist was lucky enough to find was a position as an assistant manager at a small haberdashery factory, having received as his job responsibilities supplying customers with the factory’s products in an old Ford that was dying out.

Of course, this was not the subject of Soros’ dreams, therefore, while working at the factory, George continued to look for work, along with delivering products, visiting banks and investment companies in London. But, as expected, his attempts always ended in nothing.

Only in 1953 was D. Soros able to get a job in the arbitration department of the Singer and Friedlander company, which was located near the London Mercantile Exchange. For three whole years, the growing investor and future billionaire George Soros tried, by some miracle, to break through the gray mass of his colleagues and stand out in the eyes of his management. But the company’s board, entrenched in its conservative views, did not want to listen to Soros’ innovative ideas. Therefore, being annoyed, the young stockbroker accepted the offer of his old friend’s father and moved to America, deciding to try his luck on Wall Street.

Soros received a new position from a small broker, where the young alchemist of finance began to comprehend the art of international arbitration, or more precisely, to resell the securities he bought to the end buyers of the stock market. George's work results and his authority began to rise quickly. But his ascent up the career ladder was interrupted by the Suet crisis, which broke the tactics of arbitrage operations with securities used by his company.

Maturity

But it was precisely this fact that changed Soros’ life for the better. By inventing a new strategy, George demonstrated to his management his potential and innovative way of thinking. “Internal arbitrage,” which Soros came up with, allowed the company in which he worked not only to stay afloat, but also to quickly become a leader on Wall Street.

After some time, John Kennedy imposed additional taxes on foreign investment, making George's tactics low-profit. However, having gained experience, skills and earned a certain authority in stock exchange circles, George decided to leave the company where he worked and began writing a dissertation that had remained unfinished since the days of the London School of Economics.

Most likely, this was a stage in life when George, who had matured in his worldview, tried to comprehend the experience he had gained and find the most optimal path for his further ascent up the career ladder.

From theory to practice

Soros returned to the stock exchange world in 1966. And George’s new company was the Double Egle exchange-traded fund, to which Soros came with his savings and $100 thousand borrowed from his comrades. It's time to show your theoretical developments in practice! Few people associate the period of Soros’ success with this period of biography, although it is from this point that George’s biography begins to become the most interesting. Having taken the place of executive director of the fund, George Soros began to actively implement his financial philosophy.

A new stage in George S.'s growth was the creation in 1970 of his own exchange-traded fund, Quantum. It was this hedge fund that became a springboard for George to universal recognition. Over the ten years of its operation, the fund was able to earn a huge fortune, annually bringing its creator more than 3000% of profits. This dynamic could not have gone unnoticed by America's elite financial circles, which now welcomed him with open arms.

Then, for a couple of decades, this investor continued to engage in stock speculation, creating hedge funds in specialized financial markets. And the luck that accompanied him allowed him to increase his capital by two or three times, which had already grown to global proportions.

Like any other figure in the world of finance, not all of George Soros's moves brought only profit. It is human nature to make mistakes, which is why D. Soros’ financial alchemy sometimes failed. In 1997, he made a mistake and connected one of the areas of his business with a company from Russia - Svyazinvest, which soon went bankrupt. As a result, George Soros lost a fairly decent part of his capital (exactly how much history is silent). This situation is exactly the fly in the ointment, which shows that in real life any success is associated with a certain share of defeats, and in the financial market, making a profit without losing trades is impossible!

Patronage and charity

However, D. Soros achieved fame not only in connection with the success of his hedge operations. Soros is also known as a philanthropist whose generosity knows no bounds. Its investments in scientific fields and culture are regular and large-scale. He is a frequent guest at various scientific and cultural events and conferences, and donates money to orphanages and schools. Several educational programs operate under its auspices.

During the endless process of making a profit, Soros did not lose his human face and, unlike the overwhelming number of personalities from the Forbes rating, in many ways remained an ordinary person who is not alien to compassion and pity.

Books by D. Soros

It is impossible not to mention the book “Alchemy of Finance”, in which George Soros outlined the entire algorithm for his success. Download this book for free you can in the library of our portal!

The Alchemy of Finance will take you into the world of this world-famous investor and philanthropist, make you think as he does, and allow you to learn from the experiences that make him what he is today - one of the most popular figures. world of big money. His career is truly alchemy!

The child of D. Soros’ scientific activity is his treatise “reflexivity of markets”, which has been interpreted into reality by more than one generation of successful traders. According to Soros, all decisions in the financial market are the result of internal beliefs that relate to the future dynamics of price movements. And based on the fact that almost all human beliefs are often a psychological aspect, this means that people can be purposefully influenced through the media, rumors and verbal interventions. In simple words, the market is a completely controllable mechanism, and in order to change the course of its movement, and even more so to influence the work of the company, even a rumor is enough. And, accordingly, according to Soros, all this can be converted into money.

Problems with law

Hence Soros' problems with the law. Soros has used theoretical developments in crowd control many times in reality. And several times he was officially accused of using insider information. His connections are extensive. Having become a friend, comrade, idol and favorite of many high-ranking officials, it was not difficult for George to be one of the first to learn insider information, which he immediately turned into money. On the other hand, you must admit that anyone in his place would have acted exactly as he did. Having received “closed” data that can be used in their own interests on the stock exchange, any investor or trader will rush to use it in their own interests. This is a business where almost any method is used to achieve goals. The world of money has never been “clean”...

In 2002, a trial was launched against D. Soros and other well-known stock exchange figures in Paris, and as a result, George was fined € 2.25 million for insider fraud with the securities of the French bank Societe Generale.

Also, this famous investor was involved in several other high-profile frauds on the securities market, but the regulatory authorities and courts failed to prove his guilt.

Black Wednesday

But these are not the most basic scandalous situations in which George Soros was a participant. Once, this world-famous schemer brought down the British pound, so much so that this day in the history of financial markets was called “Black Wednesday”.

On September 16, 1992, George opened a deal to sell the British currency in the amount of $10 billion, causing a significant collapse in the value of the British currency. Soros came to the aid of the theory of “reflexive markets” he invented, which in practice caused a wave of massive sales of the pound sterling by other trading participants. The UK currency fell by 1,000 p/p in a matter of hours. For 1992, a currency drop of 1000 points was something out of science fiction. The Bank of England even had to urgently intervene in the situation through large-scale foreign exchange interventions, and remove the pound sterling itself from the list of exchange currencies, since its collapse could drag down the currency of the European Union.

Then Soros, in just a few hours, was able to earn about $1 billion and his place in the world history of finance.

Yes, on the one hand, this act is subject to censure, since, in pursuing his personal financial interests, investor George neglected the fact that his actions would cause financial harm to others, in particular the Bank of England and Great Britain itself. On the other hand, we all know one simple rule - in the financial market, the profits of some participants are the losses of others. This is how the world of finance is built. This means that George Soros’s actions do not go beyond established standards and differ from other speculations only in their scale.

That is why the story described above is largely perceived as a fact in history, when one person did the almost impossible. However, “doing the impossible” can be attributed to the entire biography of George Soros, who grew from an apple picker to 23rd place in the world ranking of the richest people by the popular Forbes publication.

Conclusion

Of course, besides George Soros, in the world of finance you can find not a single dozen famous people who were able to reach even greater heights of popularity and fame than him. But Soros is definitely one of those who stands out from the crowd of billionaires. This was helped by his image of a “financial hooligan” and “Robin Hood”, who was in a hurry to share everything he earned with other, more needy people.

His name once made finance ministers and presidents of different countries tremble. The billionaire, who made his fortune through currency speculation, at one time brought down the monetary systems of entire states. And now George Soros is a harmless old man with watery eyes and a hearing aid...

Father's secret

They say that the future financial genius earned his first money as a child. At school, for a reasonable fee, he sold homemade newspapers, which he wrote and drew himself.

Gyorgy Soros, who later became George Soros, was born in 1930 into a family of intelligent and wealthy Hungarian Jews in Budapest. His mother brought her husband a good dowry and instilled in her two sons a love of art.

And from his dad, George, according to him, inherited the ability to make money and take risks. " My father didn't work, he just made money."- Soros once said in an interview. Tivador Shorosh was a prosecutor by profession, but he was never passionate about his service. At the same time, he loved to live in grand style.

Many people called Soros’s father a sneak, but his son sincerely considered him a hero. The family loved to talk about how George’s father fought in the First World War and was captured by Russia, and then spent three whole years wandering around Russia, reaching his native Hungary.

During World War II, Tivador's "cunning" served the family well. In 1944, the prosecutor started producing fake passports, which he sold to rich Jews for a lot of money, and simply gave to the poor. These fakes saved many from death during the German occupation.

After the war, when a socialist regime had already been established in Hungary, George was just finishing school. The future financial tycoon did not want to live under the “Reds”, and with the support of his father, he emigrated to London.

At first, the free Western world met the emigrant boy with hostility. At first, he huddled in the apartment of his fellow countrymen and was hired to work either as a waiter or as a porter... And sometimes, when he was hungry, he envied the street cat that was gnawing on herring.

Only two years later George managed to become a student at the London School of Economics. He had difficulty finding money to pay for his studies, working at night as a porter at the station. And when he received his diploma, at first he sold handbags until he was hired as an intern at a bank.

George Soros always remembered the London period of his life as a nightmare. “Well, I’ve hit rock bottom,” he thought then. - From here you can only move upward."."He always looked a little unsettled", - a bank colleague said about George.

By the way, Soros never made it to London. While working at a bank, he began trading shares of gold mining companies, but saved only five thousand dollars in three years. With this money, in 1956, an ambitious young man set off to conquer America.

The mystery of money

The alchemy of big money was revealed to Soros only in the States. And even then not right away.

At first, the future billionaire was engaged in the purchase and resale of shares of European companies in an investment firm in New York. He was helped in this matter by his knowledge of several foreign languages ​​and good connections in Europe.

However, it took Soros years to climb to the top of the financial Olympus. Only in the late 60s did he register his first investment fund, First Eagle, in an offshore zone, investing the accumulated $250 thousand into it.

Another $6 million was contributed to the fund by Soros' clients - rich people from Europe. By the way, the first investors never regretted it. Ten years later, the value of the fund was already 12 million dollars, and in 1980 - 381 million.

Soros's fortune in 1980 reached $100 million. The financier never revealed the secret of his unprecedented success. " He buys stocks when his back hurts and sells them when the pain goes away.", Soros’ adult son once said jokingly.

Many people spoke about the financier’s extraordinary intuition. But this was also due to his enormous natural intelligence and ability to understand the cause-and-effect relationships of the world economy. And also determination and nerves of steel: Soros could dispassionately put a lot of money on the line.

They say that the great financier’s personal life was never in the foreground. He married for the first time at the age of 31, to a German woman, Anna-Louise, whom he met in a company of emigrants. They lived happily together for 17 years, giving birth to three children.

In 1983, George left his first family for a young American woman, Susan Weber, the daughter of a New York handbag and shoe manufacturer. He also lived happily married to her for twenty years, giving birth to two more children. In a word, nothing interesting!

Even after becoming fabulously rich, George Soros never fell in love with luxury. Unlike his fellow millionaires, he did not buy yachts or private jets, flew only in business class and dressed modestly. Even outwardly, he looked not like a millionaire, but like a modest university professor.

The main “high” of his life in those years, apparently, was the process of making money itself. On September 22, 1985, Soros, for example, became $40 million richer overnight. The day before, he bought millions of dollars worth of Japanese yen, which rose sharply in price the next day.

And on September 15, 1992, Soros again earned 1 billion pounds sterling overnight and became famous throughout the world as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of Great Britain." On that “Black Wednesday” the British pound sterling fell in price by half. And this was the work of Soros.

The secret of life

"Millionaires spend money, billionaires make history"- this phrase belongs to Soros himself. In the early 90s, the financier’s personal fortune exceeded two billion dollars, and, apparently, political ambitions came into play.

At this time, Soros began to actively engage in charity work around the world and interfere in state politics. Branches of the Soros Charitable Foundation were opened in 26 countries, millions of dollars were allocated for humanitarian aid to the countries of Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.

There were various rumors about why Soros needed this. They said that in this way the billionaire was hiding from paying taxes. It was assumed that he had delusions of grandeur and a thirst for power. They accused him of buying public opinion in those countries where he was collapsing the national currency. That he is a spy, and this is his cover, finally....

According to unverified information, George Soros financed opposition parties in his native Hungary back in the 80s. Later, he allegedly directed enormous resources to finally finish off the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the territory of the former Soviet Union.

There is an opinion that political ambitions played a cruel joke on George Soros. He supposedly did not earn big dividends from politics, but he lost his unique financial sense. And from the late 90s, a period of great bad luck began in the life of Soros.

In 1997, the financier made a billion-dollar purchase in Russia, which he later called the worst investment of his entire life. These were shares of the Russian company Svyazinvest, which Soros had to sell at half the price after the 1998 default.

And then came the unfortunate failures with shares of Internet companies, then - unsuccessful fraud with the euro. And every time - multimillion-dollar losses. “The time for making money has passed for me,” Soros said. Apparently not wanting to tempt fate any longer, in 2004 he handed over the billions of dollars of his business to his sons for management.

They say that in recent years George Soros has been living like a pensioner in a penthouse in Manhattan and willingly consulting with journalists on the global financial crisis. And the American grandfather now has a stormy personal life.

Soros divorced his second wife in 2004. And since then, the retired billionaire's friends have included the young American violinist Jennifer Chun, the widow of the King of Jordan - Noor, Miss Russia 1998 Anna Malova and the young Russian blonde Marina Celle.