George Soros is an American investor and philanthropist who was born in Hungary. As of March 2021, he was worth US$8.6 billion, having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, of which $15 billion has already been dispersed, representing 64% of his original fortune and ranking him Forbes’ “most generous giver” (in terms of percentage of net worth).
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George Soros
Soros moved to England in 1947 and enrolled in the London School of Economics (LSE). Soros earned a Bachelor of Science in philosophy from LSE in 1951 and a Master of Science in philosophy from the university in 1954.
According to his works, he was profoundly influenced during his LSE years by philosopher Karl Popper. Interviews with Soros demonstrate that he possesses a perspective of how society perceives actual events and how they occurred.
As a student who has attended some academic studies at LSE, London University, I can empathise with what he is writing in his first book, “The Alchemy of Finance.” I must note that while it is a fascinating book, it can be confusing for those who have not already studied sociology.
While Soros recognised that his publication garnered little scholarly attention, it did garner considerable interest in the financial market. Many governments and business leaders throughout the world have undoubtedly heard of the name Soros by now.
Career
Soros began his career in business by working at several merchant banks in the United Kingdom and subsequently the United States before founding his first hedge fund, Double Eagle, in 1969. Profits from his first firm provided the seed money for his second hedge fund, Soros Fund Management, which he founded in 1970.
Double Eagle was renamed Quantum Fund and served as Soros’ primary advisory business. Quantum Fund began with $12 million in assets under management and grew to $25 billion by 2011, accounting for the majority of Soros’s total net wealth.
Becoming Famous
Soros is dubbed “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” due to his $1 billion profit on a short sell of US$10 billion worth of pounds sterling during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis. Soros developed the General Theory of Reflexivity for capital markets based on his early studies in philosophy, which he claims provides a clear picture of asset bubbles, fundamental/market value of securities, as well as value differences useful for shorting and swapping stocks.
The philosophy that makes billions
In contrast to many fund managers and traders, Soros has a unique perspective on the financial markets. He believes that the financial market will never reach equilibrium in the sense that the rest of the world perceives it, and that it is frequently far from balance. While the growing scientific consensus is that equilibrium would eventually find its own place, according to Soros, this is simply not true in real life, particularly in the financial market.
Popular in a different sense
Armed with this knowledge, he has been dubbed “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” ever since he was dubbed “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England.” He was also dubbed “The Man Who Caused the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis,” which undervalued the majority of Asian currencies at the time.
Following that, Soros contributed billions of dollars through his philanthropic foundations throughout Europe and America, yet the media continue to label him for his prior notorious deed of dominating portions of Europe and America.
Summary
While the majority of the data in this piece comes from secondary sources such as books, magazines, and YouTube, it appears as though the international media is trending toward scepticism of Soros’ endeavour. If we reverse the coin, Soros only exposed the weaknesses in the current government and policy.
While I do not personally know Soros, I believe he is one of the brilliant individuals the world requires to continue progressing.
