George Soros, a Hungarian-American billionaire investor, philanthropist and a renowned short-seller has been in the headlines for his remarks on Gautam Adani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In response, Union Minister Smriti Irani called Soros’ remarks a “declaration to destroy India’s democratic processes” adding “War is being mounted against India, PM Modi standing between it and the country’s interest.”
Soros was labelled as the ‘most generous giver’ by Forbes in 2020 for donating around 64% of his then net worth. Educated at London School of Economics, the founder of Quantum Funds holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Philosophy.
Here’s a closer look at George Soros’ life, net worth, assets and achievements.
Image credit – The Street
One of the wealthiest men in the world
As per Forbes, Soros’ net worth currently stands at $6.7 billion, which makes the 91-year-old the 374th richest man in the world. The investor is famously known as the man who “broke” the bank of England by betting against the Pound.
Early Days
Soros was born in 1930 to a wealthy Jewish family in Hungary as George Schwartz. However, when the Nazi occupation began the family had to change their name to Soros, to camouflage their Jewish identity. But that wasn’t enough. The family had to leave Hungary when Soros was just 17 with the help of forged identity papers. This helped them survive the Holocaust.
Post War
After the conclusion of World War II, Soros made use of his Economics degree from the London School to start a hedge fund by the name of Double Eagle in 1969. A few years later in 1973, he went on to start Soros Fund Management, which went on to become of the most successful finds in America.
Image credit – The New Yorker
Shorting the bank of England
As mentioned earlier, Soros is widely known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England”. The billionaire famously shorted $10 billion worth of pounds sterling during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis, which fetched him a profit of $1 billion.
A philanthropist at heart
While managing client money from 1969 to 2011 through his fund, Soros also founded the Open Society Foundations, which as per their statement “gives grants to groups and individuals that promote democracy, transparency and freedom of speech.” Now active in over 100 countries, Soros states that the ethics of his foundation is built upon his LSE professor Karl Popper’s book Open Society and Its Enemies, which states “societies can only flourish when they allow for democratic governance, freedom of expression, and respect for individual rights”. Staying true to that statement, Soros has so far given away more than $ 32 billion of his fortune, which earned him the title of “the most generous giver” by Forbes.
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Political Inclinations
Apart from supporting the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, Soros has also addressed a variety of issues through his wealth. This includes giving scholarships to black South Africans during the apartheid, supporting same-sex marriage and promoting the use of medical marijuana in Hungary.
In 2020, the billionaire was quoted saying “The greatest shortcoming of dictatorships is that when they are successful, they don’t know when or how to stop being repressive. They lack the checks and balances that give democracies a degree of stability. As a result, the oppressed revolt. We see this happening today all around the world.”
