George Soros is a highly successful American investor and philanthropist with a net worth of $6.7 billion as of October 2023. He is renowned for his significant philanthropic contributions, having donated over $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, with $15 billion already distributed. This represents 64% of his original fortune. Soros was recognized by Forbes in 2020 as the "most generous giver" based on the percentage of his net worth donated.
On August 12, 1930, George Soros, originally named György Schwartz, was born in Budapest, Hungary.
In August 1930, György Schwartz, who later became George Soros, was born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, to a non-observant Jewish family.
On January 3, 1934, Annaliese Witschak, later George Soros's first wife, was born. She was an ethnic German immigrant who had been orphaned during the war.
In 1936, the Schwartz family changed their name to Soros for protective camouflage in increasingly antisemitic Hungary.
In March 1944, when George Soros was 13 years old, Nazi Germany occupied Hungary, resulting in Jewish children being barred from attending school.
In 1944, George Soros posed as the Christian godson of an official to survive the war, while his father saved many other Hungarian Jews.
In 1945, George Soros survived the Siege of Budapest, where Soviet and German forces engaged in house-to-house fighting.
In 1951, George Soros obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy from the London School of Economics.
In 1954, George Soros earned a Master of Science degree in philosophy from the London School of Economics.
In 1954, George Soros started his financial career at the merchant bank Singer & Friedlander of London, initially working as a clerk.
In 1956, George Soros relocated to New York City and worked as an arbitrage trader for F. M. Mayer, specializing in European stocks.
In 1959, after working at F. M. Mayer for three years, George Soros joined Wertheim & Co., aiming to save $500,000 to return to England and study philosophy.
In 1960, George Soros married Annaliese Witschak, a German immigrant who had been orphaned during World War II.
In 1963, George Soros became a vice president at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, but found the job unfulfilling due to market conditions.
Until 1963 George Soros worked as an analyst of European securities at Wertheim & Co.
In 1966, George Soros started a fund with $100,000 of the firm's money to experiment with his trading strategies.
In 1967, Soros and Henry H. Arnhold established the First Eagle fund which was an offshoot of Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.
In 1969, George Soros established his first hedge fund, named Double Eagle, with $4 million in investor capital, including $250,000 of his own money.
In 1970, George Soros founded Soros Fund Management and assumed the role of chairman.
In 1970, Soros Fund Management was founded by George Soros and he became its chairman.
From 1963 to 1973, George Soros's experience as a vice president at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder resulted in little enthusiasm for the job.
In 1973, George Soros resigned from the management of the Double Eagle Fund due to perceived conflicts of interest and established the Soros Fund.
In 1973, the Double Eagle Fund grew to $12 million and formed the basis of the Soros Fund, with George Soros and Jim Rogers receiving returns on their share of capital and 20 percent of the profits each year.
Since its inception in 1973, the Quantum Fund has generated $40 billion.
From 1979, as an advocate of 'open societies', Soros financially supported dissidents including Poland's Solidarity movement, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union.
In 1980, George Soros received an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Oxford.
By 1981, the fund had reduced to $200m after a 22% loss in that year and substantial redemptions by some of the investors.
In 1983, George Soros and Annaliese Witschak divorced. They had three children together.
In 1983, George Soros married Susan Weber. They later had two children together.
In 1984, George Soros founded his first Open Society Institute in Hungary with a budget of $3 million.
In 1987, George Soros predicted disaster in his book "The Alchemy of Finance."
In 1988, George Soros advised the "No" campaign in Chile's plebiscite, providing resources and data crucial for their television program and victory.
In 1988, after being contacted by French financier Georges Pébereau to join investors purchasing shares in Société Générale, Soros opted to accumulate shares in Société Générale, Suez, Paribas, and Compagnie Générale d'Électricité independently.
In 1989, the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB) investigated Soros's transaction in Société Générale for insider trading. While initial investigations found Soros innocent, the case was reopened, leading to a conviction confirmed by the French Supreme Court on June 14, 2006.
In 1991, George Soros received a Doctor of Humane Letters, an honorary degree, from Yale University.
Leading up to Black Wednesday in September 1992, George Soros built a large short position in pounds sterling, recognizing the unfavorable position of the United Kingdom in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
On September 16, 1992, also known as Black Wednesday, Soros's fund had sold short more than $10 billion in pounds, profiting from the UK government's reluctance to raise interest rates or float its currency.
On October 26, 1992, George Soros stated that his total position by Black Wednesday was worth almost $10 billion, and he had planned to sell even more, expressing amusement at Norman Lamont's plan to borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling.
In 1994, George Soros delivered a speech where he mentioned offering to help his mother commit suicide, as she was a member of the Hemlock Society. In the same speech, he also endorsed the Oregon Death with Dignity Act and contributed to its advertising campaign.
In 1995, George Soros received an honorary laurea degree in economics from the University of Bologna.
In 1995, George Soros was a financial backer of Washington Soccer L.P., the group that owned the operating rights to Major League Soccer club D.C. United when the league was founded.
On February 5, 1996, George Soros was believed to have traded billions of Finnish markkas in anticipation of selling them short, following the floating of the markka due to the early 1990s depression.
During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, accused George Soros of using his wealth to punish ASEAN for welcoming Myanmar as a member.
In 1997, Soros Fund Management, observing trade and capital account discrepancies, sold short the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit. Later in 1997, Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia accused Soros of causing the financial crisis, an accusation Soros denied, stating they became buyers of the ringgit as it declined to profit from their earlier speculation.
In 1997, Soros closed his foundation in Belarus after it was fined $3 million by the government for "tax and currency violations". Soros called the fines part of a campaign to "destroy independent society".
In 1998, George Soros predicted disaster in his book "The Crisis of Global Capitalism."
In 1998, Soros explained his role in the crisis in his book "The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered".
In 1998, after his son's bar mitzvah, George Soros suggested to his son Alexander that he might want to consider immigrating to Israel if he was serious about being Jewish.
In 1998, during an interview with CBS News, George Soros stated that he was not religious and does not believe in God.
In 1999, economist Paul Krugman criticized Soros's influence on financial markets.
In 2000, George Soros aimed to enhance the image of Ricardo Lagos, then a presidential candidate, within business circles.
In 2000, Washington Soccer L.P., the group financially backed by George Soros that owned the operating rights to Major League Soccer club D.C. United, lost these rights.
On November 11, 2003, George Soros declared that removing President George W. Bush from office was the "central focus" of his life, describing it as "a matter of life and death." He also stated he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat Bush.
During the 2003-2004 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups, which are tax-exempt groups under the United States tax code.
In 2003, George Soros published his book "The Bubble of American Supremacy," which critiqued the Bush administration's War on Terror. He drew parallels between political contexts and the self-reinforcing processes that generate bubbles in stock prices.
In 2003, George Soros suggested that the Bush and Sharon administrations were contributing to European antisemitism. His remarks were criticized by Abraham Foxman as simplistic and biased. Michael Steinhardt clarified that Soros does not believe Jews should be hated more than they deserve. Soros also suggested that Jews can overcome antisemitism by abandoning tribalism.
In 2003, the Project on Death in America, an initiative of the Open Society Institute that aimed to transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement, concluded its activities, which had been ongoing since 1994.
On September 28, 2004, George Soros dedicated more money to the campaign against President Bush and commenced his own multistate tour with a speech entitled "Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush", delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Until the 2004 presidential election, Soros had not been a large donor to U.S. political campaigns. Following George W. Bush's reelection in 2004, Soros and other donors backed Democracy Alliance, a political fundraising group supporting progressive causes.
In November 2005, George Soros publicly stated his belief that Kosovo should be granted independence.
In 2005, George Soros and Susan Weber divorced. They had two children together.
In 2005, George Soros was a minority partner in a group that attempted to buy the Washington Nationals, a Major League Baseball team.
On June 14, 2006, the French Supreme Court confirmed the conviction of Soros for insider trading related to a transaction in Société Générale. However, the penalty was reduced to €940,000.
In December 2006, George Soros appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, citing that the 14-year delay in bringing the case to trial precluded a fair hearing.
In 2006, Ercis Kurtulus, head of the Social Transparency Movement Association (TSHD) in Turkey, said in an interview that "Soros carried out his will in Ukraine and Georgia by using these NGOs ... Last year Russia passed a special law prohibiting NGOs from taking money from foreigners. I think this should be banned in Turkey as well."
In 2006, Mahathir Mohamad met with George Soros and stated that he accepted that Soros had not been responsible for the 1997 crisis.
In 2006, during a discussion, George Soros explained how he transitioned from selling fancy goods to working in a merchant bank after writing to numerous managing directors in London.
In May 2008, George Soros published his book "The New Paradigm for Financial Markets," where he described a "superbubble" that had been building up over the past 25 years and was on the verge of collapse.
After the 2008 financial crisis, more attention was given to Soros's theories of reflexivity, which attempt to explain why markets overshoot or undershoot equilibrium states. This theory became the focus of an issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology.
Around 2008, reflexivity in financial markets became evident in the debt and equity of housing markets. Lenders made more money available to more people in the 1990s, increasing house prices. Balance sheets improved, leading to more lending and higher prices.
In 2008, George Soros donated $400,000 to support the Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative, which decriminalized marijuana possession. He also funded similar initiatives in other states and organizations like the Lindesmith Center and Drug Policy Foundation. Additionally, he donated $1.4 million to support California's Proposition 5, a ballot measure aimed at expanding drug rehabilitation programs.
In 2008, George Soros met Tamiko Bolton, who he would later marry.
In 2008, George Soros was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with other notable figures.
In 2008, George Soros's name was associated with AS Roma, an Italian association football team, but the club was not sold.
In February 2009, George Soros stated that the world financial system had effectively disintegrated and was on life support, with no imminent resolution to the crisis in sight.
In June 2009, Soros donated $100 million to Central Europe and Eastern Europe to counter the impact of the Great Recession on the poor, voluntary groups and non-government organizations.
In August 2009, Soros donated $35 million to the state of New York, earmarked for underprivileged children, providing $200 per child aged 3-17 to parents with benefit cards. Additionally, $140 million was added to the fund by New York from federal recovery act money. Soros also supported the Center for American Progress.
In October 2009, George Soros shared his opinion that marijuana is less addictive but not suitable for children and students. He also revealed that he hasn't used marijuana in years. Soros has been a significant financial supporter of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization advocating for cannabis legalization, with annual contributions of approximately $5 million from one of his foundations.
In October 2009, in response to the Great Recession, George Soros founded the Institute for New Economic Thinking. The think tank consists of international economic, business, and financial experts tasked with investigating new approaches to the international economic and financial system.
In 2009, Michelle Bachelet awarded George Soros the Bernardo O'Higgins Order of Merit, recognizing his commitment to democracy and open societies.
In October 2010, George Soros donated $1 million to support California's Proposition 19.
In October 2011, an article was published reporting a Soros spokesman and Adbusters' co-founder Kalle Lasn both saying that Adbusters—the reputed catalyst for the first Occupy Wall Street protests—had never received any contributions from Soros, contrary to Reuters's earlier story in 2010 that reported that "indirect financial links" existed between the two.
In July 2011, George Soros returned funds from outside investors, valued at $1 billion, and instead invested funds from his $24.5 billion family fortune, citing changes in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules.
In October 2011, Reuters published a story "Soros: not a funder of Wall Street Protests" after pointing out errors in an earlier Reuters story headlined "Who's Behind the Wall St. Protests?" with a lead stating that the Occupy Wall Street movement "may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men [Soros]".
In October 2011, the European Court of Human Rights rejected Soros's appeal in a 4-3 decision, stating that Soros had been aware of the risk of breaking insider trading laws.
On August 21, 2012, it was reported that George Soros acquired roughly a 2% stake in English football club Manchester United through the purchase of 3 million of the club's Class-A shares.
On September 27, 2012, Soros donated $1 million to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Barack Obama's reelection.
Since 2012, the Hungarian Fidesz government has labeled George Soros as an enemy of the state.
On June 15, 2013, George Soros's older brother, Paul Soros, a private investor and philanthropist, passed away.
On September 21, 2013, George Soros married Tamiko Bolton.
In October 2013, Soros donated $25,000 to Ready for Hillary, becoming a co-chairman of the super PAC's national finance committee.
In 2013, the Quantum Fund made $5.5 billion, becoming the most successful hedge fund in history again.
In January 2014, George Soros was ranked number 1 in LCH Investments' list of top 20 managers, having posted gains of almost $42 billion since the launch of his Quantum Endowment Fund in 1973.
In June 2015, Soros donated $1 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
In December 2015, Soros donated $6 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
In 2015, George Soros was falsely accused of being behind the European migrant crisis, leading to conspiracy theories that united antisemitism and Islamophobia. The Hungarian government even launched a costly poster campaign demonizing him.
In 2015, the Hungarian government disagreed with Soros's involvement in the European migrant crisis.
In 2015, the Quantum Fund announced its investment of $300 million to help finance the expansion of Fen Hotels, an Argentine hotel company, to develop 5,000 rooms across Latin America.
In January 2016, at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, George Soros predicted a financial crisis similar to the 2007-2008 crisis, citing global currency, stock, and commodity markets, as well as the declining Chinese yuan.
In August 2016, Soros donated $2.5 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race.
In 2016, George Soros stated that he does not want to be a part of a national existence for Jews. Hacked emails revealed that his Open Society Foundation aims to challenge Israel's policies and funds NGOs critical of Israel, including those supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
Since 2016, Soros has been donating sums exceeding $1 million to the campaigns of progressive criminal justice reform proponents through the Safety and Justice PAC in local district attorney elections.
In January 2017, the "Stop Operation Soros" (SOS) initiative was launched in Macedonia. SOS seeks to present "questions and answers about the way Soros operates worldwide" and invites citizens to contribute to the research.
In March 2017, six US senators sent a letter to then secretary of state Rex Tillerson asking that he look into several grants the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have given to groups funded by "left-wing" Soros.
In July 2017, George Soros was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (HonFBA), the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences.
In July 2017, a Hungarian billboard campaign backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vilified George Soros as an enemy of the state, using the slogan "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh." The campaign was considered antisemitic and drew criticism for evoking sad memories of the Holocaust.
By 2017, George Soros's donations on civil initiatives, poverty reduction, transparency, scholarships, and universities around the world reached a total of $12 billion.
In 2017, Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz filed a $10-million lawsuit against George Soros, alleging that Soros influenced the government of Guinea to freeze Steinmetz's company, BSG Resources, out of iron ore mining contracts due to animus toward Israel. Soros dismissed the suit as frivolous and a PR stunt.
In 2017, a study found that a grant program by George Soros, which awarded funding to over 28,000 scientists in the former Soviet republics shortly after the end of the Soviet Union, had significant positive impacts on scientific publications and retention in the science sector.
In 2017, with the help of a $1.5 million ad campaign funded by Soros, Larry Krasner was elected as the District Attorney of Philadelphia.
On May 16, 2018, Soros's Open Society Foundations announced they would move its office from Budapest to Berlin, blaming the move on an "increasingly repressive" environment in Hungary.
In October 2018, George Soros was a target of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts, when a pipe bomb was sent to his home. Similar bombs were sent to other prominent Democrats and liberals.
On October 22, 2018, a pipe bomb was discovered in the mailbox at George Soros's home in Katonah, New York. The bomb, part of a series of mail bombing attempts, was safely detonated by the FBI, who launched an investigation.
On October 26, 2018, Cesar Sayoc Jr. was arrested in Aventura, Florida, as a suspect in the mail bombing attempts, including the one targeting George Soros.
As the 2018 election period started, the Hungarian government introduced public posters with a photo of Soros to create hostility in the general public towards him, using statements such as "Soros wants millions of migrants to live in Hungary", and "Soros wants to dismantle the border fence".
George Soros was named the Financial Times Person of the Year for 2018, recognized as a "standard bearer for liberal democracy".
In 2018, Alex Soros explained that his father fights for an open society because in a non-Jewish state, a Jew can only feel safe when other minorities are protected, which is a driving force behind his philanthropy.
In 2018, The New York Times reported that conspiracy theories about George Soros had gone mainstream, reaching nearly every corner of the Republican Party.
In April 2019, George Soros was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Courage. In his acceptance address, he discussed being portrayed as a super villain in Hungary and donated the prize money to the Hungarian Spectrum.
By July 2019, George Soros had donated $5.1 million to Democracy PAC.
In August 2019, Cesar Sayoc Jr. was sentenced to 20 years in prison for mailing 16 pipe bombs to 13 victims, including George Soros. None of the devices exploded.
For the 2020 election cycle, Soros launched a new super PAC called Democracy PAC.
In 2020, Soros was the largest donor supporting George Gascón for Los Angeles County District Attorney, contributing $2.25 million to superPACs. Soros also gave $2 million to a PAC supporting Kim Foxx's campaign for Cook County State's Attorney.
In the second quarter of 2020, Soros gave at least $500,000 to Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, becoming one of the campaign's largest donors.
As of 2022, George Soros owned homes on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, in The Hamptons on Long Island, and in Katonah, New York, within Westchester County.
For the 2022 United States elections, Soros was the country's largest donor. He donated $128.5 million to support the Democratic Party in the election cycle.
In December 2023, George Soros was swatted during a period of similar harassment targeting American political figures.
In December 2023, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, accused George Soros of supporting pro-Palestinian organizations that seek the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. Soros' son, Alexander, dismissed these accusations as right-wing attacks.
In January 2025, United States President Joe Biden awarded George Soros the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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