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What George Soros' life is really like: How the former hedge-fund manager built his $8.3 billion fortune, purchased a sprawling network of New York homes, and became the topic of international conspiracy theories
What George Soros' life is really like: How the former hedge-fund manager built his $8.3 billion fortune, purchased a sprawling network of New York homes, and became the topic of international conspiracy theories
Taylor Nicole RogersJun 28, 2019, 18:45 IST
Investor George Soros speaks during a program hosted by the New America Foundation September 13, 2006 in Washington, DC.Win McNamee/Getty Images
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Former hedge-fund manager George Soros is the 178th-richest person on the planet, with a net worth of approximately $8.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Soros is well known for his philanthropy, having given away more than $32 billion, according to his personal website.
He has purchased a sprawling network of homes in the New York area, including a Southhampton estate and an Upper East Side townhouse.
The billionaire spends big on causes he believes in, including politics.
Conspiracy theorists accuse former hedge-fund manager George Soros of aiding Nazis, conspiring to fill Budapest with refugees, and trying to start a Civil War in the United States. While these theories lack support, little is actually known about how the 88-year-old billionaire passes his days.
Soros built his fortune running what was once the world's largest hedge fund - Quantum Fund. After he passed his hedge fund to his sons in 2011, Soros has largely focused his personal goal of creating a more open society through giving to both his personal foundation and a variety of progressive politicians, according to his personal website.
Keep reading to see how George Soros built his fortune, how he spends it - and why.
Soros and his family stayed in Budapest through the city's Nazi occupation from 1944–1945, using fake IDs to hide their Jewish heritage. "Instead of submitting to our fate, we resisted an evil force that was much stronger than we were — yet we prevailed. Not only did we survive, but we managed to help others,” Soros is quoted as saying on his personal website.
Soros' family fled Hungary for London as the Soviets swept the country in 1947. In London, he worked part-time as a waiter in a night club and as a railroad porter.
Soros has been married three times, first to Annaliese Witschak from 1960 to 1983 and later to historian Susan Weber from 1983 to 2005. Soros married his current wife, Tamiko Bolton, in 2013.
The bomb was later detonated by authorities in a secluded area. Prominent Democrats including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, George Soros, former President Barack Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and Former US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were also sent bombs. No one was hurt.
Soros was featured in ads sponsored by the far-right Hungarian government accusing him of colluding to bring Muslim immigrants into Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban campaigned on a promise to pass a "Stop Soros" bill aimed at silencing his critics, including Soros.
Closer to home, conspiracy theorists have accused Soros of attempting to start a civil war in the US and funding the violence at the 2017 "Unite the Right" protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Soros is also often accused of collaborating with Nazis during the Holocaust. Comedian Roseanne Barr repeated this conspiracy theory on Twitter in 2018 in one of a series of tweets that resulted in the cancellation of her ABC sitcom.
The controversy around Soros isn't limited to conspiracy theories, however. Soros is sometimes called "the man who broke the Bank of England," after he made $1 billion betting against the British pound as it crashed on "Black Wednesday" in 1992.
The billionaire spends big on causes he believes in, including politics. He spent at least $25 million on voter mobilization efforts to help Clinton and other Democrats during the 2016 elections, one of his spokespeople told the Chicago Tribune.
Soros also unsuccessfully supported several candidates during the 2018 midterm elections, despite donating $17 million. Several district attorney candidates he supported in California lost to incumbents.
"I had no idea he had political ambitions, but I didn't like his behavior as a businessman," Soros is quoted as saying in June 2018 Chicago Tribune article.
Soros has not always been liberal, however. He supported Republican candidates until the invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush in 2003 turned him against the party.
Soros doesn't just give money to politicians. He is the founder and chair of Open Society Foundations, a non-profit that disperses grants for education, human rights, criminal justice, and journalism projects.
Soros named the foundation after a book by Karl Popper, titled "Open Society and Its Enemies." In it, Popper writes how societies succeed only when they are democratic and protect human rights.
In Hungary, the attacks on Soros are so vicious that the foundation announced that it would relocate from Budapest to Berlin in May 2019. "The government of Hungary has denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union," Open Society Foundations president Patrick Gaspard said in a statement.
Central European University, a graduate school founded by Soros, also plans to relocate from Budapest to Vienna due to tensions with the Hungarian government.
"It makes it very difficult for me to speak effectively because it can be taken out of context and used against me," Soros said about the conspiracy theories, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed Soros' foundation out of Russia in 2017, where it had funded numerous projects, including an anti-torture program.
"He intervenes in things all over the world," Putin said of Soros in a 2018 television interview in Austria. "But the State Department will tell you that it has nothing to do with that, that this is the personal business of Mr. Soros."
Outside of his philanthropic work, Soros has also written 14 books on a variety of topics, including the European Union and the global financial crisis.
At his 80th birthday party, Soros told his 350 guests: "I am a philanthropist. Some maybe think I’m a philanderer. My philosophy is very simple. I like to make a lot of money, so I can give away a lot of money.”
