George Soros’ influence caused several currency crises in the 1990s, including that of the British Pound. What is the Hungarian billionaire’s net worth today?
George Soros has often been at the center of conspiracy theories regarding pretty much anything that ever went wrong in the world. In truth, the Hungarian billionaire is well known to have been part of some major economic crisis, which likely earned him the bad reputation. But who is George Soros really? And what is his net worth?
George Soros was born in Budapest in 1930. Soon after his birth, Hungary became part of the Axis alliance led by Nazi Germany. George Soros’ family was of Jewish descent, which was essentially a death sentence in Nazi occupied Europe.
In Hungary, Nazi anti-semitic laws were not enforced until Germany occupied the country in 1944. Then, George Soros and his family were stripped of any human right and could have been part of the 500.000 Hungarian jewish murdered in the Holocaust.
Miraculously, George Soros survived the Holocaust with his family by pretending to be Christian instead. Soon after, the Soviet Red Army liberated the city in 1945.
The Soros family migrated first to London in 1947 and then to the United States in 1956. In the meantime, George graduated and started his financial career.
By 1970, George Soros was an established hedge fund investor and decided to start his own firm. The fund grew to $400 million in just ten years, while Soros’ family fortune and net worth amounted to $24.5 billion.
"The man who broke the Bank of England"
In the 1990s, Soros’ fund was consequential in a major currency failure. Since the start of the decade, George Soros was betting against the value of the Pound Sterling, the British currency.
By 1992, Soros had $10 billion shorted against the Pound, which eventually crashed in September of that year. For the rest of the world, that day was known as “Black Wednesday”, as the Pound had to be withdrawn from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
For Soros, on the other hand, that day marked one of the most successful trades in history. George Soros alone made $1 billion overnight, all thanks to his massive bet against the Pound.
Similar short positions were then taken against the Finnish and Thai currencies. George Soros was accused of causing, or at least accelerating, the failure of these two monetary systems. The then Malaysian prime minister claimed that Soros was punishing the ASEAN alliance for including Myanmar. Later, the prime minister apologized for the accusations and anti-semitic remarks.
During the 2000s, George Soros devolved much of his fortune to charity. He donated over $32 billion to the Open Society Foundation.
Today, George Soros’ net worth is evaluated at $6.7 billion, making him one of the richest men in the world.
