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George Soros: Financier, Investor, and Controversial Figure
By Anya Sharma | JAKARTA – 2025/08/30 07:04:46
George Soros is a well-known businessman and investor, but he has also faced accusations of being a key player in the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, on August 12, 1930, George Soros came from a relatively affluent family, allowing him access to educational opportunities not available to many children at the time. His early life took a turn when the Nazis occupied Hungary in 1944. As a Jewish family, they were forced to separate and use false documents to avoid being sent to concentration camps.
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In 1947, the Soros family relocated to London. There,he studied philosophy at the london School of Economics under Karl Popper,who dissuaded him from pursuing a career as a philosopher.
soros began his career in finance in the 1950s at bank Dagang London Singer & Friedlander. He later moved to New York City in 1956, working as a securities analyst.
In 1973, George Soros established the Soros Fund, later renamed the Quantum Endowment Fund, a hedge fund that spawned numerous related ventures.
His investment strategies led to rapid growth of the fund. Notably, he accurately predicted the global stock market crash in October 1987, although his prediction that japanese shares would suffer the most proved incorrect.
Speculation Against the Pound and the Baht
“The most serious crisis of our lifetime”
In september 1992, George Soros, thru his Quantum fund, famously sold billions of pounds, anticipating the British government’s plan to devalue its currency. This action caused a notable drop in the value of the pound, allowing Soros to buy it back at a lower price, netting a profit of approximately US $1 billion. This event earned him the moniker “the man who broke the Bank of England.”
In 1997, he speculated against the Thai baht, an action that some claim triggered the 1998 asian financial crisis, which had a substantial impact on Indonesia [[1]]. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused George Soros of ruining Malaysia’s economy with currency speculation [[1]]. Soros himself claimed to have been a buyer of the ringgit during its fall, after having sold it short in 1997 [[1]].
According to Forbes data, George Soros’s current net worth is US $7.2 billion,making him the 507th wealthiest person in the world.
