Editorial Invest in Slovakia
George Soros is a well-known and highly controversial figure. However, he is without any doubt one of the most successful investors of all time Well, did you know this about him?
1. As a family, they changed their surname precisely because of the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary, in order to hide their Jewish roots. Originally, George was called Schwartz György.
2. In Hungarian, the word "Soros" means next in line.
3. He founded his own non-profit organisation, the Open Society Foundation.
4. After World War II, he went to London to study philosophy. During his studies, the Austrian philosopher Karl Popper became his role model and mentor.
5. In London he worked as a clerk in a bank. He handled papers and handed out stamps. Later he was promoted to the arbitration department.
6. Soros, as a worldly-wise European, was able to advise the Americans favourably on asset purchases. Later, he also managed an offshore fund, the so-called first eagle fund. Due to his great success, he also set up a second double eagle fund.
7. George works with the human psyche - consumers' assumptions and expectations cannot be measured scientifically, but what can be measured are the choices they make. These are based precisely on unreliable factors such as feelings, prejudices or assumptions.
8. In 1987, he published a book on investing called "The Alchemy of Finance".
9. The stock markets are Soros's laboratory where he tests his theories. He treats investing as a scientific experiment.
10. He invented the theory of reflexivity.
11. He has made it his mission to: open closed societies, fix the flaws of already open societies, and promote critical thinking.
12. He proved that he was serious about philanthropy in 2010, when he poured $18 billion into his foundation.
13. He had a clear view on people management - the best way, in his view, is to find entrepreneurial and ambitious people, give them a framework within which they can move and a destination to go to. The execution itself should be left to them.
14. In South Africa, where Apharteid - that is, racial segregation - reigned at the time, he funded scholarships for black students so that they, too, could have access to higher education. However, he did this with the help of state organisations, and after a while he got the impression that he was being taken advantage of. They improved their image on him.
15. He is a strong opponent of guns as they are sold in the U.S. and supports stricter gun control.
16. He is also active on Roma issues in Europe, for example. He has invested more than $330 million in their inclusion since the 1990s.
17. The list of activities in the field of Roma issues contains more than 500 pages.
18. Every Soros initiative - a new organisation or foundation he opens somewhere - must have a regional council.
19. When things are at their worst, Soros says there is nothing to do but subsidize education to help people uplift themselves.
20. His name is associated with various synonyms - billionaire, investor, philanthropist or activist.
21. He devalued the pound - on the night of 15-16 September 1992 he borrowed and immediately sold billions of pounds. Mostly for dollars and deutschmarks. By selling the pound cheaply and in massive quantities, he knew that he would cause the pound to fall in value. He flooded the market with it and increased the supply disproportionately. Which naturally leads to a fall in price.
22. In December 2018, it gained another attribute Person of the Year 2018 from The Financial Times .
23. Soros borrowed a pound, which lost value, and then paid it back. The difference between the price before and after was left in his pocket.
24. He exploited a weakness in an incident in Britain that was named Black Wednesday.
25. As a teenager in the mid-1940s, he survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary.
26. During his studies, he worked as a porter on the railway and as a waiter in a nightclub.
27. In 1991 he founded the Central European University in Budapest.
28. He is also called "the man who broke the Bank of England."
29. He made £1 billion in one day.
30. Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, he bet that a Donald Trump victory would have a negative impact on markets.
On October 31, 2018, a pipe bomb was delivered to his home in New York City.
Sources:
https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/george-soros?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=gs_082018
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Soros
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JOQLp8iFKc
https://www.biography.com/business-figure/george-soros
