Who’s Who: George Soros – Financier and Philanthropist

Hong Kong – George Soros is best known as an investor who chairs his hedge fund flagship, Soros Fund Management LLC.

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1930, Soros gained fame in 1992 when he made as much as $1 billion by betting against the British pound, forcing the British government to abandon a peg to a basket of European currencies. Soros was ranked the 29^th-richest person in the world in 2009, with a net worth of $11 billion, by Forbes Magazine in a report published in March.

The Hungarian-American investor is also a policy advocate. He founded the Open Society Institute in 1993 which promotes democracy and rule of law in over 60 countries. Soros was one of the biggest financial backers of the opposition to President George W. Bush’s campaign for a second presidential term in 2004.

A graduate of the London School of Economics in 1952, Soros said he was “greatly influenced” by philosopher Karl Popper, who inspired him to develop his theory of reflexivity. The conceptual framework first appeared in Soros’ 1987 debut publication, The Alchemy of Finance.

Soros is the author of 10 books. The latest is “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What it Means”.