HomeTOP1000 - Business

George Soros

George Soros[a] HonFBA (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930)[1][2] is a Hungarian-born American[b] billionaire investor and philanthropist.[8][9] As of March 2021, he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion,[10][11] having donated more than $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations,[12] of which $15 billion have already been distributed, representing 64% of his original fortune. Forbes called him the “most generous giver” (in terms of percentage of net worth).[13]

Born in Budapest to a non-observant Jewish family, Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary and moved to the United Kingdom in 1947. He studied at the London School of Economics and was awarded a BSc in philosophy in 1951, and then a Master of Science degree, also in philosophy, in 1954.[4][14][15]

Soros began his business career by taking various jobs at merchant banks in the United Kingdom and then the United States, before starting his first hedge fund, Double Eagle, in 1969. Profits from his first fund furnished the seed money to start Soros Fund Management, his second hedge fund, in 1970. Double Eagle was renamed to Quantum Fund and was the principal firm Soros advised. At its founding, Quantum Fund had $12 million in assets under management, and as of 2011 it had $25 billion, the majority of Soros’s overall net worth.[16]

Soros is known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his short sale of US$10 billion worth of pounds sterling, which made him a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.[17] Based on his early studies of philosophy, Soros formulated the General Theory of Reflexivity for capital markets, which he says renders a clear picture of asset bubbles and fundamental/market value of securities, as well as value discrepancies used for shorting and swapping stocks.[18]

Soros is a supporter of progressive and liberal political causes, to which he dispenses donations through his foundation, the Open Society Foundations.[19] Between 1979 and 2011, he donated more than $11 billion to various philanthropic causes;[20][21] by 2017, his donations “on civil initiatives to reduce poverty and increase transparency, and on scholarships and universities around the world” totaled $12 billion.[22] He influenced the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s,[23] and provided one of Europe’s largest higher education endowments to the Central European University in his Hungarian hometown.[24]

His extensive funding of political causes has made him a “bugaboo of European nationalists“.[25] The New York Times reported in October 2018 that “conspiracy theories about him have gone mainstream, to nearly every corner of the Republican Party“.[26] Numerous American conservatives have promoted false claims that characterize Soros as a singularly dangerous “puppet master” behind many alleged global plots.[26][27][28][29] Conspiracy theories targeting Soros, who is of Jewish descent, have often been described as antisemitic.[30][31][32]

Contents

Early life and education[edit source]

Soros was born in Budapest in the Kingdom of Hungary to a prosperous non-observant Jewish family, who, like many upper-middle class Hungarian Jews at the time, were uncomfortable with their roots. Soros has wryly described his home as a Jewish antisemitic home.[33] His mother Erzsébet (also known as Elizabeth) came from a family that owned a thriving silk shop. His father Tivadar (also known as Teodoro Ŝvarc) was a lawyer[34] and a well-known Esperanto-speaker who edited the Esperanto literary magazine Literatura Mondo and raised his son to speak the language.[35] Tivadar had also been a prisoner of war during and after World War I until he escaped from Russia and rejoined his family in Budapest.[36][37] The two married in 1924. In 1936, Soros’s family changed their name from the German-Jewish Schwartz to Soros, as protective camouflage in increasingly antisemitic Hungary.[38][39] Tivadar liked the new name because it is a palindrome and because of its meaning. In Hungarian, soros means “next in line,” or “designated successor”; in Esperanto it means “will soar.”[40][41][42]

Soros was 13 years old in March 1944 when Nazi Germany occupied Hungary.[43] The Nazis barred Jewish children from attending school, and Soros and the other schoolchildren were made to report to the Judenrat (“Jewish Council”), which had been established during the occupation. Soros later described this time to writer Michael Lewis: “The Jewish Council asked the little kids to hand out the deportation notices. I was told to go to the Jewish Council. And there I was given these small slips of paper … I took this piece of paper to my father. He instantly recognized it. This was a list of Hungarian Jewish lawyers. He said, ‘You deliver the slips of paper and tell the people that if they report they will be deported.”[44][45]

Soros did not return to that job; his family survived the war by purchasing documents to say that they were Christians. Later that year at age 14, Soros posed as the Christian godson of an official of the collaborationist Hungarian government’s Ministry of Agriculture, who himself had a Jewish wife in hiding. On one occasion, rather than leave the 14-year-old alone, the official took Soros with him while completing an inventory of a Jewish family’s confiscated estate. Tivadar saved not only his immediate family but also many other Hungarian Jews, and Soros later wrote that 1944 had been “the happiest [year] of his life,” for it had given him the opportunity to witness his father’s heroism.[46][47] In 1945, Soros survived the Siege of Budapest, in which Soviet and German forces fought house-to-house through the city. George and his mother also spent some time hiding with the family of Elza Brandeisz and even attended their Lutheran church with them.[48]

In 1947, Soros moved to England and became a student at the London School of Economics.[49] While a student of the philosopher Karl Popper, Soros worked as a railway porter and as a waiter, and once received £40 from a Quaker charity.[50] Soros would sometimes stand at Speakers’ Corner lecturing about the virtues of internationalism in Esperanto, which he had learned from his father.[51]

From the London School of Economics, Soros graduated as a Bachelor of Science in philosophy in 1951, and a Master of Science in philosophy in 1954.[4]

Investment career[edit source]

Early business experience[edit source]

In a discussion at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council in 2006, Alvin Shuster, former foreign editor of the Los Angeles Times, asked Soros, “How does one go from an immigrant to a financier? … When did you realize that you knew how to make money?” Soros replied, “Well, I had a variety of jobs and I ended up selling fancy goods on the seaside, souvenir shops, and I thought, that’s really not what I was cut out to do. So, I wrote to every managing director in every merchant bank in London, got just one or two replies, and eventually that’s how I got a job in a merchant bank.”[52]

Singer and Friedlander[edit source]

In 1954, Soros began his financial career at the merchant bank Singer & Friedlander of London. He worked as a clerk and later moved to the arbitrage department. A fellow employee, Robert Mayer, suggested he apply at his father’s brokerage house, F.M. Mayer of New York.[53]

F. M. Mayer[edit source]

In 1956, Soros moved to New York City, where he worked as an arbitrage trader for F. M. Mayer (1956–59). He specialized in European stocks, which were becoming popular with U.S. institutional investors following the formation of the Coal and Steel Community, which later became the Common Market.[54]

Wertheim and Co.[edit source]

In 1959, after three years at F. M. Mayer, Soros moved to Wertheim & Co. He planned to stay for five years, enough time to save $500,000, after which he intended to return to England to study philosophy.[55] He worked as an analyst of European securities until 1963.

During this period, Soros developed the theory of reflexivity to extend the ideas of his tutor at the London School of Economics, Karl Popper. Reflexivity posits that market values are often driven by the fallible ideas of participants, not only by the economic fundamentals of the situation. Ideas and events influence each other in reflexive feedback loops. Soros argued that this process leads to markets having procyclical “virtuous” or “vicious” cycles of boom and bust, in contrast to the equilibrium predictions of more standard neoclassical economics.[56][57]

Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder[edit source]

From 1963 to 1973, Soros’s experience as a vice president at Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder resulted in little enthusiasm for the job; business was slack following the introduction of the Interest Equalization Tax, which undermined the viability of Soros’s European trading. He spent the years from 1963 to 1966 with his main focus on the revision of his philosophy dissertation. In 1966 he started a fund with $100,000 of the firm’s money to experiment with his trading strategies.

In 1969, Soros set up the Double Eagle hedge fund with $4m of investors’ capital including $250,000 of his own money.[58] It was based in Curaçao, Dutch Antilles.[59] Double Eagle itself was an offshoot of Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder’s First Eagle fund established by Soros and that firm’s chairman Henry H. Arnhold in 1967.[60][61]

In 1973, the Double Eagle Fund had $12 million and formed the basis of the Soros Fund. George Soros and Jim Rogers received returns on their share of capital and 20 percent of the profits each year.[54]

Soros Fund Management[edit source]

In 1970, Soros founded Soros Fund Management and became its chairman. Among those who held senior positions there at various times were Jim Rogers, Stanley Druckenmiller, Mark Schwartz, Keith Anderson, and Soros’s two sons.[62][63][64]

In 1973, due to perceived conflicts of interest limiting his ability to run the two funds, Soros resigned from the management of the Double Eagle Fund. He then established the Soros Fund and gave investors in the Double Eagle Fund the option of transferring to that or staying with Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder.

It was later renamed the Quantum Fund, after the physical theory of quantum mechanics. By that time the value of the fund had grown to $12m, only a small proportion of which was Soros’s own money. He and Jim Rogers reinvested their returns from the fund, and also a large part of their 20% performance fees, thereby expanding their stake.[53]

By 1981, the fund had grown to $400m, and then a 22% loss in that year and substantial redemptions by some of the investors reduced it to $200m.[65]

In July 2011, Soros announced that he had returned funds from outside investors’ money (valued at $1 billion) and instead invested funds from his $24.5 billion family fortune, due to changes in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure rules, which he felt would compromise his duties of confidentiality to his investors. The fund had at that time averaged over 20% per year compound returns.[66]

In 2013, the Quantum Fund made $5.5 billion, making it again the most successful hedge fund in history. Since its inception in 1973, the fund has generated $40 billion.[67]

The fund announced in 2015 that it would inject $300 million to help finance the expansion of Fen Hotels, an Argentine hotel company. The funds will develop 5,000 rooms over the next three years throughout various Latin American countries.[68]

Economic crisis in the 1990s and 2000s[edit source]

George Soros during a session on redesigning the international monetary system at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011.

Soros had been building a huge short position in pounds sterling for months leading up to the Black Wednesday of September 1992. Soros had recognized the unfavorable position of the United Kingdom in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. For Soros, the rate at which the United Kingdom was brought into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism was too high, their inflation was also much too high (triple the German rate), and British interest rates were hurting their asset prices.[69]

By September 16, 1992, the day of Black Wednesday, Soros’s fund had sold short more than $10 billion in pounds,[62] profiting from the UK government’s reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchange Rate Mechanism countries or float its currency.

Finally, the UK withdrew from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, devaluing the pound. Soros’s profit on the bet was estimated at over $1 billion.[70] He was dubbed “the man who broke the Bank of England”.[71] The estimated cost of Black Wednesday to the UK Treasury was £3.4 billion.[72] Stanley Druckenmiller, who traded under Soros, originally saw the weakness in the pound and stated: “[Soros’s] contribution was pushing him to take a gigantic position.”[73][74]

On October 26, 1992, The New York Times quoted Soros as saying: “Our total position by Black Wednesday had to be worth almost $10 billion. We planned to sell more than that. In fact, when Norman Lamont said just before the devaluation that he would borrow nearly $15 billion to defend sterling, we were amused because that was about how much we wanted to sell.”

Soros was believed to have traded billions of Finnish markkas on February 5, 1996, in anticipation of selling them short. The markka had been put floating as a result of the early 1990s depression. The Bank of Finland and the Finnish Government commented at the time they believed that a “conspiracy” was impossible.[75]

In 1997, during the Asian financial crisis, the prime minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, accused Soros of using the wealth under his control to punish the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for welcoming Myanmar as a member. With a history of antisemitic remarks, Mahathir made specific reference to Soros’s Jewish background (“It is a Jew who triggered the currency plunge”)[76] and implied Soros was orchestrating the crash as part of a larger Jewish conspiracy. Nine years later, in 2006, Mahathir met with Soros and afterward stated that he accepted that Soros had not been responsible for the crisis.[77] In 1998’s The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, Soros explained his role in the crisis as follows:

The financial crisis that originated in Thailand in 1997 was particularly unnerving because of its scope and severity … By the beginning of 1997, it was clear to Soros Fund Management that the discrepancy between the trade account and the capital account was becoming untenable. We sold short the Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit early in 1997 with maturities ranging from six months to a year. (That is, we entered into contracts to deliver at future dates Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit that we did not currently hold.) Subsequently, Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia accused me of causing the crisis, a wholly unfounded accusation. We were not sellers of the currency during or several months before the crisis; on the contrary, we were buyers when the currencies began to decline—we were purchasing ringgits to realize the profits on our earlier speculation. (Much too soon, as it turned out. We left most of the potential gain on the table because we were afraid that Mahathir would impose capital controls. He did so, but much later.)[78]

In 1999, economist Paul Krugman was critical of Soros’s effect on financial markets.

[N]obody who has read a business magazine in the last few years can be unaware that these days there really are investors who not only move money in anticipation of a currency crisis, but actually do their best to trigger that crisis for fun and profit. These new actors on the scene do not yet have a standard name; my proposed term is “Soroi”.[79]

In an interview concerning the late-2000s recession, Soros referred to it as the most serious crisis since the 1930s. According to Soros, market fundamentalism with its assumption that markets will correct themselves with no need for government intervention in financial affairs has been “some kind of an ideological excess.” In Soros’s view, the markets’ moods—a “mood” of the markets being a prevailing bias or optimism/pessimism with which the markets look at reality—”actually can reinforce themselves so that there are these initially self-reinforcing but eventually unsustainable and self-defeating boom/bust sequences or bubbles.”[80]

In reaction to the late-2000s recession, he founded the Institute for New Economic Thinking in October 2009. This is a think tank composed of international economic, business, and financial experts, who are mandated to investigate radical new approaches to organizing the international economic and financial system.

Société Générale insider trade[edit source]

In 1988, Soros was contacted by a French financier named Georges Pébereau, who asked him to participate in an effort to assemble a group of investors to purchase a large number of shares in Société Générale, a leading French bank that was part of a privatization program (something instituted by the new government under Jacques Chirac).[81] Soros eventually decided against participating in the group effort, opting to personally move forward with his strategy of accumulating shares in four French companies: Société Générale, as well as Suez, Paribas, and the Compagnie Générale d’Électricité.

In 1989, the Commission des Opérations de Bourse (COB, the French stock exchange regulatory authority) conducted an investigation of whether Soros’s transaction in Société Générale should be considered insider trading. Soros had received no information from the Société Générale and had no insider knowledge of the business, but he did possess knowledge that a group of investors was planning a takeover attempt. Initial investigations found Soros innocent, and no charges were brought forward.[82] However, the case was reopened a few years later, and the French Supreme Court confirmed the conviction on June 14, 2006,[83] although it reduced the penalty to €940,000.[83]

Soros denied any wrongdoing, saying news of the takeover was public knowledge[84] and it was documented that his intent to acquire shares of the company predated his own awareness of the takeover.[83] In December 2006, he appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on various grounds, including that the 14-year delay in bringing the case to trial precluded a fair hearing.[85] On the basis of Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, stating that no person may be punished for an act that was not a criminal offense at the time that it was committed, the court agreed to hear the appeal.[81] In October 2011, the court rejected his appeal in a 4–3 decision, saying that Soros had been aware of the risk of breaking insider trading laws.[86]

Personal life[edit source]

Soros has been married three times and divorced twice. In 1960, he married Annaliese Witschak (born January 3, 1934). Annaliese was an ethnic German immigrant, who had been orphaned during the war. Although she was not Jewish, she was well-liked by Soros’s parents as she had also experienced the privation and displacement brought about by World War II.[87] They divorced in 1983. They had three children:

  • Robert Daniel Soros (born 1963): The founder of the Central European University in Budapest, as well as a network of foundations in Eastern Europe. In 1992, he married Melissa Robin Schiff at the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. The Rabbi Dr. David Posner officiated the ceremony.[88]
  • Andrea Soros Colombel (born June 11, 1965): The founder and president of Trace Foundation, established in 1993 to promote the cultural continuity and sustainable development of Tibetan communities within China. She is also a founding partner and member of the board of directors of the Acumen Fund, a global venture fund that employs an entrepreneurial approach in addressing the problems of global poverty[89] She is married to Eric Colombel (born October 26, 1963).
  • Jonathan Tivadar Soros (born September 10, 1970): A hedge fund manager and political donor. In 2012, he co-founded Friends of Democracy, a super PAC dedicated to reducing the influence of money in politics. In 1997, he married Jennifer Ann Allan (born November 26, 1969).[90]

In 1983, George Soros married Susan Weber. They divorced in 2005. They have two children:

  • Alexander Soros (born 1985): Alexander has gained prominence for his donations to social and political causes, focusing his philanthropic efforts on “progressive causes that might not have widespread support.”[91] Alexander led the list of student political donors in the 2010 election cycle.[92]
  • Gregory James Soros (born 1988), artist.

In 2008, Soros met Tamiko Bolton;[93] they married September 21, 2013.[94] Bolton is the daughter of a Japanese-American nurse and a retired naval commander, Robert Bolton. She was raised in California, earned an MBA from the University of Miami, and runs an Internet-based dietary supplement and vitamin-sales company.[95]

Soros’s older brother Paul Soros, a private investor and philanthropist, died on June 15, 2013.[96] Also an engineer, Paul headed Soros Associates and established the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for Young Americans.[97][98] He was married to Daisy Soros (née Schlenger), who, like her husband, was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant,[99] and with whom he had two sons, Peter and Jeffrey.[100] Peter Soros was married to the former Flora Fraser, a daughter of Lady Antonia Fraser and the late Sir Hugh Fraser and a stepdaughter of the late 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. Fraser and Soros separated in 2009.[101]

In 2005, Soros was a minority partner in a group that tried to buy the Washington Nationals, a Major League baseball team. Some Republican lawmakers suggested that they might move to revoke Major League Baseball‘s antitrust exemption if Soros bought the team.[102] In 2008, Soros’s name was associated with AS Roma, an Italian association football team, but the club was not sold. Soros was a financial backer of Washington Soccer L.P., the group that owned the operating rights to Major League Soccer club D.C. United when the league was founded in 1995, but the group lost these rights in 2000.[103] On August 21, 2012, BBC reported SEC filings showing Soros acquired roughly a 1.9 percent stake in English football club Manchester United through the purchase of 3.1 million of the club’s Class-A shares.[104]

Soros is an atheist and has stated that he “respects all faiths and religious practices.”[105] In a 1998 interview with CBS News, Soros said he was not religious and did not believe in God.[106]

Political involvement[edit source]

Until the 2004 presidential election, Soros had not been a large donor to U.S. political campaigns. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, during the 2003–2004 election cycle, Soros donated $23,581,000 to various 527 Groups (tax-exempt groups under the United States tax code, 26 U.S.C. § 527). The groups aimed to defeat President George W. Bush. After Bush’s reelection, Soros and other donors backed a new political fundraising group called Democracy Alliance, which supports progressive causes and the formation of a stronger progressive infrastructure in America.[107]

In August 2009, Soros donated $35 million to the state of New York to be earmarked for underprivileged children and given to parents who had benefit cards at the rate of $200 per child aged 3 through 17, with no limit as to the number of children that qualified. An additional $140 million was put into the fund by the state of New York from money they had received from the 2009 federal recovery act.[50]

Soros was an initial donor to the Center for American Progress, and he continues to support the organization through the Open Society Foundations.

In October 2011, a Reuters story, “Soros: Not a funder of Wall Street Protests,” was published after several commentators pointed out errors in an earlier Reuters story headlined “Who’s Behind the Wall St. Protests?” with a lead stating that the Occupy Wall Street movement “may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world’s richest men [Soros].” Reuters’s follow-up article also reported a Soros spokesman and Adbusters‘ co-founder Kalle Lasn both saying that Adbusters—the reputed catalyst for the first Occupy Wall Street protests—had never received any contributions from Soros, contrary to Reuters’s earlier story that reported that “indirect financial links” existed between the two as late as 2010.[108][109]

On September 27, 2012, Soros announced that he was donating $1 million to the super PAC backing President Barack Obama‘s reelection Priorities USA Action.[110] In October 2013, Soros donated $25,000 to Ready for Hillary, becoming a co-chairman of the super PAC’s national finance committee.[111] In June 2015, he donated $1 million to the Super PAC Priorities USA Action, which supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. He donated $6 million to the PAC in December 2015 and $2.5 million in August 2016.[112] Soros launched a new super PAC called Democracy PAC for the 2020 election cycle. By July 2019, he had donated $5.1 million to it.[113]

Since 2016, Soros has been donating sums exceeding $1 million to the campaigns of progressive criminal justice reform proponents through the Safety and Justice PAC in local district attorney elections. In many districts, such large contributions were unprecedented and the campaigning strategy was “turned on its head” with a focus on incarceration, police misconduct and bail system, according to the Los Angeles Times.[114][115] Larry Krasner was elected as the District Attorney of Philadelphia with the help of a $1.5 million ad campaign funded by Soros in 2017.[116] Soros was the largest donor supporting the campaign of George Gascón for Los Angeles County District Attorney in 2020, contributing $2.25 million to superPACs in Gascón’s favor.[117] Soros gave $2 million to a PAC supporting Kim Foxx‘s campaign for Cook County State’s Attorney in 2020.[118]

In the second quarter of 2020, Soros gave at least $500,000 to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, becoming one of the campaign’s largest donors.[119]

Central and Eastern Europe[edit source]

Protesters in Tbilisi with flag of the Democratic Republic of Georgia blocking the way from the Open Society Institute office, 2005

According to Waldemar A. Nielsen, an authority on American philanthropy,[120] “[Soros] has undertaken… nothing less than to open up the once-closed communist societies of Eastern Europe to a free flow of ideas and scientific knowledge from the outside world.”[121] From 1979, as an advocate of ‘open societies‘, Soros financially supported dissidents including Poland’s Solidarity movement, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet Union.[122] In 1984, he founded his first Open Society Institute in Hungary with a budget of $3 million.[123]

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Soros’s funding has played an important role in the newly independent countries. A 2017 study found that a grant program by George Soros which awarded funding to over 28,000 scientists in the former Soviet republics shortly after the end of the Soviet Union “more than doubled publications on the margin, significantly induced scientists to remain in the science sector, and had long-lasting [beneficial] impacts.”[124] His funding of pro-democratic programs in Georgia was considered by Georgian nationalists to be crucial to the success of the Rose Revolution, although Soros has said that his role has been “greatly exaggerated.”[125] Alexander Lomaia, Secretary of the Georgian Security Council and former Minister of Education and Science, is a former executive director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation (Soros Foundation), overseeing a staff of 50 and a budget of $2.5 million.[126]

Former Georgian foreign minister Salomé Zourabichvili wrote that institutions like the Soros Foundation were the cradle of democratization and that all the NGOs that gravitated around the Soros Foundation undeniably carried the revolution. She opines that after the revolution the Soros Foundation and the NGOs were integrated into power.[127]

Some Soros-backed pro-democracy initiatives have been banned in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.[128] Ercis Kurtulus, head of the Social Transparency Movement Association (TSHD) in Turkey, said in an interview 2006 that “Soros carried out his will in Ukraine and Georgia by using these NGOs … Last year Russia passed a special law prohibiting NGOs from taking money from foreigners. I think this should be banned in Turkey as well.”[129] In 1997, Soros closed his foundation in Belarus after it was fined $3 million by the government for “tax and currency violations.” According to The New York Times 1997, the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has been widely criticized in the West and in Russia for his efforts to control the Belarus Soros Foundation and other independent NGOs and to suppress civil and human rights. Soros called the fines part of a campaign to “destroy independent society.”[130]

In June 2009, Soros donated $100 million to Central Europe and Eastern Europe to counter the impact of the economic crisis on the poor, voluntary groups and non-government organisations.[131]

Since 2012, the Hungarian Fidesz government has labelled George Soros as an enemy of the state, due to his humanitarian and political involvement in the European refugee crisis. The government has attacked OSF, the international civil support foundation created by George Soros, and tried to revoke the licence of Central European University (Budapest) (which failed mostly due to significant public outrage).[132] In response, Soros called the government “a mafia state”.[133]

As the 2018 election period started, the government introduced public posters with a photo of Soros[134] to create hostility in the general public towards him, using statements such as “Soros wants millions of migrants to live in Hungary”, and “Soros wants to dismantle the border fence“. The government also prepared a three-part law plan called the “Stop Soros package” (which followed other various law changes[135] in the same year, hindering the workings of several international NGOs in Hungary), which would include various steps against NGOs doing volunteer work related to the refugee crisis.Anti George Soros sentiment graffiti in Resen, Macedonia (2018). It reads: #Stop Soros #I will profit

In March 2017, six US senators sent a letter to then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson[136] asking that he look into several grants the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have given to groups funded by “left-wing” Soros. In the same context, the conservative group Judicial Watch has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State and USAID compelling them to release records regarding $5 million transferred from USAID to Soros’s Open Society branch in Macedonia. The suit alleges that the money was deliberately used to destabilize the Macedonian government.[137] The Open Society Foundation has said its activities in Macedonia were aimed at ethnic reconciliation with the Albanian minority and other forms of assistance since the collapse of Yugoslavia.[138]

In January 2017, the “Stop Operation Soros” (SOS) initiative was launched in Macedonia. SOS seeks to present “questions and answers about the way Soros operates worldwide” and invites citizens to contribute to the research. In a press conference held during the same month, Nenad Mircevski, one of the founders of the initiative, stated that SOS would work towards the “de-Soros-ization” of Macedonia.[139]

On May 16, 2018, Soros’s Open Society Foundations announced they would move its office from Budapest to Berlin, blaming the move on an “increasingly repressive” environment in Hungary.[140][141][142]

Africa[edit source]

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa is a Soros-affiliated organization.[143]

Diplomacy[edit source]

In November 2005, Soros said: “My personal opinion is there’s no alternative but to give Kosovo independence.”[144]

Soros has helped fund the non-profit group Independent Diplomat, established by the former British diplomat Carne Ross.[145]

Drug policy reform[edit source]

Soros has funded worldwide efforts to promote drug policy reform. In 2008, Soros donated $400,000 to help fund a successful ballot measure in Massachusetts known as the Massachusetts Sensible Marijuana Policy Initiative which decriminalized possession of less than 1 oz (28 g) of marijuana in the state. Soros has also funded similar measures in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Nevada and Maine.[146] Among the drug decriminalization groups that have received funding from Soros are the Lindesmith Center and Drug Policy Foundation.[147] Soros donated $1.4 million to publicity efforts to support California’s Proposition 5 in 2008, a failed ballot measure that would have expanded drug rehabilitation programs as alternatives to prison for persons convicted of non-violent drug-related offenses.[148]

In October 2010, Soros donated $1 million to support California’s Proposition 19.[149]

According to remarks in an interview in October 2009, it is Soros’s opinion that marijuana is less addictive[compared to?] but not appropriate for use by children and students. He himself has not used marijuana for years.[150] Soros has been a major financier of the Drug Policy Alliance – an organization that promotes cannabis legalization – with roughly $5 million in annual contributions from one of his foundations.[151]

Death and dying[edit source]

The Project on Death in America, active from 1994 to 2003,[152] was one of the Open Society Institute’s projects, which sought to “understand and transform the culture and experience of dying and bereavement.”[153] In 1994, Soros delivered a speech in which he reported that he had offered to help his mother, a member of the right-to-die advocacy organization Hemlock Society, commit suicide.[154] In the same speech, he also endorsed the Oregon Death with Dignity Act,[155] proceeding to help fund its advertising campaign.[156]

Conspiracy theories and threats[edit source]

Soros’s philanthropy and support for progressive causes has made him the object of many conspiracy theories, most of them originating from the political right.[157][158] Veronika Bondarenko, writing for Business Insider said that “For two decades, some have seen Soros as a kind of puppet master secretly controlling the global economy and politics.”[159] The New York Times describes the allegations as moving “from the dark corners of the internet and talk radio” to “the very center of the political debate” by 2018.[26]

Soros has become a magnet for such theories, with opponents claiming that he is behind such diverse events as the 2017 Women’s March, the fact-checking website Snopes, the gun-control activism engaged in by the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting,[160][161][162] the October 2018 immigrant caravans, and the protests against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.[26][163] President Donald Trump in a tweet also claimed Soros was backing the protests against Kavanaugh’s nomination.[164]

Conservatives picked up on the thread in the late 2000s, spearheaded by Fox News. Bill O’Reilly gave an almost ten-minute monologue on Soros in 2007, calling him an “extremist” and claiming he was “off-the-charts dangerous”.[161] Breitbart News, according to the London Times journalist David Aaronovitch, has regularly published articles blaming Soros for anything of which it disapproves.[165]

Soros’s opposition to Brexit (in the United Kingdom) led to a front page on the British Conservative supporting newspaper The Daily Telegraph in February 2018, which was accused of antisemitism for claiming he was involved in a supposed “secret plot” for the country’s voters to reverse their decision to leave the European Union.[30] While The Daily Telegraph did not mention Soros is Jewish, his opposition to Britain leaving the European Union had been reported elsewhere in less conspiratorial terms.[31] Stephen Pollard, editor of The Jewish Chronicle, said on Twitter: “The point is that language matters so much and this is exactly the language being used by antisemites here and abroad”.[32][166] In October 2019, Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg accused Soros of being the “funder-in-chief” of the Remain campaign, and was subsequently accused of anti-semitism by opposition MPs.[167]

After being ousted from office in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal of 2016, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson accused Soros of having bankrolled a conspiracy to remove him from power.[168][169] It was later pointed out that Soros himself had also been implicated in the Panama Papers, casting doubt on the prime minister’s theory.[170]

Following a December 20, 1998 60 Minutes interview[171] in which Soros related his experiences when at the age of 13, the Nazis occupied his native Hungary,[172] right-wing figures such as Alex Jones, Dinesh D’Souza, Glenn Beck, Roseanne Barr,[173] James Woods, Ann Coulter,[172] Louie Gohmert,[171] Marjorie Taylor Greene,[174] and Donald Trump Jr.,[175] promulgated the false conspiracy theory, which has been described as anti-Semitic, that Soros was a Nazi collaborator who turned in other Jews and stole their property during the occupation.[176][177][178][179][180][181][182][183]

In October 2018, Soros was accused of funding a Central American migrant caravan heading toward America.[184][185][186] The theory that Soros was causing Central American migration at the southern US border apparently dates back to late March 2018, however.[187] The October 2018 strain of the theory has been described to combine anti-semitism, anti-immigrant sentiment and “the specter of powerful foreign agents controlling major world events in pursuit of a hidden agenda”, connecting Soros and other wealthy individuals of Jewish faith or background to the October caravan.[187] Donald Trump was among those promoting the conspiracy theory.[188] Both Cesar Sayoc, the perpetrator of the October 2018 attempted bombings of prominent Democrats, and Robert Bowers, the perpetrator of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, referred to this conspiracy theory on social media before their crimes.[189][190]

In November 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan denounced Soros while speaking about Turkey‘s political purges, saying: “The person who financed terrorists during the Gezi incidents is already in prison. And who is behind him? The famous Hungarian Jew Soros. This is a man who assigns people to divide nations and shatter them.”[191]

In November 2019, attorney Joseph diGenova, who is known for promoting conspiracy theories about the Department of Justice and the FBI,[200] asserted on Fox News without evidence that Soros “controls a very large part of the career foreign service of the United States State Department” and “also controls the activities of FBI agents overseas who work for NGOs – work with NGOs. That was very evident in Ukraine.”[201] Soros’s Open Society Foundation described diGenova’s claims as “beyond rhetorical ugliness, beyond fiction, beyond ludicrous” and requested that Fox News provide an on-air retraction of diGenova’s claims, and stop providing diGenova with a platform.[202] Although the network never publicly announced it had banned him, diGenova has not appeared on Fox following the incident.[203] In September 2020, diGenova suggested that Fox News is also controlled by Soros.[203]

A study by Zignal Labs found that unsubstantiated claims of involvement by Soros were one of three dominant themes in misinformation and conspiracy theories around the 2020 George Floyd protests, alongside claims that Floyd’s murder had been faked and claims of involvement by antifa groups.[204] The Anti-Defamation League estimated that over four days after Floyd’s murder, negative Twitter messages about Soros increased from about 20,000 per day to about 500,000 per day.[205]

In July 2020, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, after the border clashes with Armenia, stated that the 2018 Armenian revolution was “another provocation by Soros and his entourage”, and called the government of the Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan the “agents of the Soros Foundation”,[206] pointing out the COVID-19 pandemic-related aid to Armenia by the Soros Foundation.[207] Aliyev added that there were “no traces of the Soros Foundation in Azerbaijan”, because it had had “cut off their legs” as they were “poisoning the minds of youth”, turning them “against their state.”[208][209] In October 2020, during the height of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, Aliyev labelled Soros’s activities a “destructive, movement, and a colonial movement.” He also added that Soros “came to power in Armenia today, but failed.”[210]

Attempted assassination[edit source]

A pipe bomb was placed in the mailbox at Soros’s home in Katonah, New York on October 22, 2018, as part of the October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts. The package was discovered by a caretaker,[211] who removed it and notified authorities. It was photographed and exploded by the FBI, which launched an investigation.[212][213] For several days afterward, similar bombs were mailed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and other Democrats and liberals.[214]

On October 26, 2018, Cesar Sayoc was arrested in Aventura, Florida, on suspicion of mailing the bombs.[215] In August 2019, Sayoc was sentenced to 20 years in prison for mailing 16 pipe bombs to 13 victims. None of the devices had exploded.[216]

Political and economic views[edit source]

Reflexivity, financial markets, and economic theory[edit source]

External video
 George Soros
video icon The Lecture Series: Introduction, 2:56
video icon General Theory of Reflexivity, 52:00
video icon Financial Markets, 43:59
video icon Open Society, 43:39
video icon Capitalism vs. Open Society, 47:38 all by the Open Society Foundations

Soros’s writings focus heavily on the concept of reflexivity, where the biases of individuals enter into market transactions, potentially changing the fundamentals of the economy. Soros argues that different principles apply in markets depending on whether they are in a “near to equilibrium” or a “far from equilibrium” state. He argues that, when markets are rising or falling rapidly, they are typically marked by disequilibrium rather than equilibrium, and that the conventional economic theory of the market (the “efficient market hypothesis“) does not apply in these situations. Soros has popularized the concepts of dynamic disequilibrium, static disequilibrium, and near-equilibrium conditions.[57] He has stated that his own financial success has been attributable to the edge accorded by his understanding of the action of the reflexive effect. Reflexivity is based on three main ideas:[57]

  1. Reflexivity is best observed under special conditions where investor bias grows and spreads throughout the investment arena. Examples of factors that may give rise to this bias include (a) equity leveraging or (b) the trend-following habits of speculators.
  2. Reflexivity appears intermittently since it is most likely to be revealed under certain conditions; i.e., the character of the equilibrium process is best considered in terms of probabilities.
  3. Investors’ observation of and participation in the capital markets may at times influence valuations and fundamental conditions or outcomes.

A recent example of reflexivity in modern financial markets is that of the debt and equity of housing markets.[57] Lenders began to make more money available to more people in the 1990s to buy houses. More people bought houses with this larger amount of money, thus increasing the prices of these houses. Lenders looked at their balance sheets which not only showed that they had made more loans, but that the collaterals backing the loans – the value of the houses – had gone up (because more money was chasing the same amount of housing, relatively). Thus they lent out more money because their balance sheets looked good, and prices rose higher still.

This was further amplified by public policy. In the US, home loans were guaranteed by the Federal government. Many national governments saw home ownership as a positive outcome and so introduced grants for first-time home buyers and other financial subsidies, such as the exemption of a primary residence from capital gains taxation. These further encouraged house purchases, leading to further price rises and further relaxation of lending standards.

The concept of reflexivity attempts to explain why markets moving from one equilibrium state to another tend to overshoot or undershoot. Soros’s theories were originally dismissed by economists,[217] but have received more attention after the 2008 crash including becoming the focus of an issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology.[218]

The notion of reflexivity provides an explanation of the theories of complexity economics, as developed at the Santa Fe Institute, although Soros had not publicized his views at the time the discipline was originally developed there in the 1980s.[219][220][221][222]

Reflexivity in politics[edit source]

Although the primary manifestation of the reflexive process that Soros discusses is its effects in the financial markets, he has also explored its effects in politics. He has stated that whereas the greatest threats to the “open society” in the past were from communism and fascism (as discussed in The Open Society and Its Enemies by his mentor Karl Popper), the largest current threat is from market fundamentalism.

He has suggested that the contemporary domination of world politics and world trade by the United States is a reflexive phenomenon, insofar as the success of military and financial coercion feeds back to encourage increasingly intense applications of the same policies to the point where they will eventually become unsustainable.[223]

View of problems in the free market system[edit source]

Soros argues that the current system of financial speculation undermines healthy economic development in many underdeveloped countries. He blames many of the world’s problems on the failures inherent in what he characterizes as market fundamentalism.[224]

Market predictions[edit source]

Soros’s book The New Paradigm for Financial Markets (May 2008), described a “superbubble” that had built up over the past 25 years and was ready to collapse. This was the third in a series of books he has written that have predicted disaster. As he states:

I have a record of crying wolf … I did it first in The Alchemy of Finance (in 1987), then in The Crisis of Global Capitalism (in 1998), and now in this book. So it’s three books predicting disaster. [After] the boy cried wolf three times … the wolf really came.[225]

He ascribes his own success to being able to recognize when his predictions are wrong.

I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong … I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes. I very often used to get backaches due to the fact that I was wrong. Whenever you are wrong you have to fight or [take] flight. When [I] make the decision, the backache goes away.[225]

In February 2009, Soros said the world financial system had in effect disintegrated, adding that there was no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.[226] “We witnessed the collapse of the financial system … It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”

In January 2016, at an economic forum in Sri Lanka, Soros predicted a financial crisis akin to 2008 based on the state of the global currency, stock and commodity markets as well as the sinking Chinese yuan.[227][228]

Views on antisemitism and Israel[edit source]

When asked about what he thought about Israel, in The New Yorker, Soros replied: “I don’t deny Jews the right to a national existence – but I don’t want to be a part of it.”[229] According to hacked emails released in 2016, Soros’s Open Society Foundation has a self-described objective of “challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” in international forums, in part by questioning Israel’s reputation as a democracy.[230] He has funded NGOs which have been actively critical of Israeli policies[231][232][233] including groups that campaign for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.[231]

Speaking before a 2003 conference of the Jewish Funders Network, Soros said that the administrations of George W. Bush in the U.S. and Ariel Sharon in Israel, and even the unintended consequences of some of his own actions, were partially contributing to a new European antisemitism. Soros, citing accusations that he was one of the “Jewish financiers” who, in antisemitic terms, “ruled the world by proxy”, suggested that if we change the direction of those policies, then anti-Semitism also will diminish. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League later said that Soros’s comments held a simplistic view, were counterproductive, biased and a bigoted perception of what’s out there, and “blamed the victim” when holding Jews responsible for antisemitism. Jewish philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, who arranged for Soros’s appearance at the conference, clarified, “George Soros does not think Jews should be hated any more than they deserve to be.”[234] Soros has also said that Jews can overcome antisemitism by “giv[ing] up on the tribalness”.[235]

In a subsequent article for The New York Review of Books, Soros emphasized that

I do not subscribe to the myths propagated by enemies of Israel and I am not blaming Jews for anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism predates the birth of Israel. Neither Israel’s policies nor the critics of those policies should be held responsible for anti-Semitism. At the same time, I do believe that attitudes toward Israel are influenced by Israel’s policies, and attitudes toward the Jewish community are influenced by the pro-Israel lobby’s success in suppressing divergent views.[236]

In 2017, Israeli businessman Beny Steinmetz filed a $10-million lawsuit against Soros, alleging that Soros had influenced the government of Guinea to freeze Steinmetz’s company BSG Resources out of iron ore mining contracts in the African country due to “long-standing animus toward the state of Israel”.[237][238][239] Steinmetz claims that Soros engaged in a “smear” campaign against him and his companies and blames Soros for scrutiny of him by American, Israeli, Swiss, and Guinean authorities.[240] Soros called Steinmetz’s suit “frivolous and entirely false” and said that it was “a desperate PR stunt meant to deflect attention from BSGR’s mounting legal problems across multiple jurisdictions”.[241]

During an award ceremony for Imre Kertész, Soros said that the victims of violence and abuse were becoming “perpetrators of violence”, suggesting that this model explained Israel’s behavior towards the Palestinians, which led to walkouts and Soros being booed.[242]

In July 2017, a Hungarian billboard campaign backed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, which was considered to be anti-semitic by the country’s Jewish groups, vilified Soros as an enemy of the state, using the slogan “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh”.[243] The campaign was estimated to have cost 5.7bn forints (then US$21 million).[244] According to the Israeli ambassador, the campaign “evokes sad memories but also sows hatred and fear”, a reference to Hungary’s role in the deportation of 500,000 Jews during the Holocaust.[245] Lydia Gall of Human Rights Watch asserted that it was reminiscent of Nazi posters during the Second World War featuring “‘the laughing Jew'”.[246] Orbán and his government’s representative said they had a “zero tolerance” of antisemitism, explaining the posters were aiming to persuade voters that Soros was a “national security risk”.[243]

Hours later, in an apparent attempt to ally Israel with Hungary, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a “clarification”, denouncing Soros, stating that he “continuously undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state and seek to deny it the right to defend itself”.[247]

Soros’s son Alexander said in an interview that his father cares about Israel, and that he “would like to see Israel in Yitzhak Rabin‘s image. His views are more or less the common views in Meretz and in the Labor Party.” According to Alexander, Soros supports a two-state solution. The younger Soros recounts that after his bar mitzvah in 1998, his father told him: “If you’re serious about being Jewish, you might want to consider immigrating to Israel.”[248]

In a 2018 interview with The New York Times, Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, when asked about why his father fights for an open society, Soros replied that in a non-Jewish state, a Jew can only feel safe when other minorities are protected, which is one of most important driving forces why his father has been active in his philanthropy:

But he had always “identified firstly as a Jew,” and his philanthropy was ultimately an expression of his Jewish identity, in that he felt a solidarity with other minority groups and also because he recognized that a Jew could only truly be safe in a world in which all minorities were protected. Explaining his father’s motives, he said, “The reason you fight for an open society is because that’s the only society that you can live in, as a Jew — unless you become a nationalist and only fight for your own rights in your own state.”[249]

Views on the U.S.[edit source]

On November 11, 2003, in an interview with The Washington Post, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the “central focus of my life” and “a matter of life and death”. He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat Bush “if someone guaranteed it”.[250][251] Soros gave $3 million to the Center for American Progress, $2.5 million to MoveOn.org, and $20 million[252] to America Coming Together. These groups worked to support Democrats in the 2004 election. On September 28, 2004, he dedicated more money to the campaign and kicked off his own multistate tour with a speech, “Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush”,[253] delivered at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The online transcript of this speech received many views after Dick Cheney accidentally referred to FactCheck.org as “factcheck.com” in the vice presidential debate, causing the owner of that domain to redirect all traffic to Soros’s site.[254]

External video
video icon Booknotes interview with Soros on The Bubble of American Supremacy, February 29, 2004, C-SPAN

His 2003 book, The Bubble of American Supremacy[255], was a forthright critique of the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” as misconceived and counterproductive, and a polemic against the re-election of Bush. He explains the title in the closing chapter by pointing out the parallels in this political context with the self-reinforcing reflexive processes that generate bubbles in stock prices.

When Soros was asked in 2006 about his statement in The Age of Fallibility that “the main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States”, he responded that “it happens to coincide with the prevailing opinion in the world. And I think that’s rather shocking for Americans to hear. The United States sets the agenda for the world. And the rest of the world has to respond to that agenda. By declaring a ‘war on terror’ after September 11, we set the wrong agenda for the world … When you wage war, you inevitably create innocent victims.”[256]

In 2017, Soros described Donald Trump as a con man, and predicted Trump would fail because he believed Trump’s ideas were self-contradictory.[257] Soros also said he believed Trump was preparing for a trade war and expected financial markets to do poorly.[258]

Views on Europe[edit source]

In October 2011, Soros drafted an open letter entitled “As concerned Europeans we urge Eurozone leaders to unite”,[259] in which he calls for a stronger economic government for Europe using federal means (Common EU treasury, common fiscal supervision, etc.) and warns against the danger of nationalistic solutions to the economic crisis. The letter was co-signed by Javier Solana, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Andrew Duff, Emma Bonino, Massimo D’Alema, and Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

Soros criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his handling of the European migrant crisis in 2015: “His plan treats the protection of national borders as the objective and the refugees as an obstacle. Our plan treats the protection of refugees as the objective and national borders as the obstacle.”[260]

Soros expected that Brexit would fail and the Premiership of Theresa May would last only a short time.[258] Soros is opposed to Brexit and donated £400,000 to the anti-Brexit ‘Best for Britain’ group.[261] Soros also hosted a dinner for Conservative donors at his London home to encourage them to follow his lead. Soros’s Open Society Foundations also donated a total of £303,000 to two pro-EU organizations, the European Movement UK and Scientists for EU, and a center-right think-tank, Bright Blue.[262]

In 2018, Soros highlighted that Europe faces major challenges related to immigration, austerity, and nations leaving the EU.[263] He holds that Europe is facing an existential crisis, in view of the rise of populism, the refugee crisis and a growing rift between Europe and the United States.[264] Soros has also stated that “the euro has many unresolved problems” which “must not be allowed to destroy the European Union”. He advocated replacing the notion of a multi-speed Europe by the aim of a “multi-track Europe” that would allow member states a wider variety of choices.[265]

Views on relations between Europe and Africa[edit source]

In view of the possibility of a further increase of the number of refugees from Africa to Europe, Soros proposes that the European Union devise a “Marshall Plan for Africa” (see Marshall Plan), fostering education and employment in Africa in order to reduce emigration.[263][265]

Views on China[edit source]

Soros has expressed concern about the growth of Chinese economic and political power, saying, “China has risen very rapidly by looking out for its own interests … They have now got to accept responsibility for world order and the interests of other people as well.” Regarding the political gridlock in America, he said, “Today, China has not only a more vigorous economy but actually a better functioning government than the United States.”[266] In July 2015, Soros stated that a “strategic partnership between the US and China could prevent the evolution of two power blocks that may be drawn into military conflict”.[267] In January 2016, during an interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Soros stated that “[a] hard landing is practically unavoidable”. Chinese state media responded by stating “Soros’ challenge to the RMB and Hong Kong dollar are doomed to fail, without any doubt.”[268]

In January 2019, Soros used his annual speech at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, to label Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of China, as the “most dangerous opponent of open societies”, saying: “China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world but it is the wealthiest, strongest and technologically most advanced”. He also urged the United States not to allow the Chinese technology companies Huawei and ZTE to dominate the 5G telecommunications market as this would present an “unacceptable security risk for the rest of the world”.[269][270] Soros also criticized the newest form of China’s Big Brother-like system of mass surveillance called the Social Credit System, saying it would give Xi “total control” over the people of China.”[271] Additionally, Soros is very critical of American companies that ignore Chinese human rights violations for business reasons, for example slamming BlackRock‘s decision to invest big in China as detrimental to worldwide democracy and US national security.[272]

Views on Russia and Ukraine[edit source]

In May 2014, Soros told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: “I set up a foundation in Ukraine before Ukraine became independent from Russia. And the foundation has been functioning ever since and played an important part in events now.”[273]

In January 2015, he said that “Europe needs to wake up and recognize that it is under attack from Russia” and urged Western countries to expand economic sanctions against Russia for its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine.[274]

In January 2015, Soros called on the European Union to give $50 billion of bailout money to Ukraine.[275]

In July 2015, Soros stated that Putin’s annexation of Crimea was a challenge to the “prevailing world order,” specifically the European Union. He hypothesized that Putin wants to “destabilize all of Ukraine by precipitating a financial and political collapse for which he can disclaim responsibility, while avoiding occupation of a part of eastern Ukraine, which would then depend on Russia for economic support.”[267] In November 2015, Russia banned the Open Society Foundations (OSF) and the Open Society Institute (OSI)– two pro-democracy charities founded by Soros—stating they posed a “threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the security of the state.”[276][277] In January 2016, 53 books related to Soros’s “Renewal of Humanitarian Education” program were withdrawn at the Vorkuta Mining and Economic College in the Komi Republic, with 427 additional books seized for shredding. A Russian intergovernmental letter released in December 2015 stated that Soros’s charities were “forming a perverted perception of history and making ideological directives, alien to Russian ideology, popular”. Most of these books were published with funds donated by Soros’s charities.[278][279]

Wealth and philanthropy[edit source]

Further information on George Soros’s philanthropy: List of projects supported by George SorosGeorge Soros speaks to the LSE alumni society in Malaysia.

As of March 2020, Forbes magazine listed Soros as the 162nd richest person in the world, with a net worth of $8.3 billion.[280] He has also donated 64% of his original fortune, and distributed more than $15 billion through his Open Society Foundations (an international grantmaking network that supports advancing justice, education, public health and independent media). Forbes has called him the most generous giver (when measured as a percentage of net worth).[13]

Soros has been active as a philanthropist since the 1970s, when he began providing funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa,[122] and began funding dissident movements behind the Iron Curtain.

Soros’s philanthropic funding includes efforts to promote non-violent democratization in the post-Soviet states. These efforts, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, occur primarily through the Open Society Foundations (originally Open Society Institute or OSI) and national Soros Foundations, which sometimes go under other names (such as the Stefan Batory Foundation in Poland). As of 2003, PBS estimated that he had given away a total of $4 billion.[84] The OSI says it has spent about $500 million annually in recent years.

In 2003, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker wrote in the foreword of Soros’s book The Alchemy of Finance:

George Soros has made his mark as an enormously successful speculator, wise enough to largely withdraw when still way ahead of the game. The bulk of his enormous winnings is now devoted to encouraging transitional and emerging nations to become “open societies”, open not only in the sense of freedom of commerce but—more important—tolerant of new ideas and different modes of thinking and behavior.[281]

Time magazine in 2007 cited two specific projects—$100 million toward Internet infrastructure for regional Russian universities, and $50 million for the Millennium Promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Africa—noting that Soros had given $742 million to projects in the U.S., and given away a total of more than $7 billion.[282]

Other notable projects have included aid to scientists and universities throughout central and eastern Europe, help to civilians during the siege of Sarajevo, and Transparency International. Soros also pledged an endowment of €420 million to the Central European University (CEU).

According to National Review Online[283] the Open Society Institute gave $20,000 in September 2002 to the Defense Committee of Lynne Stewart, the lawyer who has defended controversial, poor, and often unpopular defendants in court and was sentenced to 21/3 years in prison for “providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy” via a press conference for a client. An OSI spokeswoman said “it appeared to us at that time that there was a right-to-counsel issue worthy of our support” but claimed later requests for support were declined.[citation needed]

In September 2006, Soros pledged $50 million to the Millennium Promise, led by economist Jeffrey Sachs to provide educational, agricultural, and medical aid to help villages in Africa enduring poverty. The New York Times termed this endeavor a “departure” for Soros whose philanthropic focus had been on fostering democracy and good government, but Soros noted that most poverty resulted from bad governance.[284]

Soros played a role in the peaceful transition from communism to democracy in Hungary (1984–89)[23] and provided a substantial endowment to Central European University in Budapest.[285] The Open Society Foundations has active programs in more than 60 countries around the world with total expenditures currently averaging approximately $600 million a year.[3][286]

On October 17, 2017, it was announced that Soros had transferred $18 billion to the Open Society Foundations.[287]

In October 2018, Soros donated $2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation via the Wikimedia Endowment program.[288]

In July 2020, Soros’s Foundations announced plans to give $220 million in grants for racial justice groups, criminal justice reform and civic engagement.[289]

Honors and awards[edit source]

Soros received honorary doctoral degrees from the New School for Social Research (New York), the University of Oxford in 1980, the Corvinus University of Budapest, and Yale University in 1991. He received an honorary degree in economics from the University of Bologna in 1995.[290]

In 2008, Soros was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha’s Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Kenneth Griffin, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.[291]

In January 2014, Soros was ranked number 1 in LCH Investments list of top 20 managers having posting gains of almost $42 billion since the launch of his Quantum Endowment Fund in 1973.[292]

In July 2017, Soros was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (HonFBA), the United Kingdom’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences.[293]

Soros was the Financial Times Person of the Year for 2018, with the FT describing him as “a standard bearer for liberal democracy, an idea under siege from populists”.[294]

In April 2019, Soros was awarded the Ridenhour Prize for Courage.[295] In his acceptance address Soros said: “In my native Hungary, the government of [Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán has turned me into the super villain of an alleged plot to destroy the supposed Christian identity of the Hungarian nation… [I] donate the prize money associated with this award to the Hungarian Spectrum, an online English-language publication that provides daily updates on Hungarian politics. It renders an important service by exposing to the world [in English] what Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is telling his own people [in Hungarian]. It [Hungarian Spectrum] deserves to be better known and supported.”[296]

Publications and scholarship[edit source]

Books authored or co-authored[edit source]

Notable op-eds[edit source]

Television[edit source]

  • A half-hour Opinions television lecture by Soros was transmitted by Channel 4 on 1 August 1993, and published the following day in The Times as “Why Appeasement Must Not Have Another Chance”[297]

See also[edit source]

Portals:Association footballBiographyBusiness and economicsHungaryJudaismSportsUnited States

Notes[edit source]

  1. ^ /ˈsɒroʊs/,[5] /ˈsɒrɒs/; Hungarian: Soros György, pronounced [ˈʃoroʃ ˈɟørɟ]
  2. ^ Soros was naturalized as an American citizen on December 18, 1961.[6][7]

References[edit source]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b Chapman, Roger; Ciment, James (March 17, 2015). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints and Voices. Routledge. p. 617. ISBN 9781317473510. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Knopf. pp. 17–18, 23. ISBN 9780375405853. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b “Forbes 400 Richest Americans: George Soros”. Forbes. September 2013. Archived from the original on November 22, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  4. ^ Jump up to:a b c “North American Advisory Board”. lse.ac.uk. Archived from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2015. Mr George Soros (BSc Philosophy 1951, MSc Philosophy 1954) Chairman, Soros Fund Management
  5. ^ Authors@Google: George Soros on YouTube
  6. ^ Greenwald, Glenn (October 20, 2010). “George Soros’ ‘foreign’ money”. Salon. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  7. ^ Weiss, Gary; Schares, Gail E.; Smith, Geri; Dwyer, Paul; Sandler, Neal; Pennar, Karen (August 22, 1993). “The Man Who Moves Markets”. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  8. ^ “The incredible life of billionaire investing legend George Soros”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  9. ^ Zuckerman, Gregory (June 9, 2016). “A Bearish George Soros Is Trading Again”. The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  10. ^ Kirsch, Noah. “George Soros”. Forbes.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  11. ^ “Bloomberg Billionaires”. Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved February 6, 2015. Note that this site is updated daily.
  12. ^ “George Soros”. Open Society Foundations. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b Wang, Jennifer. “The New Forbes Philanthropy Score: How We Ranked Each Forbes 400 Billionaire Based On Their Giving”. Forbes.
  14. ^ “Who is billionaire financier George Soros?”. BBC News. May 31, 2018. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  15. ^ “These 18 insanely successful people all went to LSE”. Business Insider. October 28, 2015. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  16. ^ Ungeheuer, Frederick (May 4, 1987). “George Soros: World’s Champion Bull Rider”. Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  17. ^ Ferguson, Niall; Schlefer, Jonathan (September 9, 2009). “Who Broke the Bank of England?”. Harvard Business School BGIE Unit Case No. 709-026. SSRN 1485674.
  18. ^ Open Society Foundations (October 11, 2010), George Soros Lecture Series: Financial Markets, archived from the original on January 19, 2017, retrieved February 2, 2017
  19. ^ Shawcross, William (September 1, 1997). “Turning Dollars into Change” Archived May 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Time.
  20. ^ “Philanthropy vs. Tyranny: Inside the Open Society Foundations’ Biggest Battle Yet”. Inside Philanthropy. Archived from the original on December 13, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  21. ^ Gershowitz, Martin (October 4, 2013). “George Soros Gets Hitched for Third Time”. Jewish Voice. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  22. ^ “George Soros: Hungarian government posters ‘anti-Semitic'”. BBC.com. July 11, 2017. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  23. ^ Jump up to:a b Murphy, Brendan (July 1993). “Finance: The Unifying Theme”. The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  24. ^ “Hungary: Soros Donates $250 Million to University in Budapest”. IPR Strategic Business Information Database. Info Prod Research. October 16, 2001.
  25. ^ “A veto gives the rule of law in Poland a reprieve”. The Economist. July 28, 2017. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  26. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Shane, Scott; Vogel, Kenneth P.; Kingsley, Patrick (October 31, 2018). “How Vilification of George Soros Moved From the Fringes to the Mainstream”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 1, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
  27. ^ Baram, Marcus (October 5, 2018). “Buckle up! Here’s a timeline of George Soros conspiracy theories”. Fast Company. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  28. ^ Bondarenko, Veronika (May 20, 2017). “George Soros is a favorite target of the right — here’s how that happened”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  29. ^ Wolraich, Michael (November 14, 2010). “Beck’s bizarre, dangerous hit at Soros”. CNN. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  30. ^ Jump up to:a b Finkelstein, Daniel (February 14, 2018). “George Soros and the roots of antisemitism”. The Times. Archived from the original on May 2, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.(subscription required)
  31. ^ Jump up to:a b Behr, Rafael (February 8, 2018). “A secret plot to stop Brexit, or an antisemitic dog whistle?”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  32. ^ Jump up to:a b Fisher, Lucy (February 8, 2018). “Brexiteers and alt-right unite against ‘globalist’ billionaire George Soros”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  33. ^ Slater, Robert (January 18, 2009). Soros: The Life, Ideas, and Impact of the World’s Most Influential Investor. McGraw Hill Professional. p. 30. ISBN 9780071608459. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  34. ^ Mayer, Jane (October 18, 2004). “The Money Man: Can George Soros’s millions insure the defeat of President Bush?”. The New Yorker. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  35. ^ Cowan, Alison Leigh (December 16, 2010). “How Do You Say ‘Billionaire’ in Esperanto?”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 22, 2010. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
  36. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 11.
  37. ^ Soros, George (2008). The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008 and What It Means. PublicAffairs. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-58648-683-9. Tivadar.
  38. ^ Soros, Tivadar; Tonkin, Humphrey (2001). Masquerade: Dancing Around Death in Nazi-occupied Hungary. Arcade Publishing. pp. 220, Afterword by Humphrey Tonkin. ISBN 9781559705813. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  39. ^ Zepetnek, Steven Tötösy de (2009). Comparative Central European Holocaust Studies. Purdue University Press. p. 9. ISBN 9781557535269. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  40. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Knopf. p. 24. ISBN 9780375405853. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  41. ^ Bessner, Daniel (July 6, 2018). “The George Soros philosophy – and its fatal flaw”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2018.
  42. ^ Soros, George (July 13, 2018). “George Soros: I’m a passionate critic of market fundamentalism – Response to Bessner”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  43. ^ “Holocaust Encyclopedia”. Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  44. ^ Lewis, Michael (January 10, 1994). “The Speculator”. The New Republic. Archived from the original on June 1, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  45. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Knopf. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9780375405853.
  46. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Knopf. p. 5. ISBN 9780375405853. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  47. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (2002). Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Knopf. p. 37. ISBN 9780375405853. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  48. ^ Kaufman, Michael T. (September 29, 2010). “Family Values”. Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-307-76592-5.
  49. ^ Official Biography Archived November 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved March 2, 2011.
  50. ^ Jump up to:a b All Things Considered (August 11, 2009). “Soros Uses Leverage To Aid New York Children”. NPR. Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  51. ^ Philip Delves Broughton, The billionaire taking on the Brexiteers Archived March 23, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Belfast Telegraph, February 10, 2018
  52. ^ Consequences of the War on Terror Archived January 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine September 20, 2006, Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  53. ^ Jump up to:a b Arnold, Glen (2012). The Great Investors: Lessons on Investing from Master Traders. United Kingdom: Pearson. p. 416. ISBN 9780273743385.
  54. ^ Jump up to:a b Soros, George; Koenen, Krisztina; Wien, Byron (1995). Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve. New York: J. Wiley. p. 326. ISBN 9780471119777.
  55. ^ Kaufman, Michael T., Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire, Chapter 8
  56. ^ Soros, George (2013). “Fallibility, reflexivity, and the human uncertainty principle”. Journal of Economic Methodology. 20 (4): 309–329. doi:10.1080/1350178x.2013.859415. hdl:10.1080/1350178X.2013.859415. S2CID 144650771.
  57. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Soros, George (2008). The New Paradigm for Financial Markets. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-683-9.
  58. ^ Soros on Soros, p47
  59. ^ Koven, Steven G.; Götzke, Frank (2010). American immigration policy confronting the nation’s challenges (1 ed.). New York: Springer Science & Business Media. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-387-95940-5.
  60. ^ Flitter, Emily (August 29, 2018). “Henry Arnhold, Patriarch of a Storied Banking Family, Dies at 96”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  61. ^ “George Soros Part One: Early Career”. NexChange. Originally published in ValueWalk.com in August 2016. Archived from the original on September 10, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  62. ^ Jump up to:a b “George Soros” Archived July 11, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. George Soros. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  63. ^ Soros Buys 20% of BNK Petroleum Archived November 10, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. Gurufocus.com (October 19, 2010). Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  64. ^ Anderson, Jenny (April 16, 2008). “Wall Street Winners Get Billion-Dollar Paydays”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  65. ^ Soros on Soros, p56
  66. ^ Dominic, Rushe (July 26, 2011). “George Soros to close hedge fund management group to outside investors”. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  67. ^ “Institutional Investor”. Institutional Investor. Archived from the original on January 2, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  68. ^ Karmin, Craig. “George Soros Puts Money on Latin America Hotels”. The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 22, 2015. Retrieved November 22, 2015.
  69. ^ Sebastian Mallaby (June 10, 2010). More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite. Penguin Press HC. ISBN 9781594202551.
  70. ^ Mallaby, Sebastian, More Money Than God, Penguin, 2010, p. 167. ISBN 978-1-59420-255-1.
  71. ^ Litterick, David (September 13, 2002), “Billionaire who Broke the Bank of England” Archived April 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The Telegraph.
  72. ^ Johnston, Philip (September 10, 2012). “Black Wednesday: The day that Britain went over the edge”. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 28, 2015. Retrieved April 13, 2015.
  73. ^ Steven Drobny, Inside the House of Money, John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2006.
  74. ^ Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve (John Wiley, 1995), ISBN 978-0-471-12014-8
  75. ^ “Amerikkalainen suursijoittaja keinotteli Suomen markalla Miljardien markkojen kauppojen takana tiettävästi George Soros Suomen Pankki ja hallitus pitävät salaliittoa mahdottomana” (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. February 10, 1996. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019. An American finacnier speculated with the Finnish mark – The man behind the trade of billions worth of markkas presumably was George Soros – The Finnish Bank and Government think that a conspiracy is impossible
  76. ^ “Mahathir’s dark side”. The Daily Telegraph. London. October 24, 2003. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  77. ^ “Malaysian ex-premier Mahathir and billionaire Soros end feud”. ABC News. Agence France-Presse. December 15, 2006.
  78. ^ Soros, George (1999). The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered, 2nd ed., PublicAffairs, ISBN 978-1-891620-27-0, pp. 208–209.
  79. ^ Krugman, Paul (1999). The accidental theorist: and other dispatches from the dismal science. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 160.
  80. ^ “George Soros on the financial crisis | Odeo: Search, Discover and Share Digital Media from Millions of Audio and Video Clips”. February 6, 2009. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  81. ^ Jump up to:a b Saltmarsh, Matthew (September 15, 2010). “Soros to Get a Day in Court Over Insider Trading Case”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2011.
  82. ^ Smith, Heather (October 4, 2011). “Soros Insider-Trading Conviction Reviewed by Human Rights Court”. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on October 7, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  83. ^ Jump up to:a b c “Insider trading conviction of Soros is upheld” Archived February 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. International Herald Tribune. June 14, 2006.
  84. ^ Jump up to:a b “David Brancaccio interviews George Soros” Archived August 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine. Now. PBS. September 12, 2003. Retrieved February 8, 2007.
  85. ^ Lichfield, John (December 22, 2002). “Financier Soros fined £1.4m for insider trading”. The Independent. London. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  86. ^ Smith, Heather (October 6, 2011). “Soros Loses Case Against French Insider-Trading Conviction”. Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
  87. ^ Kaufman, Michael T., Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire. Archived August 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
  88. ^ The New York Times: “WEDDINGS; Melissa Schiff, Robert D. Soros” Archived January 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine May 24, 1992.
  89. ^ Acumen Fund Board of Directors biographies: Andrea Soros Colombel Archived May 27, 2012, at the Wayback Machine retrieved May 26, 2012.
  90. ^ The New York Times: “Jonathan Soros and Jennifer Allan” Archived February 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, August 17, 1997.
  91. ^ West, Melanie Grayce (September 16, 2011). “Younger Soros Tries to Learn From Father’s Giving”. The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2011.
  92. ^ Hepler, Lauren (October 20, 2010). “Led By George Soros’ Son, Student Contributions Buoy Democrats in 2010 Midterms” Archived November 20, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. OpenSecretsBlog. Center for Responsive Politics.
  93. ^ “George Soros, 82, engaged to yoga website boss Tamiko Bolton, 40”. Telegraph.co.uk. August 13, 2012. Archived from the original on October 2, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  94. ^ “George Soros ties the knot”. NY Post. September 22, 2013. Archived from the original on September 24, 2013. Retrieved September 22, 2013.
  95. ^ New York Post: “Soros to marry again at 82” Archived November 2, 2020, at the Wayback Machine August 12, 2012
  96. ^ Hershey, Jr., Robert D. (June 15, 2013). “Paul Soros, Shipping Innovator, Dies at 87”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  97. ^ “Fellowship Background & History”. Paul and Dora Soros Fellowships for Young Americans. Archived from the original on March 27, 2009. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  98. ^ Bumiller, Elisabeth (June 17, 1998). “Public Lives: An Overshadowed Altruist Sees the Light”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 26, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  99. ^ Burgenland: “Daisy Soros: Rückkehr nach 76 Jahren” Archived January 17, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, retrieved May 26, 2012.
  100. ^ “Visionary Engineer Master Pom Builder Philanthropist: Paul Soros” Archived February 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine retrieved May 26, 2012.
  101. ^ “Peter Soros and Flora Fraser”. The New York Times. February 2, 1997. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved March 22, 2009.
  102. ^ “Soros’s Nats Bid Irks Republicans”. The Washington Post. June 28, 2005. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved May 19, 2010.
  103. ^ Goff, Steven (October 12, 2000). “United’s Ownership Uncertain; After Sale Fell Through, MLS Might Take Over Operation”. Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  104. ^ “Manchester United: George Soros invests in football club”. BBC. August 21, 2012. Archived from the original on August 21, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  105. ^ Sokol, Sam. “Defending attacks on Soros, Giuliani raises doubts over his Jewishness”. www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  106. ^ Dunn, Bill. “George Soros – Freedom From Religion Foundation”. ffrf.org. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  107. ^ “New Alliance of Democrats Spreads Funding”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 1, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2006.
  108. ^ Egan, Mark; Nichols, Michelle (October 13, 2011). “Soros: not a funder of Wall Street protests” Archived September 24, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters; retrieved October 14, 2011.
  109. ^ Egan, Mark; Nichols, Michelle (October 13, 2011). “Who’s behind the Wall St. protests?” Archived October 5, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. Reuters; retrieved October 13, 2011.
  110. ^ Confessore, Nicholas (September 27, 2012). “Soros Gives $1 Million to Democratic ‘Super PAC'”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  111. ^ Haberman, Maggie (October 24, 2013). “George Soros going to bat for Hillary Clinton”. Politico. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2013.
  112. ^ “Priorities USA Action Contributors, 2016 cycle | OpenSecrets”. www.opensecrets.org. Archived from the original on October 30, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  113. ^ Severns, Maggie (July 31, 2019). “Soros launches super PAC for 2020”. Politico. Archived from the original on June 4, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  114. ^ Bland, Scott (August 30, 2016). “George Soros’ quiet overhaul of the U.S. justice system”. Politico. Archived from the original on May 30, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  115. ^ St. John, Paige; Vansickle, Abbie (May 23, 2018). “Here’s why George Soros, liberal groups are spending big to help decide who’s your next D.A.” Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 8, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  116. ^ Calvert, Scott (June 1, 2017). “Black Lives Matters Defender May Become Philadelphia’s Next District Attorney”. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  117. ^ Moore, Maloy; Menezes, Ryan; Queally, James (November 3, 2020). “Here are the mega-donors and police unions pouring millions into the L.A. County district attorney race”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  118. ^ Hinton, Rachel (February 20, 2020). “Another billionaire weighs in on state’s attorney’s race: George Soros gives $2M to group backing Foxx”. Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  119. ^ Goldmacher, Shane (July 16, 2020). “Biden Banks $242 Million as Big-Name Donors Write Huge Checks”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 22, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  120. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (November 4, 2005). “Waldemar Nielsen, Expert on Philanthropy, Dies at 88”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  121. ^ Nielsen, Waldemar A. (1996). Inside American Philanthropy: The Dramas of Donorship. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 77.
  122. ^ Jump up to:a b George Soros, Founder/Chairman Archived October 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Open Society Foundation
  123. ^ Soros, George (November 4, 2009). “Soros: In revolutionary times the impossible becomes possible”. CNN.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
  124. ^ Ganguli, Ina (2017). “Saving Soviet Science: The Impact of Grants When Government R&D Funding Disappears”. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 9 (2): 165–201. doi:10.1257/app.20160180. ISSN 1945-7782. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  125. ^ “World: Soros Says Revolutions Don’t Build Democracies”. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. April 26, 2007. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  126. ^ “Alexander Lomaia – Minister of Education and Science (Georgia)”. Oecd.org. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  127. ^ Zourabichvili, Salomé (April 2008). “Article”. Herodote. French Institute for Geopolitics.
  128. ^ Weir, Fred (February 10, 2005). “Democracy rising in ex-Soviet states”. The Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on April 16, 2010. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  129. ^ “Does Foreign Funding Make NGOs into Puppets?”. Globalpolicy.org. October 11, 2006. Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  130. ^ Miller, Judith (September 4, 1997). “Soros Closes Foundation in Belarus”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 6, 2008. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  131. ^ Soros donates $100 million to Europe Archived June 22, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN), June 19, 2009.
  132. ^ “#IStartWithCeu”. CEU. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  133. ^ Jennifer Rankin (June 1, 2017). “George Soros attacks Hungarian prime minister for building a ‘mafia state'”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 31, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  134. ^ Hungarian government. “Soros large poster”. HVG. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  135. ^ 2017. évi LXXVI. törvény (LXXVI. law of 2017)
  136. ^ “Macedonia to George Soros and USAID: Go Away”. The American Spectator. March 24, 2017. Archived from the original on July 29, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  137. ^ Takala, Rudy (April 28, 2017). “Why is the State Department refusing to disclose Soros’ involvement in Macedonia?”. TheHill. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  138. ^ “The Open Society Foundations in North Macedonia”. Open Society Foundation. May 1, 2017. Archived from the original on February 15, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  139. ^ Lyman, Rick (March 1, 2017). “After Trump Win, Anti-Soros Forces Are Emboldened in Eastern Europe”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 19, 2017. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  140. ^ “George Soros foundation to close office in ‘repressive’ Hungary”. aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  141. ^ “Soros foundation to leave Hungary”. May 15, 2018. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
  142. ^ “Soros foundation to close office in Budapest over Hungarian government’s ‘repressive’ policies”. The Daily Telegraph. London. May 15, 2018. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  143. ^ “Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa”. opensocietyfoundations.org. Archived from the original on October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  144. ^ “George Soros: Kosovo Should Be Independent“. Balkan Update. November 20, 2005. Archived January 18, 2015, at archive.today
  145. ^ “Rebellious Diplomat Finds Work as Envoy of the Voiceless Archived February 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine“. The New York Times. March 3, 2007.
  146. ^ LeBlanc, Steve, Soros behind Mass. effort to decriminalize pot, Associated Press, August 27, 2008 Archived August 31, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  147. ^ Norml.org Archived October 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
  148. ^ Halper, Evan (November 1, 2008). “Wealthy Californians put their agendas to a vote”. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  149. ^ Fagan, Kevin (October 26, 2010). “George Soros gives $1 million to Prop. 19 campaign”. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 1, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
  150. ^ Gorge Soros. Ekots lördagsintevju[permanent dead link], Swedish Radio, October 10, 2009.
  151. ^ Sorvino, Chloe (October 2, 2014). “An Inside Look At The Biggest Drug Reformer In The Country: George Soros”. Forbes. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2020.
  152. ^ “The Project on Death in America: twenty years on – by David Clark – End of life studies”. End of life studies. September 11, 2014. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  153. ^ “Project on Death in America”. Archived from the original on October 9, 2003.
  154. ^ “George Soros: Reflections on Death in America”. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007.
  155. ^ “George Soros: Reflections on Death in America contd. 2 | Project on Death in America”. March 25, 2002. Archived from the original on March 25, 2002. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  156. ^ “Fatal prescription – re-enactment of the Oregon Death With Dignity Act on physician-assisted suicide”. Findarticles.com. 1997. Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  157. ^ Soskis, Benjamin (December 5, 2017). “George Soros and the Demonization of Philanthropy”. The Atlantic. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  158. ^ Rachman, Gideon (September 18, 2017). “Soros hatred is a global sickness”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  159. ^ Bondarenko, Veronika (May 20, 2017). “George Soros is a favorite target of the right — here’s how that happened”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  160. ^ Rynbaum, Michael M. (February 20, 2018). “Right-Wing Media Uses Parkland Shooting as Conspiracy Fodder”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  161. ^ Jump up to:a b Brown, Jennings; Steinblatt, Jacob (March 30, 2017). “How George Soros Became The Right’s Biggest Boogeyman”. www.vocativ.com. Vocativ. Archived from the original on February 23, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  162. ^ Streitfeld, David (December 25, 2016). “For Fact Checking Website Snopes, a Bigger Role Brings More Attacks”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved December 27, 2016.
  163. ^ Rizzo, Salvador (October 5, 2018). “No, George Soros isn’t paying Kavanaugh protesters”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  164. ^ Jamieson, Amber (October 6, 2018). “Trump’s Lawyer Retweeted That ‘Anti-Christ’ George Soros Is Funding Anti-Kavanaugh Protests”. Buzzfeed News. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  165. ^ Aaronovitch, David (March 2, 2017). “Extremists find their time has come at last”. The Times. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  166. ^ Lusher, Adam (February 8, 2018). “George Soros: The billionaire investor who became the favourite target of conspiracy theories and antisemitic hatred”. The Independent. Archived from the original on May 4, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  167. ^ “Jacob Rees-Mogg accused of antisemitism after George Soros comments”. The Independent. October 4, 2019. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
  168. ^ “Segir Panama-skjölin runnin undan rifjum Soros”. RÚV. July 27, 2016. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  169. ^ “Sigmundur Davíð segir Panamaskjölin hafa verið sérstakt “hit-job””. Kjarninn. February 27, 2017. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  170. ^ “Kom Soros upp um sjálfan sig?”. Kjarninn. July 26, 2016. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 11, 2018.
  171. ^ Jump up to:a b Sonmez, Felicia (December 6, 2018). “Rep. Louie Gohmert falsely says George Soros helped take property from fellow Jews”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  172. ^ Jump up to:a b Emery, David (February 4, 2018) [2016]. “Was George Soros an SS Officer or Nazi Collaborator During World War II?”. Snopes. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  173. ^ Niraj Chokshi (May 29, 2018), “George Soros Smears Find New Life in Roseanne’s Twitter Tantrum” Archived February 22, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times
  174. ^ Nadler, Ben (August 12, 2020). “Marjorie Taylor Greene wins GOP primary in Georgia, despite racist videos”. The Times of Israel. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  175. ^ Manchester, Julia (May 29, 2018). “Trump Jr. retweets Roseanne’s conspiracy theory about George Soros”. The Hill. Archived from the original on June 1, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  176. ^ Mark E. Souder (September 29, 2006), “THE GUILT-FREE RECORD OF GEORGE SOROS” (Extensions of Remarks) Archived February 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Congressional Record via Congress.gov
  177. ^ Mark E. Souder (September 29, 2006), “THE GUILT-FREE RECORD OF GEORGE SOROS” (Extensions of Remarks) Archived August 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Congressional Record via Google Books
  178. ^ Avi Selk (May 30, 2018), “George Soros wasn’t a Nazi, Roseanne Barr. He was a 14-year-old Jew who hid from them.” Archived July 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post [1] Archived December 4, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
  179. ^ Sommer, Allison Kaplan (October 14, 2018). “From ‘Satanic’ to ‘Anti-Christ’: Pro-Trump Attacks on George Soros Intensify as Midterms Approach”. Haaretz. Archived from the original on May 31, 2020. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  180. ^ Steve Kroft (December 20, 1998), George Soros 1998 interview MP4 video (“confiscation” comment at 8:35), 60 Minutes via Archive.org
  181. ^ Smith, Allan (December 6, 2018). “Gohmert makes false claim in TV interview about Soros and Jews. Fox Business distances itself”. NBC News. Archived from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  182. ^ Lybrand, Holmes (May 30, 2018). “Fact Check: George Soros, the Thieving Nazi Sympathizer?”. The Weekly Standard. Archived from the original on January 12, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  183. ^ Coaston, Jane (June 11, 2018). “George Soros is not a Nazi, explained”. Vox. Archived from the original on January 11, 2019. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  184. ^ Qiu, Linda (October 20, 2018). “Did Democrats, or George Soros, Fund Migrant Caravan? Despite Republican Claims, No”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  185. ^ “Five myths about the Honduran caravan debunked”. NBC News. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  186. ^ Danielle Wiener-Bronner. “Campbell Soup disavows Soros conspiracy theory tweeted by VP”. CNN. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  187. ^ Jump up to:a b Joel Achenbach (October 28, 2018). “A conspiracy theory about George Soros and a migrant caravan inspired horror”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 29, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  188. ^ “Trump: “A Lot of People Say” George Soros Is Funding the Migrant Caravan”. Vanity Fair. October 31, 2018. Archived from the original on September 14, 2020. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  189. ^ Jason Wilson (October 27, 2018). “Pittsburgh shooting extends wave of conspiracy-minded rightwing violence”. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on October 28, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  190. ^ Kelly Weill (October 27, 2018). “Pittsburgh Synagogue Suspect Robert Bowers Hated Trump—for Not Hating Jews”. Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved October 29, 2018.
  191. ^ “Soros foundation to close in Turkey after attack by Erdogan”. Reuters. November 26, 2018. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  192. ^ Sheth, Sonam (April 11, 2018). “Former federal prosecutor Joseph DiGenova calls for Rosenstein’s firing on Fox News after Trump tells people to tune in to the ‘big show'”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 12, 2018. DiGenova and his wife, Victoria Toensing, both used to work within the US Justice Department, but later made their reputations peddling conspiracy theories on TV about the DOJ and FBI.
  193. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Schmidt, Michael S. (March 19, 2018). “Trump Hires Lawyer Who Has Pushed Theory That Justice Dept. Framed the President”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 22, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  194. ^ Blake, Aaron (March 19, 2018). “Analysis | Trump just hired a deep-state conspiracy theorist as his lawyer. Here’s what Joe DiGenova has said”. The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  195. ^ Sheth, Sonam (March 19, 2018). “Trump is reportedly set to hire a new lawyer who called Comey ‘a dirty cop’ and accused the FBI of trying to ‘frame’ Trump”. Business Insider. Archived from the original on May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  196. ^ “The bizarre conspiracy theories peddled by Donald Trump’s new lawyer”. The Independent. March 20, 2018. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  197. ^ Hart, Benjamin. “Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Lawyer Dropped From Team Before Starting”. Daily Intelligencer. Archived from the original on August 18, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018. DiGenova is known as a fierce defender of Trump who has used frequent guest appearances on Fox News to advance far-out conspiracy theories that the FBI is trying to frame the president.
  198. ^ Tibon, Amir (March 20, 2018). “Trump’s New Lawyer: The Man Who Sent Jonathan Pollard to Jail”. Haaretz. Archived from the original on August 18, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018. Joseph diGenova has promoted conspiracy theories about a ‘deep state’ attempt to ‘frame’ Trump and his campaign for criminal activities
  199. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (March 27, 2018). “Here are the lawyers who quit or declined to represent Trump in the Mueller probe”. CNBC. Archived from the original on August 18, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018. DiGenova, a regular Fox News guest, had spouted conspiracy theories about the Mueller probe’s motives against Trump.
  200. ^ [192][193][194][195][196][197][198][199]
  201. ^ “Lou Dobbs guest Joe diGenova says George Soros controls a large part of the State Department and activities of FBI agents”. Media Matters for America. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  202. ^ Wemple, Eric (November 14, 2019). “Soros foundation requests banning of Joe diGenova from Fox News/Fox Business after anti-Semitic rant”. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 14, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  203. ^ Jump up to:a b Baragona, Justin (September 23, 2020). “Former Fox News Regular Joe diGenova Claims Network Is Beholden to George Soros”. The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  204. ^ Alba, Davey (June 1, 2020). “Misinformation About George Floyd Protests Surges on Social Media”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  205. ^ “Archived copy”. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  206. ^ “Ilham Aliyev: ‘Current government in Armenia are agents of Soros'”. Azeri Daily. July 31, 2020. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  207. ^ “Open Society Foundations-Armenia provides over US $600,000 for the response to COVID-19”. Open Society Foundations Armenia. July 20, 2020. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  208. ^ Mammadov, Sabuhi (August 6, 2020). “Biz heç vaxt işğal ilə barışmayacağıq” [We will never reconcile with the occupation] (PDF). Khalg Gazeti (in Azerbaijani). p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2020 – via National Library of Azerbaijan.
  209. ^ “”Ermənistanın indiki rəhbərliyi Soros fondunun agentləridir” – İlham Əliyev” [“The current leadership of Armenia is an agent of the Soros Foundation,” said Ilham Aliyev]. Ordu.az (in Azerbaijani). July 31, 2020. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  210. ^ Ozturk, Alparslan (October 16, 2020). “İlham Əliyev: “Soros Ermənistanda hakimiyyətə gəldi, amma iflasa uğradı”” [Ilham Aliyev: “Soros came to power in Armenia, but failed”]. Report Information Agency (in Azerbaijani). Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  211. ^ Lach, Eric (October 24, 2018). “The Bombs Addressed to Obama, Clinton, and Soros, and the History of Anti-Soros Hate-Mongering”. The New Yorker. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  212. ^ Hutchinson, Bill; Katersky, Aaron; Margolin, Josh; Crudele, Mark (October 23, 2018). “Would-be attacker hand-delivered pipe bomb to George Soros’ home mailbox: Source”. ABC News. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  213. ^ Rashbaum, William K.; Mervosh, Sarah; Chow, Andrew R. (October 22, 2018). “At George Soros’s Home in N.Y. Suburb, Explosive Device Is Found in Mailbox”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  214. ^ “Explosive Devices Found in Mail Sent to Hillary Clinton and Obama”. The New York Times. October 24, 2018. Archived from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  215. ^ Hanna, Jason; Perez, Evan; Glover, Scott; Almasy, Steve; Sanchez, Ray (October 27, 2018). “Bomb suspect arrest: What we know about Cesar Sayoc”. CNN Politics. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  216. ^ Bekiempis, Victoria (August 5, 2019). “Cesar Sayoc, who sent pipe bombs to Trump critics, gets 20 years in prison”. The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  217. ^ Solow, Robert (February 8, 1999). “The Amateur”. The New Republic.
  218. ^ Hands, D. Wade, ed. (2013). “Reflexivity and Economics: George Soros’s Theory of Reflexivity and the Methodology of Economic Science”. Journal of Economic Methodology. 2013. 20 (4): 309–329. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2013.859415. hdl:10.1080/1350178X.2013.859415. S2CID 144650771.
  219. ^ Arthur, W. Brian (2014). “Complexity economics: a different framework for economic thought” (PDF). Complexity and the Economy. Science. Vol. 284. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 107–9. doi:10.1126/science.284.5411.107. ISBN 978-0-19-933429-2. PMID 10103172. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 3, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  220. ^ Davis, John (December 2013). “Soros’s Reflexivity Concept in a Complex World: Cauchy Distributions”. Marquette.edu. Archived from the original on May 2, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  221. ^ “Why do we need an Institute for New Economic Thinking at Oxford? – Videos”. Oxford Martin School. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  222. ^ Beinhocker, Eric D. (2013). “Reflexivity, complexity, and the nature of social science”. Journal of Economic Methodology. 20 (4): 330–342. doi:10.1080/1350178X.2013.859403. S2CID 1007420.
  223. ^ The Bubble of American Supremacy: Correcting the Misuse of American Power. PublicAffairs. 2003. ISBN 978-1-58648-217-6.
  224. ^ Soros, George (2003). The Alchemy of Finance. John Wiley & Sons. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-471-44549-4.
  225. ^ Jump up to:a b “Soros, the Man Who Cries Wolf Archived August 3, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Now Is Warning of a ‘Superbubble'” by Greg Ip, B1, June 21–22, 2008 The Wall Street Journal.
  226. ^ Soros sees no bottom for world financial “collapse” Archived November 3, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Reuters, February 21, 2009, Retrieved August 17, 2009.
  227. ^ Haigh, Adam; Ondaatjie, Anusha (January 6, 2016). “George Soros Sees Crisis in Global Markets That Echoes 2008”. bloomberg.com. Bloomberg LP. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  228. ^ Clinch, Matt (January 7, 2016). “Soros: It’s the 2008 crisis all over again”. cnbc.com. CNBC LLC. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  229. ^ Porter, Anna (2015). Buying a Better World: George Soros and Billionaire Philanthropy. Dundurn Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-45973-103-5. Archived from the original on April 3, 2017. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
  230. ^ “Hacked Soros e-mails reveal plans to fight Israel’s ‘racist’ policies”. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved November 7, 2016., The Jerusalem Post, from Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  231. ^ Jump up to:a b Leibovitz, Liel (August 14, 2016). “Soros Hack Reveals Evidence of Systemic Anti-Israel Bias”. Tablet. Archived from the original on August 15, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  232. ^ Israel, David (August 14, 2016). “DC Leaks Publishes George Soros’ Files Showing Millions Contributed to Anti-Israel Causes”. Jewish Press. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
  233. ^ A Soros Plan, a Marginalized Israel Archived May 9, 2017, at the Wayback Machine By Eli Lake, August 16, 2016, Bloomberg
  234. ^ Heilman, Uriel (November 8, 2003). “Soros Says Jews And Israel Cause Anti-Semitism”. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on November 19, 2003.
  235. ^ Beattie, Kirk (2016). Congress and the Shaping of the Middle East. New York: Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-60980-562-3.
  236. ^ Soros, George. “On Israel, America and AIPAC” Archived December 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. The New York Review of Books. April 12, 2007.
  237. ^ George Soros battles $10B lawsuit, familiar charges of wielding political influence Archived May 6, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Fox News
  238. ^ Mining Company Sues George Soros for $10 Billion Archived April 24, 2017, at the Wayback Machine JOSH RUSSELL, April 20, 2017, Courthouse News Service
  239. ^ Soros Sued by Fellow Billionaire in $10 Billion Mine Brawl Archived May 17, 2017, at the Wayback Machine by Franz Wild, April 14, 2017, Bloomberg
  240. ^ Jesse Drucker & Isabel Kershner, Israeli Billionaire Beny Steinmetz Detained in Investigation Archived January 5, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times (August 14, 2017).
  241. ^ Jesse Riseborough & Franz Wild, Soros Calls $10 Billion Steinmetz Mine Suit a ‘Frivolous’ Stunt Archived January 6, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Bloomberg (April 18, 2017).
  242. ^ The Night George Soros Stood In For Nobelist Holocaust Survivor Imre Kertesz Archived October 24, 2016, at the Wayback Machine April 12, 2016, The Forward, By Masha Leon
  243. ^ Jump up to:a b “George Soros upset by ‘antisemitic’ campaign against him in Hungary”. The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. July 12, 2017. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  244. ^ Thorpe, Nick (July 10, 2017). “Hungary vilifies financier Soros with crude poster campaign”. BBC News. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  245. ^ Baker, Luke (July 10, 2017). “Israel backs Hungary, says financier Soros is a threat”. Reuters. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  246. ^ Dunai, Marton (July 6, 2017). “Hungarian Jews ask PM Orban to end ‘bad dream’ of anti-Semitism”. Reuters. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  247. ^ Ravid, Barak (July 10, 2018). “On Netanyahu’s Orders: Israel’s Foreign Ministry Retracts Criticism of anti-Semitism in Hungary and Slams George Soros”. Haaretz. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  248. ^ Barnea, Nahum (April 25, 2018). “Why they hate George Soros”. Ynetnews. Archived from the original on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  249. ^ Steinberger, Michael (July 17, 2018). “George Soros Bet Big on Liberal Democracy. Now He Fears He Is Losing. (Published 2018)”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  250. ^ Laura Blumenfeld, Deep Pockets vs. Bush, Financier Contributes $5 Million More in Effort to Oust President Archived July 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post, November 11, 2003; p. A03.
  251. ^ The Money Man Archived July 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, Jane Mayer, October 18, 2004
  252. ^ Byron York, National Review Archived October 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, August 3, 2005: “Soros, who would eventually give ACT $20 million of his own money …”
  253. ^ “Why We Must Not Re-elect President Bush”. Commondreams.org. September 28, 2004. Archived from the original on October 3, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  254. ^ Suellentrop, Chris (October 6, 2004). “Cheney Drops the Ball”. Slate.com. Archived from the original on June 16, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  255. ^ Soros, George (2004). The Bubble of American Supremacy. New York: Crows Nest M.S.W. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781586482176.
  256. ^ “America the Dangerous?” Archived November 11, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Newsweek, June 27, 2006.
  257. ^ “Soros Says Markets to Slump With Trump, EU Faces Disintegration”. Bloomberg.com. January 19, 2017. Archived from the original on January 20, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2017 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  258. ^ Jump up to:a b George Soros: Theresa May won’t last and Donald Trump is ‘would-be dictator’ Archived January 20, 2017, at the Wayback Machine The Guardian
  259. ^ George Soros (October 12, 2011). “As concerned Europeans we urge Eurozone leaders to unite”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  260. ^ “Orban Accuses Soros of Stoking Refugee Wave to Weaken Europe Archived March 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine“. Bloomberg. October 30, 2015.
  261. ^ “Pro-EU campaign secures £400,000 from George Soros”. BBC News. February 8, 2018. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  262. ^ Mance, Henry (February 8, 2018). “Subscribe to read”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018. {{cite news}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  263. ^ Jump up to:a b “George Soros’s Plan to Fix Europe: DealBook Briefing”. The New York Times. May 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  264. ^ “Soros has warned that the US-Europe alliance ‘destruction’ may cause major crisis”. Reuters. May 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  265. ^ Jump up to:a b “How to save Europe. Keynote speech at ECFR’s Annual Council Meeting in Paris”. European Council on Foreign Relations. May 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 29, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  266. ^ “Soros: China has better functioning government than U.S.” Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  267. ^ Jump up to:a b Soros, George (July 9, 2015). “A Partnership with China to Avoid World War”. The New York Review of Books. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  268. ^ “Debate over future of RMB exchange rate”. WebJD. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  269. ^ Miller, Joe (January 24, 2019). “China’s Xi Jinping ‘most dangerous’ to free societies, says George Soros”. BBC News. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2019.
  270. ^ “Remarks delivered at the World Economic Forum”. George Soros. January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on January 28, 2019. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  271. ^ “The ‘Mortal Danger’ of China’s Push Into AI”. Wired. January 24, 2019. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  272. ^ Harry Robertson (September 7, 2021). “George Soros slams BlackRock’s big push into Chinese markets as a ‘tragic mistake’ that will hurt the US”. Business Insider. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  273. ^ “Interview with George Soros Archived November 8, 2020, at the Wayback Machine“. CNN. May 25, 2014,
  274. ^ “A New Policy to Rescue Ukraine Archived November 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine“. The New York Review of Books. February 5, 2014.
  275. ^ “George Soros warns Europe under Russian ‘attack’, urges Ukraine bailout Archived March 19, 2015, at the Wayback Machine“. Financial Post. January 8, 2015.
  276. ^ Makortoff, Kalyeena (November 20, 2015). “Russia bans George Soros charity as ‘security threat'”. cnbc.com. CNBC LLC. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  277. ^ “Russia Bans George Soros Foundation as State Security ‘Threat'”. fortune.com. Fortune. November 30, 2015. Archived from the original on January 16, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  278. ^ Makortoff, Kayleena (January 14, 2016). “Soros charity targeted in Russia book-burning”. cnbc.com. CNBC LLC. Archived from the original on January 17, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  279. ^ Cain, Sian (May 6, 2016). “Russian culture ministry denies reports of book burning”. The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  280. ^ “Forbes Billionaires 2021: The Richest People in the World”. Forbes. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2020.
  281. ^ Soros, George (2003). The Alchemy of Finance. John Wiley & Sons. p. xii. ISBN 978-0-471-44549-4. Archived from the original on November 10, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  282. ^ Philanthropy[failed verification][unreliable source?] Archived September 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. George Soros. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  283. ^ York, Byron, Soros Funded Stewart Defense Archived October 28, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, National Review Online; retrieved February 7, 2007.
  284. ^ Dugger, Celia W. (September 13, 2006). “Philanthropist Gives $50 Million to Help Aid the Poor in Africa”. The New York Times. Africa. Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  285. ^ “Hungary: Soros Donates $250 Million to University in Budapest”. IPR Strategic Business Information Database. Info Prod Research. November 25, 2009[dead link]
  286. ^ Active Programs Archived September 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  287. ^ David Gelles (October 17, 2017). “George Soros Transfers Billions to Open Society Foundations”. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  288. ^ “George Soros, founder of Open Society Foundations, invests in the future of free and open knowledge”. Wikimedia Foundation. October 15, 2018. Archived from the original on October 20, 2018. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
  289. ^ Herndon, Astead W. (July 13, 2020). “George Soros’s Foundation Pours $220 Million Into Racial Equality Push”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 20, 2020. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  290. ^ “Lauree Honoris Causa: George Soros – Lauree Honoris Causa – Archivio Storico – Università di Bologna”. www.archiviostorico.unibo.it. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  291. ^ “Cohen, Simons, 12 Others Enter Hedge Fund Hall”. Institutional Investor. Institutional Investor LLC. September 23, 2008. Archived from the original on June 16, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  292. ^ Cosgrave, Jenny (January 26, 2015). “Ackman’s returns make him a top 20 fund manager”. CNBC. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  293. ^ “Elections to the British Academy celebrate the diversity of UK research”. July 21, 2017. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017.
  294. ^ “FT Person of the Year: George Soros”. Financial Times. Archived from the original on December 19, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2018.
  295. ^ “George Soros”. Ridenhour Prizes. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  296. ^ “Soros accepts Ridenhour Prize for Courage in an age of lies”. The Lens. April 17, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  297. ^ The Times, August 2, 1993

Further reading[edit source]

Biographies[edit source]

Journalism[edit source]

Scholarly perspectives[edit source]

George Sorosat Wikipedia’s sister projects

WiKi_usr_ad
WiKi_usr_ad

RELATED ARTICLES

Latest Posts

Encyclopedia of the most
significant people of our time

© WIKI PERSONS