Interviewer: George Soros
Interviewee: John Byrne
Date: September 18, 2006

The American currency speculator, George Soros, was born on the 12th of August 1930 in Budapest, Hungary. He is the son of the renowned Esperantist writer, Tivadar Soros. His estimated net worth of $11.0 billion has earned him the 29th spot in Forbes magazine’s annual list of the World’s most well-off men.

Aside from being a currency speculator, George Soros is also a businessman and a stock investor as well as a political activist and a philanthropist. He has given huge contributions to charity since 1979. So far, George Soros has channeled a total of $6 billion to a variety of causes.

George Soros currently serves as the chairman for the Open Society Institute as well as for the Soros Fund Management. Previously, he was a member of the Board of Directors for the Council on Foreign Relations. Additionally, George Soros was also an initial funder for the Center for American Progress and a former member of the Carlyle Group.

Together with Jim Rogers, Stanley Druckenmiller and Victor Niederhoffer, George Soros founded the Quantum Fund in 1970. Much of Soros’ fortune can be traced back to the success of the fund. In fact, Quantum Fund’s 32% total return for 2007 had increased George Soros’ net worth up to an estimated $2.9 billion.

But way before he made his way to obtain great fortune, George Soros spent the earlier days of his life witnessing the Nazi regime. He was only 13 years old when the German Nazis took military control over his homeland Hungary. In 1947, George Soros found himself moving to England. A few years later he was able to graduate from the London School of Economics.