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19. George Soros
REUTERS/Nicky Loh
Net worth: $21.7 billion
Age: 85
Country: US
Industry: Hedge funds
Source of wealth: Self-made; Soros Fund Management
Born in Budapest, George Soros lived through the Nazi occupation of Hungary during WWII before fleeing to the UK and later settling in the US. Touted as “the man who broke the bank of England,” he’s best known for the Quantum Fund, a hedge fund he launched in 1973 under his Soros Fund Management company. In 1992 he shorted the British pound, a risky move that ended up earning the fund $1 billion in a single day and solidifying Soros’ place in the finance world. Quantum Fund also generated annual returns over 30% under Soros’ leadership, making it one of the most successful hedge funds of all time.
Today, Soros remains chairman of Soros Fund Management, which manages more than $25 billion in assets, including stakes in prominent companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix. He’s also chairman of Open Society, an organization he founded in 1979 that operates as a network of foundations and partners across the globe that promote the values of open society and human rights.
Soros is actively interested in politics as well, seen as a friend to liberals and an enemy of conservatives in the US. He donated $2 million to super PACs supporting Hillary Clinton last year, and warned against the “siren songs” of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in a recent op-ed for The Guardian.
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