Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub, David Carey, Amy Barrett, Richard J. Coletti and Jackie Gold
July 10, 1990
Page 57
No. 8 GEORGE SOROS
At least $60 million
Appreciates the value of freedom more than most. During World War I, his father was captured by the Russians but managed to escape. Then during World War II, his family hid from the Nazis after Hungary allied itself with Germany. Came to U.S. in 1956 with economics degree in hand. In 1969, started Quantum Fund with James Rogers, who broke with him in 1981. Today, as a 70% owner of $2.1 billion Quantum, the world’s largest offshore investment fund, Soros and the other six managing directors split 15% of the annual profits. He spends most of his time in his home in England and helping fellow Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans reacquaint themselves with capitalism. To bankroll that effort, he created the Open Society Fund in 1979 and the Soros Foundation-Hungary in 1984. Known as "an alternate ministry of culture," the foundation helped establish a management training center in an old castle outside Budapest. Now there are foundations in 10 Central and Eastern European countries aimed at cultural and economic revitalization. Soros, 59, is the author of The Alchemy of Finance, published in 1987, in which he outlines, somewhat circuitously, his "theory of reflexivity," which holds that perceptions change events which in turn, change perceptions. This is not his first attempt at writing. Soros did extensive work several years earlier on a philosophical book that was never completed. His new book, Opening the Soviet System, is due out this month.
Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub and David Carey with Alison M. Smith
July 21, 1992
Page 40
No. 1 GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $117 million
Despite the fact that Hungarian-born George Soros spends much of his time these days touting capitalism in former East Bloc countries, he was still able to find a way for his $3.2 billion offshore Quantum fund, which rose around 63%, to outperform most managed porfolios and market indexes. Who says bigger can't also perform better? After he claimed a chunk of Quantum's 15% incentive fee and the fund's entire 1% management fee, Soros's personal take computed into 9 fitures. Not too shabby, considering how much time the 61-year-old globe-trotter spends away from home. One of his more recent pet projects has been the establishment of the Central European University in Budapest and Prague. In the past year or so, he still found time to launch three spin-off funds - Quasar International Partners, Quantum Emerging Growth and Quota.
Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By Stephen Taub, Nanette Byrnes, and David Carey
July 6, 1993
Page 40
No. 1 GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $650 million
How do you make $650 million in one year if you’re not Mike Milken? Simple. First, start the year with about $800 million of your own money and other $4 billion of other people’s—nearly $5 billion in all under management. Then hire crack managers and traders who rack huge returns trafficking highly volatile currencies and derivatives instruments. Finally, charge hefty management and incentive fees. Result: Last year 62-year-old George Soros’s Quantum Fund was up 68.1% after fees; Quantum Emerging, up 57%; Quasar International, 55.7%; and Quota, 37.4%. Quantum and Quasar charge 1% management fees and 15% of the appreciation while the other two funds charge 1% plus 20%.
Moreover, Soros invests a big portion of his assets in currencies and index-linked derivatives—but never for long. He flits in and out of these instruments incessantly, rarely holding a position for more than a few days. As a result, he realizes capital gains on the vast bulk of the nominal returns he generates in a given year. Do the arithmetic and you’ll see that at a bare minimum, Soros extracted more than $400 million in profits from his personal hoard.
A conservative estimate of his share of his firm’s incentive fees tacks on another $200 million or so to the total. Finally, Soros awards himself all his firm’s management fees, which netted him about $50 million. Presto: $650 million, although his take might have been much higher. Today, Soros’s clutch of five offshore funds boats assets well over $7 billion, including a $525 million real estate fund he recently formed in partnership with Paul Reichmann, a former controlling shareholder with bankrupt Canadian real estate developer Olympia & York. This is not to be mistaken for Soros’s new $775 million partnership with British Land to invest in properties.
What does one do with so much dough? In the case of Hungarian-born Soros, help the desperate of Central and Eastern Europe and foster capitalism on on4e’s native soil and surrounding countries. A network of 20 foundations across Central and Eastern Europe organized most of his philanthropic activity. The first was opened in Hungary in 1984. He pledged $100 million to support scientific research in the Commonwealth of Independent States last year, donated $50 million to Bosnia and financed a $25 million revolving loan to buy heating oil that helped Macedonia survive the winter.
Financial World
The Wall Street 100
Call it the year of the hedge funds. For this elite band, it was the best year ever.
By Stephen Taub and David Carey with Andrew Osterland and David Yee
July 5, 1994
Page 33
No. 1. GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $1.1 billion
In 1993, George Soros managed to earn as much individually as McDonald's did with the help of 169, 600 employees. How did he do it? Fees, great performance and the power of compounding.
Let's run the numbers: To start off, the 63-year-old manages about $11 billion in several offshore funds, including the relatively well-known Quantum Fund, as well as a real estate fund. Last year each of his funds turned in spectacular performances. Leading the way: Quantum Emerging Growth, up 109% before fees, followed by Quantum and Quota, each up more than 72%. Then Soros's operation gets 15% incentive fee, which is less than the going 20% rate for hedge funds. Soros himself gets the 1% management fee on assets as of year-end and then pays all of the expenses of the firm. He also has more than $1 billion of his own capital in the funds. Add it all up, including realized gains on his own dough, and the guy made a minimum of $1.1 billion.
What does a fellow do with all this money? Soros is well-known for his generosity. NOte that nine other people on the Wall Street 100 are Soros people - he rewards those who make the biggest contributions. In addition, the Hungarian native never forgot his roots. His Jewish family had to go underground in Nazi-occupied Budapest to survive. In 1947, Soros fled Hungary and enrolled in the London School of Economics. He moved from London to New York City in 1956, the same year the Soviets quashed the Hungarian nationalist uprising. Today, he is a longtime giver to Hungarian causes, and his 33rd-floor office in midtown Manhattan is decorated with paintings by Hungarian artists. His 10-year-old foundation has already given away more than $300 million through offices in many countries of the old Soviet bloc. One recent humanitarian gift: funding the connection of Sarajevo's water supply and natural gas lines. Soros has also pledged $200 million to revamp Russia's educational system and spend $15 million to keep about 28,000 Russians working for a year.
Financial World
The Wall Street 100
Compensation was way down in 1994 for Wall Street’s highest earners
By Stephen Taub, David Carey, and Joseph Epstein
July 4, 1995
Page 42
No. 2. GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $70 million
Most other mortals would have been ecstatic to earn at least $70 million in one year, but for George Soros it was quite a comedown—a drop of more than 93% from the prior year. Why the falloff? Because, like most of the other huge hedge funds and offshore funds, Soros got whipsawed by the change in the direction of global interest rates and the sudden collapse of many emerging markets. His Quantum Emerging Growth fund and Quota fund were down 13.3% and 10.1%, respectively. And although the flagship Quantum fund was up 2.7%, its premium shrank (see FW, Dec. 8). So about all poor George got by the way of compensation was his 1% management fee. At the moment, Soros, 64, is trying to liquidate the U.S. real estate fund he started with Paul Reichmann a scant two years ago. While Soros’s philanthropic efforts in his native Hungary and other Middle European countries are well documented, he makes less publicized charitable contributions. For example, the Open Society, another of his foundations, plans to give $5 million a year for three years to examine U.S. attitudes about dying. In addition, a few years ago he began giving money to the Drug Policy Foundation, a lobbying group that is exploring various drug legalization schemes. Meanwhile, the Soros Foundation is making every effort to solve the mysterious April disappearance of Frederic Cuny, the relief expert who was setting up a hospital in Chechnya for the foundation.
Financial World
The Wall Street 100
By David Carey and Stephen Taub
October 21, 1996
Page 59
No. 1. GEORGE SOROS
Soros Fund Management
At least $1.5 billion
