Cambridge Business Association
Soros
Book

Soros

The World's Most Influential Investor

Robert Slater
McGraw-Hill, 2008
First Edition: 1996
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

George Soros is a fascinating personality. As one of the greatest investors in history, he is worth studying for his investment ideas alone. But Soros has never dwelled on his incredible trading success or his astounding income. Instead, he has sought recognition for his worldwide philanthropies. Robert Slater intelligently presents the story of this complicated, controversial and quick-witted billionaire. His account includes details about Soros’s investment strategies and achievements, as well as his vast philanthropic projects. getAbstract considers this an intriguing biography of one of the century’s most interesting investors and social philosophers – a remarkably complex self-made man.

Summary

The Revolutionary Philanthropist

George Soros became one of the world’s most successful investors by making large bets on crowd psychology or “herd instinct” in the financial markets. He knows that positioning himself in front of a major monetary or social trend will generate huge profits. He shuns quantitative financial analysis, and is a contrarian investor. These ideas work well for him. By applying them, he has made billions.

Soros entered the investment business in 1956 and started his legendary Quantum Fund in 1969. He was involved in the fund’s management for 25 years and it only lost money in one year, 1981. That gives him the best investment track record among all his competitors, including Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch. The Quantum Fund was one of the first offshore funds open to non-American investors. Through it, investors bet on changing stocks, currencies and interest rates worldwide. The fund soon grew to enormous proportions, making an average of $750 million in trades daily. It was phenomenally successful. If an investor had put $100,000 into the fund in 1969 and had reinvested all the dividends, that sum would have swelled to $130 million by 1994...

About the Author

Robert Slater is the author of 18 books, including Jack Welch and the GE Way, Saving Big Blue, The Eye of the Storm, and Microsoft Rebooted.

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