George Soros (/ˈsɔroʊs/[4] or /ˈsɔrɒs/; Hungarian: Soros György; Hungarian: [ˈʃoroʃ]; born August 12, 1930, as Schwartz György) is a Hungarian-born American[5] business magnate,[6][7] investor, author, and philanthropist. He is chairman of Soros Fund Management. He is known as “The Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his short sale of US$10 billion worth of pounds, giving him a profit of $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.[8][9][10] Soros is one of the 30 richest people in the world.[11]
Soros is a well known supporter of progressive–liberal political causes.[12] Between 1979 and 2011 Soros donated more than $8 billion to various philanthropic causes.[13] He played a significant role in the peaceful transition from communism to capitalism in Eastern Europe (1984–89)[9] and provided one of Europe's largest higher education endowments to Central European University in Budapest.[14] Soros is also the chairman of the Open Society Foundations.