Soros on Soros is written in an accessible interview style, in which Soros fully reveals the fascinating story of how he turned his Quantum Fund into a mega-profit traders dream. Plus, you'll hear Soros himself describe how the precarious trading climate of the 90s holds countless opportunities. A perfect companion to The Alchemy of Finance.

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Soros on Soros: Staying Ahead of the Curve

Description

Financial guru George Soros is one of the most colorful and intriguing figures in the financial world today. Now in Soros on Soros, readers are given their most intimate and revealing look yet into the life and mind of the one BusinessWeek dubbed, "The Man Who Moves Markets."

Soros on Soros interweaves financial theory and personal reminiscence, political analysis and moral reflection to offer a compelling portrait of the world (and its markets) according to Soros. In an interview-style narrative with Byron Wien, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, and with German journalist Krisztina Koenen, Soros vividly describes the genesis of his brilliant financial career and shares his views on investing and global finance, politics and the emerging world order, and the responsibility of power.

Speaking with remarkable candor, he traces his progress from Holocaust survivor to philosophy student, unsuccessful tobacco salesman to the world's most powerful and profitable trader and introduces us to the people and events that helped shape his character and his often controversial views.

In describing the investment theories and financial strategies that have made him "a superstar among money managers" (The New York Times), Soros tells the fascinating story of the phenomenally successful Soros Fund Management and its $12 billion flagship, Quantum Fund. He also offers fresh insights into some of his most sensational wins and losses, including a firsthand account of the $1 billion he made going up against the British pound and the fortune he lost speculating on the yen. Plus: Soros's take on the devaluation of the peso and currency fluctuations internationally.

He tells of the personal and professional crises that more than once threatened to destroy him and of the personal resources he drew upon to turn defeat into resounding victory. And he explains his motivations for establishing The Soros Foundation and the Open Society Institute through which he worked to build open societies in postcommunist countries in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Finally, turning his attention to international politics, Soros offers keen insights into the current state of affairs in Russia and the former communist bloc countries and analyzes the reasons behind and likely consequences of the West's failure to properly integrate them into the free world. He also explores the crisis of the ERM and analyzes the pros and cons of investing in a number of emerging markets.

Find out what makes one of the greatest financial wizards of this or any age tick. Soros on Soros is a must read for anyone interested in world finance and international policy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

GEORGE SOROS runs Soros Fund Management, the principal investment advisor to Quantum Fund, a Curacao-based investment firm. Quantum Fund is generally recognized as having the best performance record of any investment fund in the world during its 26-year history. In addition to being a renowned financier, George Soros has established the Open Society Institute and The Soros Foundation, which operates in 25 countries and spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on major philanthropic efforts.

George Soros's other books include The Alchemy of Finance, Opening the Soviet System, and Underwriting Democracy.

Contents

PART ONE

Investing and Global Finance with Byron Wien 1

Chapter 1 The Investor 3

Life at the top with Warren Buffett - Strengths of Quantum Fund - Derivatives - Leveraged to the hilt - Measuring risk - The first hedge fund - Intuition as an investment tool - Soros as the insecurity analyst - The making of a money manager - Going against the herd - haracteristics of good investors: character and intelligence - The messianic complex - Risk taking as the essential ingredient - Formulating a thesis for investing - Different ways to skin a cat - Finding the right management team for Quantum Fund Maintaining performance and monitoring the thesis - Damage control - correcting a loss - Disengaging from active money management - Who really runs Quantum Fund? Netting $1 billion on sterling - Losing big on yen Attracting the best talent

Chapter 2 The Guru in Training 25

Parents as personal influences - Tension as a driving force in life - Family history - Nazi persecution - the communist regime in Hungary - Assuming a false identity to stay alive The
journey to England - Other influences: his brother, Karl Popper, Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel, Bronislaw Geremek, Grigory Yavlinsky - Soros as salesman - Working in the "box" -
Getting to Wall Street - International arbitrage The first big career breakthrough - trading European securities - The Interest equalization tax - an end to trading European securities - Impact of his philosophical ideas on investing and politics - The beginning of Quantum Fund

Chapter 3 The Story of Quantum Fund 47

The early years of Quantum Fund - starting out with $12 million - Working with Jim Rogers - Early investments - Breaking up the partnership - Dealing with a life crisis Coming to terms with success - Loosening the constraints Growing the fund from $100 million to $400 million - Taking the first big loss - Searching for a management team - Dropping the guilt and hang-ups - The Real Time Experiment explained - conducting a study to influence the results - The Alchemy of Finance - The Plaza Accord Taking a hit on Black Monday - Building an effective management team - Stanley Druckenmiller - The second worst year in history - Quantum Fund today

Chapter 4 The Theory of Investing 65

A framework for investing - reflexivity - Far-from-equilbrium conditions - Reflexivity defined - Boom/bust sequences - The boom/bust pattern explained - The pattern applied to the Soviet Union and the U.S. banking system

Chapter 5 Theory in Action 79

Boom/bust applied to today's financial markets - The Sterling crisis as a pointed example - How it happened - Breakdown of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) - Thoughts on currency speculation - Another period of currency volatility - Playing the Japanese market - Ministry of Finance (MOF) - the kingpin of the power struggle - The U.S. market: good and getting better - Thoughts on the Mexican currency crisis - Explaining the peso crash - Argentina and Brazil - Risk and reward in China - Today's weak dollar - Excessive volatility with no constituency to deal with it - Regulating derivatives

PART TWO

Geopolitics, Philanthropy, and Global Change with Krisztina Koenen 109

Chapter 6 The Philanthropist 111

Giving away millions in Europe - The motivation behind the philanthropy - The Open Society Fund - Philanthropy with a policy purpose - A commitment to South Africa - Supporting
Eastern European dissidents Foundation reach into Hungary - Balancing Foundation efforts and Quantum Fund activity - Foundations in 25 countries - Notable successes and huge
failures - Adapting to the changing political climate - The danger of becoming too strong - The Soros Foundation of today Central European University - Conflicts of interest in Eastern Europe - Redefining Foundation purpose

Chapter 7 The Stateless Statesman 151

The economic future of Eastern Europe - Optimism for Central Europe - The Soviet demise - The future of Russia - Ukraine and Macedonia - Poland as a model for economic
growth and social reform - Observing the process of change - The fate of Romania - Redesigning Western assistance programs - Changing the course of history in Eastern Europe - marginally

Chapter 8 The Future of the United States and Open Society 177

Switching focus - Adjusting to the new world order - A disappointing response to the crisis in Bosnia - An amended version of freedom - Open society versus laissez faire - The coming disintegration of Europe - An identity crisis for the U.S. - The failure of the United Nations and NATO - The role of the U.N. in today's conflicts - A looming crisis - The collapse of international financial markets - The meaning of money - Exploring the drug debate - Project on death Having too much power

PART THREE

Philosophy with Byron Wien 207

Chapter 9 The Failed Philosopher 209

A belief in your own fallibility - Flawed mental constructs - Reflexivity - Participants cannot act on the basis of knowledge - A new theory of truth - Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle - Uncertainty in human affairs - Social science as a false metaphor - Near-equilibrium and far-from- equilibrium conditions - The boundary lines Open and closed societies - No grand pattern of history Regime change - Deficiency of values in open societies Fallibility as a basis for values

Chapter 10 The Power and the Myth 237

Finding a forum - Gaining access to the policy makers - George Soros as a Jew - The power to move markets - Panned in the press - The adventure of ideas - An actor on the stage of history - Dealing with the complexity of world problems - A last chance for self-revelation

Appendix Selected Writings by George Soros 251

Open and Closed Societies - Prospect for European Disintegration - Hedge Funds and Dynamic Hedging

Index 323