George Soros
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Date updated:02-23-2009

As of 12/31/08 filing:

New positions: Homex Development (HMX), R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD)
Increased positions: Petrobras (PBR), Potash (POT), Best Buy (BBY)
Decreased positions: Wal-Mart (WMT)
Sold/closed positions: Research In Motion (RIMM)

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George Soros, the founder of the Quantum Fund, is one of the most successful hedge fund investors ever. A $100,000 investment in his fund when he started in 1969 would've been worth $150mm by 1994. Soros's most famous investment was when he "broke the bank" in England by betting billions against the British pound on "Black Wednesday" in 1992. Forbes has Soros ranked at 27 in its "richest in America" list with a net worth tipping the scales at $8.5bb.

Soros has always fashioned himself as more of a philosopher than an investor and that his skill as an investor is simply the successful application of his philosophy that he dubbed "Reflexivity" in his book, "The Alchemy of Finance".

A recent interview of Soros can be found here.

From Wikipedia:

" Reflexivity is based in three main ideas:
(1) Reflexivity is best observed under special conditions where investor bias grows and spreads throughout the investment arena. Examples of factors that may give rise to this bias include (a) equity leveraging or (b) the trend following habits of speculators.
(2) Reflexivity appears intermittently since it is most likely to be revealed under certain conditions; i.e., the equilibrium process's character is best considered in terms of probabilities.
(3) Investors' observation of and participation in the capital markets may at times influence valuations AND fundamental conditions or outcomes."

Basically, this means markets are at an equilibrium…until they aren't. And then speculation takes over and brings things to a feverish pitch that can't be stopped by rational theories of economics, throwing out the efficient market theory at this time. When Soros was betting on the pound's decline he was betting that a tipping point had been reached that had made the idea of a pound's decline irresistible to the general public, to speculators, to policy makers, etc and that nothing anybody could do could prevent it, no matter how irrational it might be. Its when he smells out this type of weakness or strength that Soros will make his biggest bets.

How he "smells out weakness" though goes one step beyond philophy and into his own talent. As his own son, Jonathan Soros put it, "when my father's back hurt he knew he was in a bad trade."

symbol name last price % change open
  • +
  • PBR
    Petroleo Brasilei
  • $44.89
  • 0.00%
  • $45.27

Largest holding: 19.53% of portfolio

People owning PBR also tend to own: ACIAINVANRAPCBBDBTUCHK

TheStreet.com Rating: C+ What is this?

  • +
  • POT
    Potash Corp. Of S
  • $116.39
  • 0.00%
  • $117.60

9.4% of portfolio

People owning POT also tend to own: ABKBBDCFCDEFCXFREFWLT

TheStreet.com Rating: B- What is this?

  • +
  • MER
    11.88
  • $11.78
  • 0.00
  • $11.78

No Analysis added

People owning MER also tend to own: AMGNANFBBBBCWCOELOSHARIIF

TheStreet.com Rating: D+ What is this?

  • +
  • COP
    Conocophillips
  • $47.93
  • 0.00%
  • $48.00

No Analysis added

People owning COP also tend to own: AAALLAPCBUDCVXDOWGSK

TheStreet.com Rating: D What is this?

  • +
  • HES
    Hess Corp
  • $60.30
  • 0.00%
  • $67.60

No Analysis added

People owning HES also tend to own: ADBEAGUCOINEBSEMUFRGGCT

TheStreet.com Rating: C+ What is this?

  • +
  • WIND
    Wind River System
  • $8.01
  • +2.96%
  • $7.79

No Analysis added

People owning WIND also tend to own: FINLKFRCPGSUFTRUXOMAIRN

TheStreet.com Rating: C What is this?

  • +
  • MAPP
    Map Pharmaceutica
  • $11.15
  • -1.93%
  • $11.95

No Analysis added

People owning MAPP also tend to own: ANRAUXLBTRXBUCYBZPCENXCNX

TheStreet.com Rating: E+ What is this?

  • +
  • SPY
    S&p Dep Receipts
  • $94.85
  • 0.00%
  • $94.40

No Analysis added

People owning SPY also tend to own: DIAGOOGGRMNQQQQRHATUNYHOO

TheStreet.com Rating: No Rating What is this?

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