What is the net worth of US investor George Soros?

The hedge fund tycoon, who ceded control of his business empire to his son, has a net worth of $8.5 billion

George Soros, founder and chairman of the Open Society Foundations, is ceding control of his $25 billion empire to his son, Alexander. AP

Hedge fund tycoon George Soros, who on Sunday ceded control of his $25 billion empire to younger son Alexander Soros, has a net worth of $8.5 billion and is the world’s 249th wealthiest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

However, business magazine Forbes estimates the financier's net worth at $6.7 billion.

Mr Soros, 92, earned his fortune as the founder of Soros Fund Management. Founded in 1973, the company generated more than $30 billion in profit for investors over the decades.

Today, it is believed to manage about $45 billion in assets, wealth tracking website Celebrity Net Worth estimated.

Soros Fund Management is described as one of the most-profitable hedge funds in history, averaging a 20 per cent annual rate of return for investors for more than four decades, data showed.

It invests in public equity and fixed-income markets, foreign exchange, currency and commodity markets, as well as private equity and venture capital funds.

Mr Soros was born in Hungary. At 17, he left the country and put himself through the London School of Economics, working as a railway porter and waiter, according to Forbes.

He eventually moved to the US, where he began his journey in finance and investments, a career move that paved the way to his future as a financier.

In 1992, Mr Soros shorted the British pound, helping to force the currency out of the exchange-rate system that preceded the euro.

He reportedly made a profit of $1 billion as the currency crashed in what became known as Black Wednesday. He became known as the man who broke the Bank of England.

Meanwhile, Mr Soros used his wealth amassed as a financier in the 1970s and 80s to create the Open Society Foundations, an organisation that supports a broad range of causes and non-profits worldwide, ranging from good governance and democracy-building programmes to liberal public policy initiatives.

Most of his company’s assets belong to the OSF, rather than the Soros family.

Since 1984, Mr Soros has donated more than $32 billion of his personal wealth to the Open Society Foundations, Celebrity Net Worth estimated.

He personally donated $500 million to help the Syrian refugee crisis.

The non-profit organisation has distributed about $15 billion to various charities to date. It is active in more than 120 countries around the world and funnels about $1.5 billion annually to groups such as those that back human rights and promote the growth of democracies around the world, according to its website.

He has also been one of the biggest Democratic Party donors in the US and poured $125 million into a super political action committee before the 2022 midterm elections, Forbes said.

Referring to the succession, the billionaire investor told the Wall Street Journal that his son Alex, 37, the second youngest of five children, had “earned it”.

Alex told WSJ that he was “more political” than his father but he noted that the two “think alike”. He aims to keep using the family’s wealth to back left-leaning US politicians.

In December, the OSF board elected Alex as its chairman, succeeding his father.

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The Journal reported that the younger Soros is the only family member on the investment committee overseeing Soros Fund Management, which manages money for the foundation and the family.

During the interview, Alex expressed concern that former US president Donald Trump would return to the White House and hinted that the Soros organisation would play a key financial role in the 2024 presidential race.

“As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it, too,” he said.

Alex is the oldest of two sons from George Soros’s marriage with his second wife, Susan Weber.