Billionaire investor George Soros is giving greater control of his business to his sons, Robert and Jonathan, and at the same time scaling back his empire by spinning off several divisions.
For years Soros (74) has devoted an increasing amount of time to philanthropy and is engaged in a concerted effort to unseat United States President George W Bush.
The changes were disclosed in a memo to investors. The document, written by Soros Fund Management CE Mark Schwartz, said the firm had decided to spin off its credit and real estate divisions into separate companies. In addition, negotiations are under way with the Soros private equity team to separate that business.
”During the past year we have worked to simplify the structure of Soros Fund Management in order to return the firm to its core activity as a hedge fund manager,” he wrote.
Robert Soros (41) became chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management two weeks ago, the memo said. Jonathan Soros (34) will become co-deputy chairperson of the business alongside his brother. Their father remains chairperson.
Robert is the eldest of the billionaire’s five sons and has worked at Soros Fund Management for most of his career.
The credit team will be run by a new management company called Dune Capital and the real estate business has been renamed Grove Capital.
Soros managed $20-billion during the 1990s, making him one of the most powerful financiers in the world. In 1992, he made $1-billion from betting against the pound, forcing it from the exchange rate mechanism.
Last week he embarked on a nation-wide speaking tour and advertising blitz in his campaign to oust Bush from the White House. Delivering a defeat to the Republican president, he said, would be ”the greatest good deed I could do for the world”.
The decision to pare back the business appeared to run contrary to Soros’s ambitions when he hired Schwartz from Goldman Sachs two years ago. — Â