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Spying George Soros: Hedge Fund Pioneer Builds Position in Troubled Lender
Monday November 19, 9:41 am ET
By the tickerspy.com Staff

Hungary-born George Soros became known around the world when he made a massive currency bet against the British pound in 1992, ultimately forcing the Bank of England to devalue the currency. He was also accused of playing a role in the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
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Over the last decade, however, Soros, who with an estimated net worth of around $8.5 billion is ranked as the 80th-richest person in the world by Forbes, has cultivated a different image, becoming better known for his political activism. He has long had these tendencies, funding opposition to communist rule in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. More recently, he lobbied hard against President George W. Bush in 2004, and he has been a big proponent of gun control.

Of course, his investment activities haven’t gone unnoticed. In 1973, Soros set up a private investment fund that would eventually become known as the Quantum Fund, considered one of the first hedge funds. Soros’ skills as a trader made the fund very successful, which in turn made him a billionaire. As Soros has focused on philanthropy and activism, he has turned much of the control of Soros Fund Management and Quantum over to his two grown sons, Robert and Jonathan, but the firm’s moves are still closely watched.

Looking at Soros’ holdings at the end of Q3, one can discern a broad range of sectors represented. Soros’ biggest moves during the quarter were to up his stake in Brazilian mining giant Vale do Rio Doce (NYSE: RIO - News) and to drop his holdings in India’s Icici Bank (NYSE: IBN - News) and oil-services conglomerate Halliburton (NYSE: HAL - News)

Soros built a new 1.8 million share stake in mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC - News), perhaps signaling confidence in the troubled firm. Elsewhere, Soros added to his holdings in Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) and Marvell Technology Group (Nasdaq: MRVL - News), while dropping shares in Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT - News), Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX - News), and railroad company Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP - News), which, incidentally, fellow billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A - News, BRK-B - News) was also selling during Q3.

Looking at tickerspy.com’s graph charting the performance of Soros’ end-of-Q3 holdings so far this quarter, one can see that the holdings have managed to keep pace with the market, in spite of volatility.

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