In this piece, we will take a look at George Soros’ net worth and top ten holdings heading into 2024. If you want to skip our introduction to the well known investor and want to jump ahead to the top stocks in this list, then head on over to George Soros Net Worth and Top 5 Holdings Heading into 2024.
George Soros is one of the most well-known investors in the financial world. He is also one of the oldest hedge fund bosses in the industry and is nearly a centurion. Mr. Soros started his journey in the financial industry before not only most of us, but also most of the other hedge fund bosses were born, as he started his career in 1954 as a clerk in a merchant bank. Since then, he has won laurels for himself, and his hedge fund Soros Fund Management is one of the largest financial firms in the world. According to Insider Monkey’s research, Soros Fund had invested $6.4 billion across a variety of securities as of June 2023.
June 2023 is also an important month in Mr. Soros’ financial career. This is because June is the month when he retired from the Open Society Foundations, a $25 billion endowment fund through which the investor has supported causes that he believes in. His retirement marks the final point in his financial journey as Mr. Soros handed over the reins to his son who will now be responsible for making investments.
However, June was also the month in 2015 when he finally retired from handling capital for profit. This decision came after he had returned outside capital to investors in 2011 and refocused his efforts on managing his own money as part of a family office. His decoupling from the multi billion dollar endowment earlier this year came 53 years after he had set up Soros Fund Management, his hedge fund, after spending a decade and a half in the financial industry. Before setting up the hedge fund, Mr. Soros worked as an equity trader, an analyst, and an executive at an investment bank. Additionally, Soros Fund Management is not the only hedge fund that George Soros has been involved with during his long Wall Street career. In fact, his first hedge fund was Double Eagle. He set the firm up in 1969, and ended up shutting it down in 1973 after concerns about a conflict of interest arising from managing two funds at the same time.
His trysts in the financial world have rewarded Mr. Soros quite handsomely. According to Forbes Magazine, his net worth as of October 2023 stood at $6.7 billion, and while this in itself is as impressive as ever, this does not represent his true compensation as being one of the smartest investors of our era. This is because just as George Soros is one of the richest investors of our time, he is also one of the most charitable and has donated more money to charity than you or we are likely to make in our lifetimes.
Therefore, we took a look at George Soros’s true compensation that also factors in his charitable contributions as part of our coverage of 20 Highest Paid Hedge Fund Managers of All Time and this list sees Mr. Soros rank at number four as his net worth was estimated to be $24.7 billion. The difference between Forbes’ estimate and our estimate shows the scale of Mr. Soros’s charitable donations, with $18 billion of his money going directly to the Open Society Foundations as of 2018.
So, why is George Soros so rich while others aren’t? Well, if you’ve even briefly followed him by reading Insider Monkey or the financial press, you’d know that one of his biggest bets came against the British Pound in 1992. This bet is in fact one of the most widely talked about in the media and if you’re still out of the loop despite this, then the bet against the pound saw Mr. Soros predict that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue the pound as it would be unable to maintain the pound’s overvaluation as part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. As the British government withdrew from the agreement, the market set the pound’s true value, and George Soros and Stanley Druckenmiller’s short position netted them more than a billion dollars in profit.
However, just one trading decision, no matter how legendary, is insufficient to cement one’s place in Wall Street’s Hall of Fame. Well, when we look at some of his other spectacular investments, it’s clear that he’s quite an expert when it comes to the currency market. Another big George Soros currency short came a couple of years after his pound short, in 1997, when he bet against the Thai Baht. The Thai government, like the British, was also trying to fix the currency. It fixed the Thai Baht to a value of 25 bahts per dollar but was unable to find sufficient U.S. dollar reserves to maintain this value. This saw George Soros buy forward contracts that would allow him to exchange 26 baht for a dollar. When Thailand failed to maintain its currency, the baht crashed to 56 per dollar, which then saw Mr. Soros exchange $1 billion for 56 billion baht and then use his forward contracts to exchange them into dollars at a rate of 26 baht per dollar – for yet another $1 billion profit.
So, what are George Soros’ top holdings as we head into 2024? Based on his latest available portfolio, his top three picks are Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEF), and Liberty Broadband Corporation (NASDAQ:LBRDA).
Our Methodology
To compile our list of the top George Soros holdings, we used Soros Fund Management’s top investments during Q2 2023 according to the fund’s SEC filings.
George Soros Net Worth and Top 10 Holdings Heading into 2024
10. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)
Soros Fund Management’s Q2 2023 Stake: $35.1 million
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a travel services provider that enables users to plan their trips. A resurgence in global travel has enabled it to beat analyst EPS estimates for all of its four latest quarters and the shares are rated Buy on average.
78 out of the 910 hedge funds profiled by Insider Monkey were the firm’s investors as of Q2 2023. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG)’s biggest hedge fund shareholder is Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke, and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital due to its $1.3 billion investment.
Along with iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEF),Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Liberty Broadband Corporation (NASDAQ:LBRDA), Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) is a top George Soros holding heading into 2024.
9. Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (BATS:CBOE)
Soros Fund Management’s Q2 2023 Stake: $36.2 million
Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (BATS:CBOE) is a financial services company that operates securities exchanges. A flurry of activity in the commodities sector for the past year or so has served the company well since it has beaten analyst EPS estimates in all four of its latest quarters. However, Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to Hold from Buy in October as it cited worries about the future of exchange companies.
During this year’s June quarter, 36 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had held a stake in Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (BATS:CBOE). Out of these, the firm’s largest shareholder is Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies as it owns a $276 million stake that comes via 2 million shares.
8. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)
Soros Fund Management’s Q2 2023 Stake: $41.8 million
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) is an American software company that is headquartered in Mountain View, California. The firm provides financial software services to businesses and retail users. It expanded its business service portfolio in October 2023, after it announced an upgrade to its platform to allow businesses to automate their supplier transactions.
By the end of this year’s second quarter, 86 among the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were the firm’s shareholders. Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management courtesy of its $1.2 billion stake.
7. Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)
Soros Fund Management’s Q2 2023 Stake: $52.7 million
Aramark (NYSE:ARMK) is a backend business service company that provides uniforms and associated products to different companies. A weakening economy has also hurt its earnings, as the company has beaten analyst EPS estimates in only two of its latest four quarters.
During 2023’s June quarter, 25 hedge funds out of the 910 part of Insider Monkey’s research were the firm’s investors. Aramark (NYSE:ARMK)’s largest shareholder out of these is Thomas Steyer’s Farallon Capital as it owns $468 million worth of shares.
6. AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER)
Soros Fund Management’s Q2 2023 Stake: $53.4 million
AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER), as the name suggests, deals with providing airlines with aircraft components and equipment. The company is currently benefiting from the resurgence in global air travel as it delivered a brand new Airbus A321neo aircraft to a Latin American airline in October 2023. AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER)’s shares are also rated Strong Buy on average, and analysts have set a $22 upside to the share price based on the average share price target of $80.38.
As of June 2023, 43 hedge funds out of the 910 polled by Insider Monkey had invested in AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER). Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management owns the largest investment among these, which is worth $514 million.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER), iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:IEF), and Liberty Broadband Corporation (NASDAQ:LBRDA) are some of Soros Fund Management’s top stock picks.
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Disclosure: None. George Soros Net Worth and Top 10 Holdings Heading into 2024 is originally published on Insider Monkey.