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“Play it safe.” This is legendary billionaire investor Mr George Soros' advice to prospective investors, at a time when the global political and economic situation is clouded in uncertainty.
Displaying his quick wit and ready repartee before an audience at the Indian School of Business here, Mr Soros' short advice to investors was: “Unless you can anticipate events, it is better to do nothing rather than keep losing money.”
He reminded an enthusiastic investor that the markets today are “far from equilibrium and very difficult to predict.”
Transparency in bIZ
The Hungarian-American financier somewhat startled the audience with his take on transparency and accountability of business houses.
To a question on the subject, he said: “the demand for accountability and transparency (in business houses) is slightly overdone. You cannot have everything transparent. Some discussions (in corporate boardrooms) have to be in private — you cannot say everything in public.”
He went on to add that “if everything you discuss in (business) meetings is made public, then you have to go to the toilet to discuss it.”
On the Euro Zone crisis, he pointed out that there were inadequacies when the euro was set up and the authors knew of their existence. It was more of a currency union than a political union.
Euro problem
“Today, the euro is potentially endangering the political cohesion of the European Union. If the common currency were to break down, it will lead to the break up of the European Union itself. And this will be catastrophic not only for Europe but also for the global financial system.”
Mr Soros pinned hopes on China, but said it has to be seen how the country “coped with the rapid rise”. He hoped that China will develop politically, as it is developing economically.
Does one have to earn a fortune to start philanthropy? “See, you need to accumulate some wealth to give it away,” he replied. “I decided to set up a foundation when my fund reached $100 million and my personal wealth, $30 million. So, it is not too early to start (philanthropy) early.”
He was however quick to add that philanthropy cannot take the place of government and areas such as education and healthcare were beyond the scope of philanthropy. “What we (philanthropists) can do is peanuts compared to what the government is not doing,” he says.
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