Billionaire George Soros is a finance legend who has sparked a lot of absurd fantasies.
He is, with Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT), one of the personalities most targeted by fans of conspiracy theories. They see his influence almost everywhere.
The American billionaire of Hungarian origin became a financial legend after a masterstroke in 1992. On Sept. 16, 1992, the pound sterling collapsed, forcing Great Britain to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. It was called Black Wednesday, aka the 1992 Sterling crisis.
Soros, at the time a currency trader, had bet against the British pound by shorting 10 billion pounds. His bet was based on the fact that the British government's attempts to support the pound would fail.
He launched a public campaign against the pound. And he was proved correct. As a result, Soros is known for "breaking the Bank of England."
And since then he's been rumored/suspected/accused of betting against many currencies.
Conspiracy Theories
The conspiracy theorists also jump on the fact that the hedge-fund tycoon is one of the Democratic Party's biggest donors.
During the 2022 midterm cycle, the investor, whose fortune was estimated at $8.5 billion as of Jan. 15 by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, spent $128.4 million on the midterms, says the Americans For Tax Fairness.
Through his Open Society Foundations, the billionaire also funds many progressive causes and NGOs worldwide. OSF, a network of entities with interconnected operations across the globe, has set itself the goal of promoting democracy, human rights and press freedom.
Open Society Foundations is one of the world's richest foundations, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which allots billions to promote public health and development.
Negative and conspiratorial social-media tweets and messages about the billionaire are numerous.
In general, the investor remains an enigma for his detractors, even as he is, according to them, the origin of the various evils shaking society and the world. He is also, according to them, the face of a globalist elite seeking to impose its agenda on the rest of the planet.
Musk Asks Soros a Tough Question
It is in this context that a Twitter user posted a message on Jan. 15 regarding Soros. He imagines a scenario where the financier is interviewed on Twitter Space and therefore asks what questions could be asked of him.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA) and owner of Twitter, tweeted his question. This one is interesting because it touches on the way Soros uses his money and indirectly with the donations he makes.
"If we got George Soros in a Twitter Space what question would you ask him?" the user tweeted on Jan. 15.
"Do you actually know where your money is going?" Musk responded on Jan. 16.
The tech mogul's tweet immediately sparked a lot of comments and questions related to conspiracy theories circulating about Soros.
"Yeah ask that and also: What is it like to be the Servant of Evil in this multiverse?" commented one Twitter user.
"His response: 'To fund the demise of capitalism so no one will ever be as rich as me again'," added another user.
"I’d ask: 'Do you realize that you’re part of hegemonic imperialism that you claim to be fighting against..?'" another Twitter user said.
Musk's provocative question comes less than two months after Soros disclosed that he had increased its stake in Tesla.
Soros held, through his Soros Fund Management, 89,647 Tesla shares as of Sept. 30. The legendary investor first acquired Tesla shares between April 1 and June 30. At the time, he held 29,883 shares. He thus tripled his position in three months.
Tesla's shares lost almost two-thirds (65%) of their value in 2022. Whether Soros remains a shareholder of Tesla is unclear; we will have to wait until February to get that answer.
Stock-market regulations require managers of funds with more than $100 million in U.S. equities to file a document, known as a 13F, within 45 days of the end of a quarter to list their holdings in stocks that trade on U.S. exchanges.
Musk had never directly attacked Soros. Last April he even seemed to suggest that he shared the same views with the financier's foundation on the Russian war in Ukraine. Musk had officially announced his support for Ukraine, to which his company SpaceX provides Starlink, an independent satellite internet access service.
