The Saturday Story: Soros loses $2 billion

Soros Fund Management, founded by currency speculator George Soros, suffered its heaviest one-day loss - $2bn - in the market plunge on Monday, the fund confirmed.

Half the losses were sustained by the Quantum Fund, which is the flagship of a group of seven hedge funds under the banner of the Quantum Group of Funds. The Quantum Fund had nearly dlrs 10 billion in assets under management before the market drop. "The recent volatility in the world's financial markets is reflected in the volatility of the Quantum Group's performance," Soros Fund spokesman Shawn Pattison said yesterday.

The funds were apparently hit not only by the plunge in stock markets around the world on Monday, but also by the decline in the value of the dollar, which was weakened by the selloff on Wall Street.

Although the Quantum Fund tumbled 8.9 percent on Monday, the Soros funds are on average up 17.7 percent for the year, Pattison said.

The Quantum Group of Funds, totaling nearly $19 billion in assets under management, are high-risk hedge funds. That means they are investment funds that bet on stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities worldwide with borrowed money.

The Soros funds also were pummeled in the 1987 stock market crash. The Quantum Fund, then about $ 2 billion in size, tumbled a huge 30 percent. But it was Soros' gains in 1992 that brought him international attention. He bet against the pound in 1992, wagering it would be forced to drop out of a European monetary arrangement. That bet reaped his funds an enormous $1bn. Soros has also been attacked by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed as the cause of Southeast Asia's currency turmoil.