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George Soros

Chairman, Soros Fund Management
AGE: 78

Soros, the rare liberal among Wall Street billionaires, splits his time between making money and giving it away. He makes it from Soros Fund Management, which manages hedge funds that make big macro bets on things like exchange rates. Soros gives it away mainly via the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations network, which together spent about $440 million last year promoting policies "helping people to live in open, democratic societies." Apart from the charitable work, Soros spent heavily—and unsuccessfully—to prevent George W. Bush's reelection in 2004. This time around, he was an early supporter of Barack Obama.

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