Soros Say Two-Thirds Of Hedge Funds Will Sink

Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Author: FINalternatives.com

Last week, GLG Partners co-founder Emmanuel said that he expected as many as one-third of hedge funds to close their doors. George Soros is doing him a third better.

Speaking at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Soros Fund Management chief said that the hedge fund industry could shrink by as much as two-thirds, one of the more pessimistic appraisals of an industry in crisis.

"The hedge fund industry is going to move through a shakeout," Soros said. "In my estimation, it will be reduced in size by anywhere between half and two-thirds."

Soros, an ardent Democrat and early supporter of the presidential candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), also called for greater regulation of Wall Street.

"You must regulate credit as well as money and that does require more regulation," he said. "Regulation will certainly make some businesses unprofitable and certain business that rely on excessive leverage... will prove to be unworkable."

"Undoubtedly, the financial business will not be as profitable as it has been in the past 25 years."