The businessman George Soros: money, beer, society, and something else

The executive director of M3 Communications Group, Inc. and lead PR expert Maxim Behar tells one of his numerous useful and exiting stories from his original series "Priceless Lessons”, which he writes for the BGLOBAL magazine

George Soros appeared in Bulgaria suddenly, left a lot of money and new political culture, but also a lot of controversial opinions

I went into what was then the Sheraton Hotel, which, despite the name change, we still refer to as such. I nearly tripped over the traditional red carpet stretched across the thread, the revolving door lingered as usual, and I was already late for an important meeting. I hesitated over which of the restaurants to enter, and then I saw him at the furthest table - alone, in a plain grey suit, looking more like a random traveling salesman than... a billionaire.

I was in a hurry for lunch with George Soros - a name that in the first years of Bulgarian democracy was accepted undeniably as a man who came to help, to advise, to finance...Most importantly - to tell the financial elite, over which he undoubtedly had influence, that Bulgaria is a country worth investing in because people want democracy and a better life.

I was expecting to hear this very thing from him, so I had prepared not interview questions, but rather one of my passionate speeches about how great a country Bulgaria is and how soon we will rank in market success next to the "excellent" Poland and the Czech Republic, and to the particularly close to his heart native Hungary.

Soros turned slightly, seeing that a stranger had approached the table. He casually offered me his hand, motioned me to sit across from him, and turned his gaze to the menu. He spent a few minutes over it as if I wasn't there.

Then, suddenly, he lifted his head, looked at me a little more questioningly, and handed me the heavy leather "Sheraton" menu. I didn't even look at it. I didn't care if I was going to eat, what I was going to choose if I had to keep company.

But Soros prompted me with a look and said:

“Look at it, there are a lot of interesting things.”

It had never happened to me before, and probably never will happen again, that someone would be so focused on the menu. A few minutes passed until Soros raised his head, looked me straight in the eye and said in a very soft but firm tone:

“Did you notice there is a $16 bottle of beer on page four. I wonder at these people here... I would never give that kind of money for a beer...”

The same day he announced that he was giving Bulgaria several tens of millions through his Open Society Foundation for various projects, mainly related to education and - then still in the distant future - digitalization. 

And so began our many meetings, before each of which I always remembered that story with the beer. And whenever someone would irritably ask me where exactly Soros got all that money (he had made just over £1 billion just from the so-called Black Wednesday in September 1992), I would always find a way to reply, "Well, he doesn't buy expensive beer, he keeps his money for donations..."

“Look now”, Soros started our conversation calmer, “I understand very well that Bulgaria is in a very difficult situation. There are many things you can copy from Poland or Hungary, but most of them you simply will not be able to. These are countries with a different history, mentality, culture and traditions. What you have in common is that you are getting out of communism, but it will soon disappear in their case, because these countries will fly straight out at the speed of light if they continue at this rate. You won't be able to catch up with them, and there's no point in trying. That is why I, at least, believe that education is the most important thing to focus on in this transition, and that is why I want to help you so much. You only need one thing - a strong and stable society - that is what I intend to invest in. The voice of the people must be heard, and it must be louder than everything else.”

There was no doubt he had a point.  We can only now appreciate how prophetic those words were and if he had met the understanding of all institutions back then - who knows - maybe Bulgaria would now be at least a few laps ahead in the free market and attracting investments.  

The Open Society Foundation has done a gigantic job during all these years of transition, thousands of Bulgarians graduated with its scholarships and received an education they can only dream of. Soros himself is still a subject to a senseless smear campaign - the term "Sorosoid" has become one of the most vicious and insulting words in recent editions of the modern Bulgarian language, and his biggest enemy has turned out to be his homeland Hungary...

However, George Soros, now 90 years old, has never for a moment backed down and continued to defend his views that people should have equal rights and equal access to education and careers. From the fall of communism in the late 1980s until 2011 alone, he donated more than 11 billion USD dollars to the countries of Eastern Europe, and yet he still got himself into a lot of trouble, which built up his controversial image.

And he could just afford that overpriced beer and think of nothing else...

Text to the picture: George Soros and I we don't order beer at the Sheraton restaurant this time, 1994