Haute 100 NYC: George Soros Invests $2 Billion in Protégé Scott Bessent’s Startup

Often referred to as George Soros‘ protégé, Scott Bessent, who has worked for the business magnet for the last four years, will leave Soros Fund Management to launch his own hedge fund.

According to Bloomberg, Bessent has plans to form the Key Square Group with a $2 billion investment from his boss Soros.

“Over the past four years, Scott has managed the firm’s assets with skill and dedication,” said Robert Soros, George’s son, in the memo. “He has decided to start his own venture because of the constraints involved in working with a family office structure, which prevent him from raising outside capital.”

Bessent has spent a large amount of his career managing Soros’ funds, including overseeing his European investments for approximately eight years in the 1990s, and then later returning to the firm in 2011. The Soros family has made $10 billion in profit thanks to Bessent’s efforts.

The memo also stated the 52-year-old will continue to work with Soros Fund Management on an informal basis. Upon his departure, the company’s investment strategy as well as asset allocation will be handled by the existing committees put in place by Robert and Bessent.

The Yale graduate will leave the company at the end of 2015.

Prior to working with Soros, Bessent has worked at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., Saudi Arabian holding company Olayan Group and Jim Chanos’s Kynikos Associates.

With the $2 billion investment from his soon-to-be former boss, Bessent’s Key Square Group will become the largest hedge fund startups ever.

Before the announcement of Bessent’s Key Square Group, Jack Meyer held the record for the largest hedge fund startup. Meyer, a former head of Harvard University’s endowment, started hedge fund firm Convexity Capital Management in 2005. Before departing on his own, it was reported, Meyer quadrupled Harvard University’s endowment over the course of almost 15 years.

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