For more than four decades, George Soros has held sway as one of the foremost hedge fund managers in the world. The Hungarian billionaire, who Forbes estimated this year to be worth $14.5bn and who is best known for betting against the pound in 1992, is calling time on his career managing people's money.

Soros is returning cash to outside investors in the Soros Fund Management firm he chairs. Soros, 80, is to return cash worth less than $1bn by the end of the year, with the firm set to manage assets solely for Soros and his family, Bloomberg reported today, citing people briefed on the matter and a letter signed by Soros's two sons, who are deputy chairmen at the firm.