Kostolany was born February 9th, 1906 in Budapest, a Hungarian Roman Catholic of Jewish descent. He originally studied Philosophy and History of Art in Budapest but his father forced him to abandon his studies and sent him to Paris in 1924, to work as a broker. There he began his career as a speculator and arbitrageur. He was able to make a profit of the decline in market prices which began in the end of 1929, having been bearish at the time.

When the Germans occupied France in 1940, he fled to New York. From 1941 to 1950, he was the general director and president of the G. Ballai and Co Financing Company. From 1950 he lived mainly in Paris, with office in Munich and a vacation home on the Côte d'Azur.

After World War II, he invested heavily in the reconstruction of Germany, The subsequent economic boom helped him build up his fortune. In return, Kostolany spent most of his later life writing columns and holding seminars about the stock market in Germany, where he became famous as a stock market expert. His fame was founded in the vast amount of practical experience he had accumulated during his 70 year career, in different trades, in many markets around the world. He died in Paris at the age of 93.

Source: Wikipedia