Billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is handing over control of his $25 billion financial empire to his son, 37-year-old Alex Soros.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news Sunday, which was confirmed by a spokesperson for Soros’ Open Society Foundations. In an interview with the Journal, Alex Soros said he shares his father’s liberal aims, including support for voting and abortion rights, adding “I’m more political” than his father.
The Open Society Foundations directs about $1.5 billion a year to humanitarian and democratic causes worldwide, and controls the majority of assets managed by the Soros family. OSF’s website says it champions solutions “that advance justice, equity and human dignity.”
Alex Soros told the Journal he intends to continue to use the family’s fortune to support liberal politicians and causes. “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it, too,” he told the Journal.
In 2018, he penned an op-ed for the New York Times decrying the climate of “political demonization” and blamed Donald Trump for a rise in hate and extremism. “A genie was let out of the bottle, which may take generations to put back in,” he wrote.
George Soros, 92, had previously said he didn’t want any of his children to take over his foundation as a matter of principle, but told the Journal, of Alex: “He’s earned it.”
In December, Alex Soros replaced his father as chairman of the board of the Open Society Foundations, and he is the only family member on the investment committee overseeing Soros Fund Management, according to the Journal.
In the 2021-’22 election cycle, George Soros was the country’s No. 1 political donor, giving more than $178 million to Democrats, according to data from nonpartisan political money-tracker OpenSecrets.
Because of his massive financial support for liberal causes, the Hungarian-born George Soros has become somewhat of a bogeyman to U.S. conservatives and has long been a target of the right. In May, Tesla Inc.
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CEO and Twitter owner Elon Musk compared Soros to a supervillain and claimed he “hates humanity.”