US billionaire philanthropist George Soros has handed over the running of his $25bn financial and charitable empire to his son Alex.
Soros, 92, has a net worth of $6.7 billion, according to Forbes, and is the one of the top 400 richest people in the world. In 2017, he shifted $18 billion from his family office to his Open Society Foundations — a group of charities that works in more than 100 countries — which Alex was named chair of in December.
Alex, speaking to the Wall Street Journal in an exclusive interview published over the weekend, said he is “more political” than his father and hinted at a significant financial role for the Soros organization in the U.S. elections next year.
Since 1990s the family’s wealth has been directed to support democracy-building in dozens of countries.
Alex, a 37-year-old history graduate, is the second-youngest of his five children.
Alex is the only family member sitting on the investment committee for Soros Fund Management, the vehicle which the Wall Street Journal says is managing the $25bn for the family and the charitable foundation.
Alex took over at the Open Society Foundations (OSF) as chairman in December and is also in charge of his father’s “super PAC” a US mechanism to direct funds to political parties.
