After decades of leading one of the most prominent and politically active financial empires, George Soros is handing over the reins of his $25 billion Open Society Foundations to his son Alex, the grant-making network confirmed Monday.
The move is another example of succession planning by Wall Street’s old guard. But the switch is especially notable because it concerns the elderly Mr. Soros, whose unabashed support of liberal causes, to the tune of $1.5 billion a year, has long made him an ogre of the right.
Alex Soros, the second youngest of George’s five children, was elected chairman of the foundation in December. He is also president of the Soros super PAC and is the only family member on the investment committee of Soros Fund Management, a private investment company.
That will put him in charge of a philanthropic empire funded from the billions George Soros made in finance. Over five decades, George Soros cemented his reputation as one of the most successful investors in modern history, especially when he made more than $1 billion in 1992 betting against the British pound.
George Soros, who has already given $32 billion to the Open Society Foundations, has indicated that his fortune will go to his family’s philanthropic efforts. That encompasses a wide range of causes that the foundation describes as fighting injustice and inequality, something that traces George Soros back to his roots as a Holocaust survivor.
Like his father, Alex Soros leans politically to the left — “We think alike,” George Soros told The Wall Street Journal, which previously reported the news — and is a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party’s causes. This month he posted a photo of himself with Vice President Kamala Harris on Twitter and wrote an op-ed for CNN defending President Biden’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism.
The rise of Alex Soros was considered unlikely by some: the mild-mannered 37-year-old was better known for partying than finance in his younger years. Many considered his half-brother Jonathan, a lawyer and former Soros associate, to be the most natural successor until a falling out with their father broke out more than a decade ago.
But over the years, Alex Soros became more involved in his father’s philanthropic endeavors.
He inherits a high-profile role, one that could make him a prominent political target. George Soros has drawn criticism – some laced with anti-Semitism – for his political and philanthropic activities over the years: The Open Society Foundations closed their offices in George Soros’s native Hungary after coming under pressure from the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orban.
And more recently, George Soros became a target of Elon Musk, who on Twitter compared him to the “X-Men” villain Magneto. “He wants to erode the fabric of civilization,” the billionaire’s technology director wrote. “Soros hates humanity.”
“I’m the go-to guy when they want to blame someone,” George Soros told The Journal.
