Billionaire George Soros hands control of empire to son Alex

NEW YORK - Billionaire financier George Soros is handing control of his massive empire to his son Alexander, a Soros spokesman said on Sunday (June 11).

The spokesman confirmed the details from an interview with Mr George Soros published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

A hedge fund manager turned philanthropist and major backer of liberal causes, Mr Soros, 92, said he previously did not want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by one of his five children.

But speaking of his decision to turn over the foundation and the rest of his US$25 billion (S$33.6 billion) empire to his 37-year-old son, who goes by Alex, Mr George Soros said: "He's earned it."

Also interviewed by the newspaper, Mr Alex Soros said he's "more political" than his father and that he plans to continue donating family money to left-leaning US political candidates.

He told the Journal that he would broaden the foundation's priorities to include voting and abortion rights as well as gender equity.

"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," Mr Alex Soros said.

The OSF board elected Mr Alex Soros as its chairman in December, and he now directs political activity as president of Soros' political action committee.

The foundation directs about $1.5 billion a year to groups such as those backing human rights around the world and helping build democracies, the Journal reported.

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