Billionaire George Soros hands control of empire to son: WSJ By Reuters

June 11 (Reuters) – Billionaire financier George Soros told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Sunday that he would hand over control of his vast empire to his son Alexander Soros.

Soros, 92, a hedge fund manager turned philanthropist and strong supporter of liberal causes, said he initially did not want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to pass into the hands of one of his five children.

However, Soros said of his decision to hand over the foundation and the rest of his $25 billion empire to his 37-year-old son Alexander, known as Alex: “He earned it.”

In an interview with the newspaper, Alex said he was more “political” than his father and plans to continue donating family money to support left-wing US candidates.

“As much as I love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side does it, we have to do it,” he said.

The OSF Board of Trustees elected Alex as chair in December, and he now also directs political activities as chair of Soros’ political action committee.

The foundation allocates $1.5 billion a year to groups around the world that protect human rights and help build democracies, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)