Who is Alex Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros? Net worth, age, career...
George Soros has designated his son Alexander, who already chairs the family nonprofit, to take over his $25 billion empire. Here’s what we know about him.
George Soros, billionaire financier and philanthropist, is handing over the reins of his $25 billion empire to his son Alexander. The transfer of power from the 92-year-old hedge fund manager turned philanthropist to his 37-year-old son was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
The younger Soros, who goes by Alex, is already chair of Open Society Foundations (OSF), a nonprofit founded by the elder Soros in 1997, elected by the board in December last year. The elder Soros previously hadn’t wanted to hand over control of OSF to any of his five children but said of Alex: “He’s earned it.” The organization is active in more than 120 countries around the world and has dedicated over $19 billion to groups that defend human rights and promote democracy according to its website.
Who is Alex Soros, the son of billionaire George Soros?
Alex is the eldest of two children from Soros’ second marriage and it wasn’t thought that he would be a potential successor to the family empire. The newspaper reported that he grew up self-conscious of the family’s vast wealth.
It had been believed that his half-brother Jonathan, the third child from Soros’ first marriage, would take over. However, he and his father were of different personalities and had “a falling out” and Jonathan had “a change of heart” according to the Journal. His departure from the family investment firm opened the path for Alex.
The new overseer of the Soros fortune is “a self-described center-left thinker” and told the media outlet that he is “more political” than his father. Although he would like to see money taken out of politics, Alex plans to continue donating family money to US left-leaning political candidates and causes through the family’s political action committee, Democracy PAC.
“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 Wall Street Journal. George Soros’ funding of liberal causes has made him a target of right-wing conspiracists and pundits. Alex said that he plans to broaden the foundation’s priorities to include voting and abortion rights along with gender equity.
Alex Soros’ career and net worth
His bio says that Alex graduated with a BA in history in 2009 from New York University and his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley nine years later. He began working for the Soros family investment firm part-time in 2004 according to the New York Post. After Jonathan left the firm in 2011, his half-brother took on a full-time role.
He sits on the boards of Bard College, the Center for Jewish History, Central European University, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and International Crisis Group. Alex is also the founding chair of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, a progressive Jewish political organization that seeks justice for all in the United States.
There is no publicly available data of the younger Soros’ net worth, but his father is reportedly one of the 400 richest people in the world worth $6.7 billion according to Forbes.