Investor and financier George Soros has handed the reins of his multi-billion dollar foundation to his son, Alexander.
Soros, 92, went down in history in 1992 for betting against the British pound in what came to be known as Black Wednesday. The government had to withdraw the sterling from the exchange rate mechanism and Soros made a cool one billion.
Some years ago Soros who has five children said that he did not want his Open Society Foundation to be taken over by any of them. However, he has since done an about-turn by appointing his son, Alexander chairman.
Alexander Soros
“He’s earned it,” said Soros whose net worth is estimated to be at $6.7 billion. Meanwhile, Alexander said that he plans to continue giving cash to leftist US political candidates.
The 37-year-old told the Wall Street Journal on June 11, “We are going to double down on defending voting rights and personal freedom at home and supporting the cause of democracy abroad. 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.”
Alexander also said that he would actively campaign against Donald Trump’s attempt to run for a second term as US president.
The foundation currently forks out $1.5 billion a year to groups backing human rights and democratic movements.
Alexander is also on the investment committee of the foundation that oversees Soros Fund Management (OSF) with the vast majority of the $25b in assets under management belonging to the OSF.
Hungary
According to a BBC report, George was born in Hungary where he lived through the Nazi occupation in 1944/45. His family hid the fact that they were Jewish in order to survive.
Last month another billionaire, Elon Musk went after Soros on Twitter after Soros Fund Management cut its stake in Tesla. Musk tweeted that Soros “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization” and that he was the “go-to man when they want to blame someone.”
Musk spoke to CNBC’s David Faber about his comments, “I’ll say what I want, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it.”
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The photo above is from Wikipedia