JAKARTA - Billionaire George Soros handed control over his enormous empire to his son, Alexander, Soros' spokesman said on Sunday.
The spokesperson confirmed details of an interview with Soros published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
A hedge fund manager who turned into a philanthropic and main supporter of the liberal movement, Soros (92) previously said he didn't want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by one of his five children.
However, speaking of his decision to hand over the foundation and the remaining US$25 billion worth of wealth (Rp371,798,750,000,000) to his 37-year-old son and commonly called Alex, Soros said: "He deserves it," as reported by Reuters on June 12.
Criticized by conservatives, and often a target of anti-Semitic conspiracies, George Soros used his wealth collected as investors in the 1970s and 80s to establish OSFs, which support a wide range of non-profit goals and organizations around the world, ranging from good governance programs and democratic development to liberal public policy initiatives.
He is also one of the largest donors of the Democratic Party in the United States, as quoted by The National News.
When interviewed by the newspaper, Alex said that he was "more political" than his father, planning to continue donating family money to left-handed US political candidates.
He also said he would expand the priority of his foundation by incorporating the right to vote and abortion and gender equality.
The man born in 1985 told the Wall Street Journal that one of his main goals was to oppose the possibility of a second term of former president Donald Trump.
"I'd love to spend money from the world of politics, but as long as the other side does, we also have to do it," he said.
More focused on domestic politics than senior Soros, Alex has focused on helping the Democratic Party increase their appeal among Latin voters and increasing the number of black voters.
"Our party should be better by becoming more patriotic and inclusive. Just because someone chooses Trump, it doesn't mean they're lost or racist," he said.
The OSF board elected Alex as chairman in December. He is now directing political activities as president of the Soros political action committee.
The foundation disburses about $1.5 billion per year to groups such as those that support human rights around the world and help build democracy, the Journal reports.
The US newspaper also said it was the only family member on the investment committee for the Soros Fund Management, the company that oversees family and foundation money.
Long before his election decision to inherit his father's wealth, Alex had a 180-degree different side.
The son of Soros from historian Susan Weber in 2008 first made headlines, for appearing at striking parties after the media published his photos from his social media, according to the New York Times in July 2012, as quoted by Business Insider.
The photos show him "laying back at his father's house in Southampton, drinking 40 glasses of wine while sailing on a family ship and girls," according to the Times, citing the CityFile blog focused on NYC.
Liputan soal partai berbolah dan pengambaran dirinya sebagai anak partai membuatnya. "Saya menjadi caricatur ini," katanya kepada media tersebut.
That's when he began turning to the world of philanthropy, joining the Open Society Foundations Board in 2011, which brought him closer to his father, according to the Times.
VOIR éGALEMENT:
However, occasional reports of his flamboyant girlfriend's lifestyle keep popping up, with the New York Post describing a party full of models, NBA players in a report in September 2016.
At the same time, Alex managed to work on his Ph.D. thesis at the University of California Berkeley entitled "Jewish Dionysus: Heine, Nietzsche and the Politics of Literature" - which reveals his intellectual side.
Interestingly, since childhood Alex began to be tied to his father in Latin and Marx, according to a Times report in 2012.
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