One of the world’s most hated personalities is retiring. At 92, businessman and philanthropist George Soros, known for his center-left commitment and speculative prowess, hands over to his fourth child, Alexander.
At 37, the latter, from George Soros’ second marriage to historian Susan Weber, was not expected to succeed his father. He had indeed repeatedly claimed to be “opposed on principle” to the idea of ??placing one of his children at the head of his empire of 25 billion dollars.
But the Berkeley and New York University history graduate, fan of hip-hop, football and philosophy, earned his father’s trust through his eight years of full-time work at the Open Society Foundations. “We feel the same,” said the patriarch, who simply commented after Alexander’s election as chair of the Open Society Foundations board: “He’s earned it. This new dolphin also supplants his older brother, Jonathan, 57, who was once preferred to him.
Nicknamed “Alex”, the young man will thus continue the commitment of his father, who has invested for forty years in favor of freedom of expression, human rights and democracy. He now also heads the “super PAC”, a structure that disburses funds to the campaigns of political candidates (mostly Democratic), and is part of the investment committee of Soros Fund Management, the firm overseeing the funds.
Some line changes are nevertheless to be expected: interviewed by the Wall Street Journal this weekend, the young heir claimed to be “more political” than his father. His Instagram account thus shows him alongside many personalities from the American left, posing with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – the right-wing channel Fox News assured that he had been to the White House 17 times since the Democratic victory – but also with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Brazilian counterpart, Lula.
Alexander Soros is also openly opposed to Donald Trump, whom he does not want to see re-elected to the White House in 2024. that the other side is doing it, we’re going to have to keep doing it too,” he said, adding, “Our side needs to be more patriotic and inclusive. Just because someone votes for Trump doesn’t mean they’re lost or racist. »
The environment is also likely to be on the sidelines as some of its advocates have already been rewarded by the Alexander Soros Personal Foundation, founded in 2012 to promote “more experimental and controversial projects” than those supported by “big foundations.” traditional”.
The Liberian environmental activist Silas Salos, the Cambodian activist Chut Wutty, murdered defending the forest, or the British NGO Global Witness – to whom we owe the inspiration for the film Blood Diamond – are among the winners of the prize that it awards each year. “For me, it became clear: if we have to save our environment, maybe we should stop killing those who really protect it”, developed the heir in 2016 with Forbes magazine.
Finally, Alexander is distinguished from George Soros by his collegial management style and his discreet attitude. Raised with the conscience of his privileges, he admits having long been uncomfortable with the wealth of his family and having struggled to find his place with an often absent father. With his black-rimmed glasses and his three-day beard, he was thus presented as a playboy by certain tabloids, photographed in Cannes and in the Hamptons, the upscale vacation spot of New York’s golden youth.
A childhood very different from that of George Soros, a Hungarian Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, hoisted to the American firmaments and vilified since by ultraconservatives and conspiracy theorists with arguments imbued with anti-Semitism.
“With the name I bear and the privileges I have enjoyed, I could have gone astray in many ways,” Alexander Soros admitted to the Wall Street Journal. Instead, I became a workaholic. »
