NEW YORK —

Billionaire investor turned philanthropist George Soros is ceding control of his $25 billion empire to a younger son, Alexander Soros, according to an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal published online Sunday.

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Soros' business holdings include his nonprofit Open Society Foundations, which is active in more than 120 countries around the world and funnels about $1.5 billion annually to groups such as those that back human rights and promote the growth of democracies around the world, according to its website.

The 37-year-old, who goes by Alex, told the Wall Street Journal that he is "more political" than his 92-year-old father, who has been a right-wing target for his backing of liberal causes such as reducing racial bias in the justice system. But he noted that the two "think alike."

Alex said he was broadening his father's "liberal aims" and embracing different causes including voting and abortion rights, as well as gender equity. He said he aims to keep using the family's wealth to back left-leaning U.S. politicians.

Alex told the Wall Street Journal that he recently met with Biden administration officials, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and heads of state, including Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to push for issues related to the family foundation.

In December, the board of Open Society Foundations, known as OSF, elected Alex as its chairman, succeeding his father. The newspaper also reported that Alex now directs political activity as president of Soros' super PAC.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the younger Soros is the only family member on the investment committee overseeing Soros Fund Management, which manages money for the foundation and the family.

During the interview with the newspaper, Alex expressed concern that former President Donald Trump would return to the White House and hinted that the Soros organization would play a key financial role in the 2024 presidential race.

"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 said in the interview that took place at the fund manager's New York offices.

Alex is the oldest of two sons from George Soros' marriage with his second wife, Susan Weber, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The appointment passes over George Soros' elder son Jonathan Soros, 52, a lawyer with a background in finance. He had been believed to be the clear successor until "a falling out and a change of heart," according to the paper.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is asking on Twitter whether he should sell 10% of his stock in the electric-vehicle company amid pressure in Washington to increase taxes on billionaires like him.Some Democrats have been pushing for billionaires to pay taxes when the price of the stocks they hold goes up, even if they don't sell any shares. It's a concept called "unrealized gains," and Musk is sitting on a lot of them with a net worth of roughly $300 billion."Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock," he tweeted Saturday afternoon. "Do you support this?"By 5:40 p.m. Eastern time, a little more than two hours after Musk's initial tweet, 54% said yes out of a total of 876,189 votes.Much of Musk's wealth is held in shares of Tesla, which does not pay him a cash salary. "I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock," he tweeted.Musk, who is known for his sometimes flippant tweets, said he would "abide by the results of this poll."