A nonprofit organization set up by billionaire George Soros is set to cut nearly half its workforce under its new leadership.
Open Society Foundations announced on Friday that it is laying off at least 40 percent of its 800-person-strong workforce as its new chairman, Alex Soros, plans to refocus his father’s empire to advocate for more woke causes and become more involved in election.
Alex and President Mark Malloch-Brown said in a statement they would implement ‘significant changes to the foundation’s operating model… in the coming months.’
Those changes include significant layoffs, a spokesperson for the organization has confirmed, though it remains unclear which branches of the nonprofit would be most affected.
The announcement comes less than one month after Soros, 92, ceded control of his $25billion empire to Alex, 37, who has claimed he is ‘more political’ than his notorious father.
Alex Soros, pictured in 2017, took control of his father’s $25billion empire last month
The 37-year-old has claimed to be ‘more political’ than his 92-year-old father, George
George founded a predecessor to the Open Society Foundation in his native Hungary in 1984, with the goal of ‘encouraging dissent behind the Iron Curtain.’
But over time, the foundation morphed into a larger machine promoting democratization, education, public health and the arts across the world.
It has disbursed more than $19billion in grants throughout its lifetime, after George donated more than $32billion.
Open Society Foundation currently controls the majority of assets maintained by the Soros family, but, Bloomberg reports, much of that money has gone to compensation for its employees.
In 2021, Open Society spent nearly $72million on pay and another $40million on benefits and pension plans, making employee compensation its biggest expenditure that year.
‘The Board aims to transform operations across the global network, with the goal of generating a nimbler organization,’ Alex and Mark Malloch-Brown said in their statement Friday.
They added that the changes to the internal workings of the organization ‘are intended to maximize Open Society’s impact in helping to counter the forces currently threatening open and free societies.
‘The Board expects that this new model will create a culture of “strategic opportunism” at the foundations and among the grantees they support,’ the statement continued.
‘This proposed new mode would favor both longer-term “patient capital” approaches as well as tactical short term needs.
‘While Open Society works on these internal changes, the Board remains firmly committed to the foundation’s core priorities — democracy, human rights, climate justice and addressing inequity.’
Open Society Foundations currently controls the majority of assets maintained by the Soros family, but much of that money has gone to compensation of its employees
Speaking to the Daily Beast, Samuel Brunson, who researches nonprofits at Loyola University School of Law, said the downsizing is not surprising, given that Alex may ‘have different priorities and goals’ than his father.
The 37-year-old heir had previously told the Wall Street Journal he plans to broaden his father’s woke aims, but will embrace different causes.
To do so, Alex said he plans to use about $125million of the family’s $25billion reserve for its super PAC, which has backed the election campaigns of woke district attorneys and other law enforcement officials seeking to reduce incarceration rates and perceived racial bias in the justice system.
He also said he was concerned about the possibility of Republican Donald Trump returning to the White House — suggesting the family will contribute greatly to Democrats in the 2024 presidential election.
‘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.
But Alex also insisted he still plans to use the majority of his family fortune for the OSF.
