Billionaire George Soros hands control of empire to son Alex

(Reuters) -Billionaire financier George Soros is handing control of his massive empire to his son Alexander, a Soros spokesperson said on Sunday.

The spokesperson confirmed the details from an interview with Soros published in The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

A hedge fund manager turned philanthropist and major backer of liberal causes, Soros, 92, said he previously didn't want his Open Society Foundations (OSF) to be taken over by one of his five children.

But speaking of his decision to turn over the foundation and the rest of his $25 billion empire to his 37-year-old son, who goes by Alex, the elder Soros said: "He's earned it."

Also interviewed by the newspaper, Alex said he's "more political" than his father and that he plans to continue donating family money to left-leaning U.S. political candidates.

He told the Journal that he would broaden the foundation's priorities to include voting and abortion rights as well as gender equity.

"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," Alex said.

The OSF board elected Alex as its chairman in December, and Alex now directs political activity as president of Soros' political action committee.

The foundation directs about $1.5 billion a year to groups such as those backing human rights around the world and helping build democracies, the Journal reported.

(Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Rami Ayyub in Washington; Additional reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Mark Porter)