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Kate Linebaugh: Our colleague, Greg Zuckerman, has spent decades covering big name investors, people who've had huge impacts on the American economy and politics. And among them, there's one name that really stands out, billionaire George Soros.

Gregory Zuckerman: Well, George Soros is one of these people that very few don't have an opinion about. People often loathe him, despise him, demonize him, and others have a lot of respect for him still on Wall Street.

Kate Linebaugh: A divisive figure.

Gregory Zuckerman: Yeah, very few people are as divisive.

Speaker 3: George Soros is the puppet master.

Speaker 4: So go to a person holding a sign who gets paid by Soros or somebody.

Speaker 5: It's almost like he's an evil person in a Batman movie.

Kate Linebaugh: Soros is reviled by some on the right for his $25 billion empire that supports liberal politicians and causes. And now, the 92-year-old is planning for the future. And he's decided which of his five children will run his organization.

Gregory Zuckerman: It's not the son that you would've expected who's taking over. And I find that aspect fascinating too. If you don't care about politics, if you don't care about finance, you might care about family dynamics. And, you can't help but seize on the dynamic there, where the most likely heir apparent in the end was not the successor. And, the least likely son emerged to take the helm of the empire.

Kate Linebaugh: Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Kate Linebaugh. It's Friday, June 16th. Coming up on the show, the unlikely successor to George Soros. George Soros was born in 1930 to an upper middle class Jewish family in Hungary and lived through World War II.

Gregory Zuckerman: So, he survives the Holocaust, he goes to school in London, and he becomes a member of the financial community. He becomes a speculator. And he starts early on, a speculative firm, a hedge fund. He left investment banking career to do that, to trade and make bets on global markets.

Kate Linebaugh: He became a U.S. citizen in 1961. And he pioneered a strategy of making big trades based on economic data from different countries.

Gregory Zuckerman: And what does that mean? Well, that really means just making any bet. We're talking stocks, we're talking bonds, we're talking currencies in any market. All over the world, he would try to anticipate where the world was going. So, as opposed to figuring out where Microsoft earnings are going or Apple's, et cetera, he was looking for broader trends, economic political trends as well, and trying to bet on them, which is really difficult to do, but there's a lot of upside.

Kate Linebaugh: And what is his most famous trade?

Gregory Zuckerman: So, until 1992, George Soros was considered a successful investor. He was well-respected. People on Wall Street knew him, but no one else beyond the confines of Wall Street really recognized who this individual was. And then came his big bet on the British Pound, or against the British Pound.

Speaker 6: They call it Black Wednesday, the day that currency speculators broke the Bank of England, the bank and British-

Kate Linebaugh: This was 1992. England was in the midst of economic turmoil and the country's leaders were trying to reassure people. But Soros and his colleague Stan Druckenmiller weren't convinced and decided to bet against the British Pound. And they were right. The pound plunged. And that single bet netted them more than 1 billion.

Gregory Zuckerman: And after that, he became a household name, not just on Wall Street, but elsewhere. And partly because the amount of money that George Soros made, but also because what he was doing was making a prediction, anticipating problems, and even you could argue accelerating the issues within these currencies. That was the beginning of how he became something of a boogeyman for governments around the world. It's one thing to buy and sell stocks, but to bet against a country's currency, that is something that government leaders don't want to see. And George Soros, there was a bullseye placed on him. And he did it to himself to some extent.

Kate Linebaugh: While Soros was building a name for himself as an investor, he was also getting involved in politics.

Gregory Zuckerman: George Soros was a wealthy man and he felt a need to do more than just spend his money on yachts and homes. At first, he kept his money local, spent money to upgrade Central Park and did some local not controversial activities. And then, he looked abroad and he said, "I'm from Europe. I'm going to help Eastern Europe." Especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He was helping build democracies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, educational institutions, universities and the like. And frankly, most everybody embraced what he was doing. But, that all changed when he started focusing on the United States.

Kate Linebaugh: Soros strongly disagreed with President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. And so, Soros set his sights on stopping Bush's reelection the next year. Here he is speaking to reporters at the time.

George Soros: If we reelect President Bush, we are telling the world that we approve his policies and we shall be at war for a long time to come.

Kate Linebaugh: Bush won reelection by a narrow margin. Since then, Soros and his philanthropic organization called the Open Society Foundations have been targets of the right for funding progressive and liberal causes.

Gregory Zuckerman: Well, the most controversial position of the last few years has been his support for progressive district attorneys and their campaigns for election. But people on the right and even center right will say that these are candidates who have been weak on crime and embraced policies that they would argue haven't been helpful to this country. They would argue that crime has risen and they blame George Soros. But I would also note that these are elected district attorneys. So it's not like George Soros has installed them in office. And, it's also not clear the connection between the district attorneys and any rise in crime.

Kate Linebaugh: So, George is now 92-years-old and he's been looking for his successor for a long time. One of his sons, Jonathan, was seen as the heir apparent. What happened there?

Gregory Zuckerman: Jonathan Soros was seen as an heir apparent. He had the qualifications on paper to run the empire, and that's what people expected. The problem arose, in that, they've got personalities that are just a little bit different. We're talking George and his son, Jonathan. So, George can act on the seat of his pants to some extent. He isn't as analytical as Jonathan. Jonathan takes his time with decisions. They started butting heads. And, they each were hurt by each other. They felt not heard. They were insulted. They felt their positions weren't being respected. And, it became an issue. It became a problem. And, as a result, Jonathan said, "You know what? I'm going to take a step back." He also was feeling a little bit uncomfortable working and living in his father's shadow. So, he made a decision to step back, and George made a decision to look elsewhere for an heir apparent.

Kate Linebaugh: What happened? Where did George look?

Gregory Zuckerman: So, it didn't work out for Jonathan Soros. He left the organization, did his own thing, left disappointed, but not crushed. And, that created an opening, and an opportunity for someone else to step up. And, the person who stepped up is someone unexpected.

Kate Linebaugh: Roman Roy.

Gregory Zuckerman: Roman Roy, you could argue. Yes.

Kate Linebaugh: The younger son, referring to the HBO show succession.

Speaker 8: I mean, you really want me at (inaudible)?

Speaker 9: More, Roman, more. I need you.

Gregory Zuckerman: Exactly. Yes. As I wrote this story, I couldn't help but think about fiction, and the succession story, and life imitating fiction. So, there is an element of commonality there, in that, a very unlikely successor emerged for the Soros Empire. And that's Alex Soros.

Kate Linebaugh: Coming up. Who is Alex Soros? Alex Soros is 37. He's the fourth of his father's children. And for a long time, he wasn't expected to inherit the Soros empire.

Gregory Zuckerman: Alex Soros is somebody who for many years was seen as something of a playboy. He had a model girlfriend, he'd be seen in the Hamptons, and in Con at courtside at New York Knicks games, spending his father's money as it were. And, he was relatively young. And, hadn't really accomplished anything.

Kate Linebaugh: When you spoke with Alex and George, what did they say their relationship was like?

Gregory Zuckerman: So what's fascinating is that growing up George and his son, Alex, were not very close. George's head was elsewhere is what Alex told me. Meaning that, he was around, but he wasn't present. He was a father who was there, was in the house, was seemingly present, but his mind was in on the market. And, he wasn't really involved day-to-day with his children and his family life.

Kate Linebaugh: After Alex's parents divorced, Greg says the father and son grew closer.

Gregory Zuckerman: What they do is bond over philosophy, and politics, and discussing where the world is going. And, they spent hours just talking about intellectual issues. And, theirs is a bonding, an intellectual bonding. And frankly, that's part of the reason why I think George became much more comfortable with Alex, because they seemed to have similar priorities and interests.

Kate Linebaugh: Alex went on to get a PhD from Berkeley. And eventually, he started spending time at his father's foundation.

Gregory Zuckerman: Early on, people were not impressed. He didn't say much in meetings. That which he said wasn't the most impressive. There wasn't anything deep and thoughtful necessarily. He didn't strike anybody as an obvious successor for George. And, to his credit, I think Alex realized that he had much to learn. So, he set out to educate himself. And, he would travel the world, go places like the Amazon, meet with indigenous leaders, advocate for their cause, go to Latin America, visit the offices for the foundation all over the world. And, he started playing a bigger role within the organization. And slowly but surely, he earned respect not only of his colleagues, but also of George.

Kate Linebaugh: What are some of the things that he's done at the foundation?

Gregory Zuckerman: So, Alex is much more hands-on than his father. He walks around all day with a little notebook and he jots down details, information that he passes along with underlings, stuff that George frankly doesn't become very concerned with.

Kate Linebaugh: In December, Alex was named Chairman of the Foundation and he's also the president of Soros Political Action Committee. Is Alex as politically minded as his father?

Gregory Zuckerman: In some ways, Alex is much more political than his father. He's got more interest relative to his father in things like voter rights, abortion rights, gender equality, some issues that are relevant and really topical in the United States.

Kate Linebaugh: How would you describe his politics? Is he a typical Democrat? Liberal?

Gregory Zuckerman: So Alex isn't necessarily a stereotypical progressive or liberal. Why do I say that? He wants to support and he will support the Democratic party and politicians, and he's going to do everything he can to stop Donald Trump he's told me. Frankly, he has voiced all kinds of opinions to me that maybe become as something of a surprise. And, he thinks that those on the left who have been uncomfortable with free speech on campuses and elsewhere have gone too far. And he thinks, maybe we've gone a little bit too far in terms of reform of the bail system. So, I think it's a mistake to paint him with some brush as a typical liberal, another progressive, and just like his dad. I think he's also going to emphasize the importance. And he's told me the importance of pushing, coaxing democratic politicians to reach out to GOP voters. Even if you've been a Trump supporter, he thinks that Democrats should be courting those people. Frankly, there've been some blue collar voters who have left the party. And I think Alex is going to help lead an effort to try to win them back.

Kate Linebaugh: What does this mean, if anything, for the future of American politics?

Gregory Zuckerman: I think this move by George Soros, handing the reigns over to his son, means that the Soros organization is going to be as involved, if not more involved in domestic politics. And people on the right are not going to be thrilled with that. People on their left might embrace it. But I think both sides might be a little surprised, because Alex is not his father. And I think we're going to see some differences. And those differences are going to emerge over time. I think he's got his work cut out for him.

Kate Linebaugh: That's all for today. Friday, June 16th. The Journal is a co-production of Gimlet and the Wall Street Journal. The show is made by Mahara Dhoni, Annie Baxter, Arianna Beau, Katherine Brewer, Maria Byrne, Pia Gatkari, Rachel Humphreys, Ryan Knudsen, Matt Kwang, Jessica Mendoza, Annie Minoff, Laura Morris, Enrique Perez de La Rosa, Sarah Platt, Alan Rodriguez Espinoza, Heather Rogers, Jonathan Sanders, Pierce Singy, Jiva Caverma, Lisa Wang, Katherine Whalen, and me, Kate Linebaugh. Our engineers are Griffin Tanner, Nathan Sinapak, and Peter Leonard. Our theme music is by So Wylie. Additional music this week from Katherine Anderson, Marcus Bagala, Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, Emma Munger, Nathan Sinapak, Griffin Tanner, So Wylie and Blue Dot Sessions. Fact checking by Sophie Hurwitz and Najwa Jamal. Thanks for listening. See you Monday.