Soros' $US25 billion ($A37 billion) in business holdings include his nonprofit Open Society Foundations, which is active in more than 120 countries.
It funnels about $US1.5 billion annually to groups such as those that back human rights and promote the growth of democracies around the world, its website states.
The 37-year-old son, who goes by Alex, told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday 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 the two "think alike".
Alex Soros 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 aimed to keep using the family's wealth to back left-leaning US politicians.
Alex Soros told the Wall Street Journal he recently met with Biden administration officials, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and heads of state, including Brazil's President Luiz Inacio 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 Soros as its chairman, succeeding his father.
The Wall Street Journal reported 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 Soros expressed concern that former president Donald Trump would return to the White House and hinted the Soros organisation 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 Soros 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.
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