The $25 billion international network of foundations started by George Soros is shuttering offices around the world as it prepares to cut more than 40% of its staff.

Employees of the Open Society Foundations’ Africa operations received correspondence last week detailing the next steps of the process, which includes closing half a dozen offices on the continent in addition to its Baltimore and Barcelona locations, according to a copy of the emails seen by Bloomberg.

“I’m very sorry that it’s turned out this way,” Wanyeki wrote to staff in an email seen by Bloomberg. “It’s obviously not what any of us expected and I’m also very sorry that I didn’t have the information on this earlier,” she added, saying the changes aren’t what leadership “committed to two years ago.”

The Barcelona and Baltimore closures were announced earlier this year and the Africa offices “have been in varying stages of transition to close or merge into one regional entity” since 2021, an OSF spokesperson said in an email. Many of the satellite offices are set to close by the end of 2023, the spokesperson added.

The emails to staff come after Inside Philanthropy reported in July that OSF had removed more than a dozen offices across Africa and Asia from a list on its website.

Sauce: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/soros-closes-offices-across-25-billion-philanthropy-empire/ar-AA1i6wdd