Bill Gates Convinces 40 Billionaires to Give Away Half Their Fortunes

More Billionaires Sign the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge
August 4, 2010


Apparently, it?s hard to turn down America?s richest men when they ask for money.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett announced today that 40 signers, including at least 30 billionaires and other wealthy families, had officially made the Giving Pledge?a promise to give away more than half their fortunes.

Many of the names already were known, from Eli and Edythe Broad and Michael Bloomberg to Pierre and Pam Omidyar and Paul Allen. But the list also includes some notable new ones, especially from the world of finance: New York financier Ronald O. Perelman; Citigroup founder Sandy Weill and wife Joan; hedge-funders Julian Robertson Jr. and Jim Simons; and private-equity honcho David Rubenstein.

The technology sector also is well represented, by venture capitalist John Doerr and wife Anne; Pierre Omidyar and wife Pam; and Jeff Skoll.

The list includes a few old-money (or at least older-money) names: Barron Hilton and David Rockefeller. Still, almost all are self-made billionaires or near-billionaires.

The turnout is impressive, especially since the Gates-Buffett-sponsored pledge was just announced a month and a half ago.

Since some of the names already planned to give away half their fortune, the hard part will be persuading additional signers in the months to come. The Gates Foundation plans to hold small dinners in coming months in which signers will try to persuade potential givers to give their John Hancocks.

Some people may write off the pledge as a gimmick aimed at simply improving the PR of the super-rich, which could certainly use some improving. But the list could become a strong financial force for philanthropy, if for no other reason than peer pressure, publicity and the inspiring example of others.

Content, Pictures  and Download links visible to registered users only. 

REGISTER NOW to access all areas that are invisible to non-members.

LIST OF DONORS:
List of Pledgers:

Paul G. Allen

Laura and John Arnold

Michael R. Bloomberg

Eli and Edythe Broad

Warren Buffett

Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong

Ann and John Doerr

Bill and Melinda Gates

Barron Hilton

Jon and Karen Huntsman

Joan and Irwin Jacobs

George B. Kaiser

Elaine and Ken Langone

Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest

Lorry I. Lokey

George Lucas

Alfred E. Mann

Bernie and Billi Marcus

Thomas S. Monaghan

Tashia and John Morgridge

Pierre and Pam Omidyar

Bernard and Barbro Osher

Ronald O. Perelman

Peter G. Peterson

T. Boone Pickens

Julian H. Robertson, Jr.

David Rockefeller

David M. Rubenstein

Herb and Marion Sandler

Vicki and Roger Sant

Walter Scott, Jr.

Jim and Marilyn Simons

Jeff Skoll

Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor

Jim and Virginia Stowers

Ted Turner

Sanford and Joan Weill

Shelby White

You can also visit this site which lists the donors but also has an option to read each pledge letter. It's pretty interesting actually.

Content, Pictures  and Download links visible to registered users only. 

REGISTER NOW to access all areas that are invisible to non-members.

Also:

Warren Buffet has agreed to give away 99% of his wealth.


Your move Mr. Jobs....

In related news Steve Jobs is still a prick.

Look at how mad he is when he announces that they are going to have to give away free bumpers for iPhone users.

The pissed look on his face at :33 is priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjGT-...layer_embedded

[gallow737]

My roommate gets Fortune magazine, this was an article a couple months ago...

Content, Pictures  and Download links visible to registered users only. 

REGISTER NOW to access all areas that are invisible to non-members.

[gallow737]

Despite Bill Gates' absurd wealth, you can't deny that at least he is an amazing philanthropist. For all the money he makes he is all about giving a lot of it away. And he doesn't baby his kids... I remember seeing something that despite all his billions, his kids are only being left $10 million in his will (or they're being given $10 million when they become legal adults, I'm not sure). I'd kill for $10 million, but if my Dad was a several hundred billionaire and he said "Hey, I'm ONLY giving you $10 million!" I'd kill him with fury

[Zakko]

Content, Pictures  and Download links visible to registered users only. 

REGISTER NOW to access all areas that are invisible to non-members.

At 2:04
"And if you're still not happy...*video ends*...THEN GO FUCK YOURSELVES!!! MWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

[MikeNesmith]

Ah, Steve Jobs. He's had a long journey from working at Atari dressed like a Hare Krishna. I wonder how far he ever would have gotten without Steve Wozniak doing all the work.

[Eccles]

What exactly are they giving their money to? I imagine the Gates Foundation (or whatever it's called) but what causes are they supporting?

[Magnusrex]

Content, Pictures  and Download links visible to registered users only. 

REGISTER NOW to access all areas that are invisible to non-members.

ditto, i know it's not their responsability, but it would be great if they could some how, help all the people that Bernie Maddoff guy fucked over, except for the celebs he screwed, fuck the celebs, let them make another movie to get payed.

[gallow737]

The thing about a lot of these people and the brilliance of this idea is that they realize that these are the elite rich people who even if they gave away a vast majority of their fortune tomorrow, they're still so absurdly rich that they could one day make it all back without much effort. I would imagine this is the angle he's going for, the "You're gonna make it all back, why not do something good with it?" angle.

Example: I'm not sureh ow much Lucas is worth, but let's say he's worth $1 billion. If he gave away $500 mil, he's got $500 mil left. Tough life. I'm sure he wonm't make back hardly any of that money when he re-releases the Star Wars movies in 3D (which he will).

I'm not gonna lie, I admire Bill Gates and Warren Buffet for this idea. Regardless of what they're giving it to (I'm not sure myself), the fact that they're so willing to give away billions of dollars for the benefit of others is realy noble. My hat is off to them for not being oil sheik cunts who buy gold lamborghinis just because they can