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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:44:11 GMT -8
Richard Branson has experienced quite a lot in his 62 years. The founder of Virgin Group, Branson — in fact, Sir (ed. note: please italicize) Richard Branson — founded his company in 1971 as a simple record shop in London. Over the years, he transformed it into a multinational corporation with interests in media, air travel and space tourism. He is now worth, by the estimation of Forbes, $4.2 billion.
Last week, Branson stunned the world again when he decided to give his wealth away. The outspoken Brit has become the latest mogul to sign the Giving Pledge, the initiative founded by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates to convince the world's richest people to donate at least half their wealth to charity. In addition to Buffett, Branson and the Gates (who, combined, have a net worth that exceeds $115 billion) here are other famous billionaires who have pledged to give up their fortunes.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:44:41 GMT -8
George Lucas
Est. net worth: $3.3 billion-plus
George Lucas may always be associated with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but the 68-year-old billionaire has a history in philanthropy nearly as long as his career in film. In 1991, the 'Star Wars' director founded The George Lucas Educational Foundation, and has long been a proponent of improvements to public education in the U.S. In his letter to the Giving Pledge, which he signed in 2010 promising to give away more than half his $3 billion-plus fortune, Lucas expressed hope that his wealth would be used to overhaul how students learn across the world.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:44:59 GMT -8
Larry Ellison
Est. net worth: $41 billion
One of the world's richest men, Larry Ellison has taken a lot of flack over the years for his salary at Oracle, the software giant he founded that has paid the 68-year-old annual compensation north of $70 million. But Ellison has not kept it all for himself. In his letter announcing his participation to the Giving Pledge, the Oracle CEO admitted to putting 'virtually all' of his assets into a trust many years ago with the intent to give away at least 95 per cent of it. 'Until now, I have done this giving quietly,' Ellison wrote. 'So why am I going public now? Warren Buffett personally asked me to write this letter because he said I would be 'setting an example' and 'influencing others' to give. I hope he's right.'
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:45:15 GMT -8
Jeffrey Skoll
Est. net worth: $3.2 billion
Canada's most notable member of the Giving Pledge is Jeffrey Skoll, the Montreal-born University of Toronto grad who moved to the U.S. in 1993. In 1996, after earning his MBA from Stanford, Skoll (above, left) took a risk, becoming the first full-time employee of a new web company in 1996. That company was eBay, which Skoll piloted into one of the Internet's most successful businesses. Skoll cashed out of eBay after nearly a decade with the auction site, and has used his wealth from company stock to create many charitable enterprises, like the eBay Foundation and the Skoll Foundation.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:45:31 GMT -8
Michael Bloomberg
Est. net worth: $25 billion
Despite a fortune of some $25 billion, money has never appeared to matter much to Michael Bloomberg. Certainly, that Bloomberg has chosen a life of public service over the corporate world speaks volumes about the founder and majority owner of financial data services firm Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg's famous decision to refuse to take a salary as New York's 108th mayor seems to have prefaced his latest legacy: becoming a member of the Giving Pledge. Citing John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt as inspirations, Bloomberg has decided to donate the majority of his wealth to the charity began by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:45:45 GMT -8
Mark Zuckerberg
Est. net worth: $9.4 billion
Many of the names on the Giving Pledge roster are, with respect, old white guys, men who have agreed to part with their money after spending a lifetime with it. But new entrants to the philanthropic initiative throw that finding on its head. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg agreed to join the Giving Pledge, yet at just 28 he's remarkably not the youngest billionaire member. Dustin Moskovitz, a Zuckerberg associate and Facebook pioneer who is the world's youngest self-made billionaire, also signed up.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:45:59 GMT -8
Ted Turner
Est. net worth: $2 billion
Ted Turner was once considered a ruthless businessman, an empire builder who mercilessly turned his father's modest billboard business into a television broadcasting goliath. But at 74 and in semi-retirement, Turner, the creator of CNN and other notable TV channels, appears to have softened in old age. Today, Turner is more associated with philanthropy than the media world; the billionaire currently serves on the United Nations Foundation's board of directors.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:46:14 GMT -8
Paul Allen
Est. net worth: $15 billion
Fittingly for the former business partner of Bill Gates, Paul Allen was among the first billionaires to sign up for the Giving Pledge in 2010. In fact, the Microsoft co-founder had already planned to donate the majority of his wealth to charity before signing on to the Pledge. For two decades prior to 2010, Allen had been a key figure in philanthropy through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, where the billionaire had earmarked the majority of his fortune to go upon his death. Although his donation efforts were initially supposed to be kept private, Allen said in 2010 he was 'happy' to add his name to the public effort to convince the world's billionaires to pledge their fortunes to chari
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2013 14:46:30 GMT -8
Arthur Blank
Est. net worth: $1.5 billion
One of the more recent members of the Giving Pledge is Arthur Blank, the American business magnate and sports owner who signed up just last year. Blank is best known as the owner and chairman of the Atlanta Falcons. He earned the fortune required to buy into the NFL through the Home Depot, the hardware mega-chain he co-founded in 1978. Blank signed onto the Giving Pledge just ahead of his 70th birthday, noting that his shrinking time left on earth had inspired him to leave behind a legacy to last long after he's gone.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2013 9:33:00 GMT -8
All good stuff. Somebody once said: if you still have a fortune on your death bed then you've wasted your life. Something like that anyway. I don't see any filthy rich oil money ratbastards on the list. |
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Post by Crusher on Mar 4, 2013 9:39:34 GMT -8
All good stuff. Somebody once said: if you still have a fortune on your death bed then you've wasted your life. Something like that anyway. I don't see any filthy rich oil money ratbastards on the list. We give ours away quietly. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2013 9:57:22 GMT -8
I don't see any filthy rich oil money ratbastards on the list. We give ours away quietly. Of course filthy rich oil money ratbastard philanthropists are like that. What was I thinking? |
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Post by ♬ pkbucko ♬ on Mar 4, 2013 11:34:21 GMT -8
All good stuff. Somebody once said: if you still have a fortune on your death bed then you've wasted your life. Something like that anyway. I don't see any filthy rich oil money ratbastards on the list. In my next life I'll be a filthy rich oil money ratbastard. And nobody will get any of it. |
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Post by Crusher on Mar 4, 2013 20:44:38 GMT -8
We give ours away quietly. Of course filthy rich oil money ratbastard philanthropists are like that. What was I thinking? Hush or we'll shut off your gas. |
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Post by iamjumbo on Mar 8, 2013 5:23:29 GMT -8
All good stuff. Somebody once said: if you still have a fortune on your death bed then you've wasted your life. Something like that anyway. that is obviously true |
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Post by iamjumbo on Mar 8, 2013 5:25:46 GMT -8
All good stuff. Somebody once said: if you still have a fortune on your death bed then you've wasted your life. Something like that anyway. I don't see any filthy rich oil money ratbastards on the list. and you won't. you won't see scum like jack welch on it either. you won't see the management of any health insurance company on it either. the mindset of those such as that is that they are entitled to have everything while the real people have nothing. |
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