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Bill Gates gives $4.6bn to charity in biggest donation since 2000

F

fluffydelusions

Member
Bill Gates, the world's richest man, has donated $4.6bn (£3.6bn) in the Microsoft founder's biggest gift to charity since he set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates donated 64m Microsoft shares according to a US Securities & Exchange Commission filing. The recipient of the gift was not specified but it is expected that the money will be directed to the foundation he and his wife set up in 2000 with $5bn funding to improve global healthcare and reduce extreme poverty. The foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

The shares donated represent about 5% of his current $90bn fortune. The gift reduces Gates's stake in Microsoft, which the 61-year-old co-founded in 1975, to just 1.3% from 24% in 1996.

This latest donation is the biggest charitable gift made anywhere in the world so far this year, overtaking a $3.2bn contribution by investor Warren Buffett to the Gates foundation last month.

In 2010 the Gates and Warren Buffett created the Giving Pledge, a promise to give at least half of their wealth to charity, and called on other billionaires to join them. More than 170 of the world's richest people, including Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Bloomberg and George Lucas, have so far signed up.

Gates said the pledge was ”about building on a wonderful tradition of philanthropy that will ultimately help the world become a much better place".

Last year the billionaire told ITV's This Morning that it was ”not a favour" to give his three children huge sums. ”It distorts anything they might do, creating their own path.

”This money is dedicated to helping the poorest. They know that, they are proud of that, they go on trips with us to see the work that's being done."

Gates has been the richest man on the planet since 2013 – apart from a very brief blip last month when Amazon's Jeff Bezos overtook him for a couple of hours as the technology company's shares spiked before falling back.

Bezos, who founded Amazon in 1994, is worth $84.3bn and has seen his fortune increase by $18.9bn so far this year according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index. Bezos, who has used his wealth to invest in space travel and to buy the Washington Post, has not signed up to the Giving Pledge. Bezos has said that in matters of philanthropy he is drawn to the ”right now", rather than the long-term, approach.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technol...-charity-donation-microsoft-shares-foundation
 
T

tirminyl

Member
For some reason, I thought the OP accidentally put billion instead of million. I was wrong. Wow!

Keep doing that work, Bill.
 
B

BronsonLee

Member
Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, has donated $4.6bn (£3.6bn) in the Microsoft founder’s biggest gift to charity since he set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Oh wow, that's incredibl-

This latest donation is the biggest charitable gift made anywhere in the world so far this year, overtaking a $3.2bn contribution by investor Warren Buffett to the Gates foundation last month.
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IT'S A SHELL GAME
 
S

Seik

Banned
Fuck yes.

Good on you, Bill, such a monstruous amount of money ought to change a lot of lives for the better.
 
P

Parch

Member
The Warren Buffet documentary is pretty good. Humble guy living in the same house since the 50's. Him and Gates becoming buddies.

Say what you want about capitalism and how ridiculously rich people can become, but when they form foundations and give billions to help the world, it can be a good thing.
 
P

Phased

Member
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has done a lot of good in the world. According to a quick Google search, it's given away 35 billion in grants for a huge list of things from hunger to internet access.

He's also giving away most of his money when he dies instead of passing it on to his kids. While it's naive to think he's not leaving his kids ANYTHING, they won't inherit his billions (if he hasn't given it all away by then)
 
T

theWB27

Member
Phased said:
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has done a lot of good in the world. According to a quick Google search, it's given away 35 billion in grants for a huge list of things from hunger to internet access.

He's also giving away most of his money when he dies instead of passing it on to his kids. While it's naive to think he's not leaving his kids ANYTHING, they won't inherit his billions (if he hasn't given it all away by then)
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Him and buffet don't want to create a dynasty. I can dig it.
 
Lamel

Lamel

Banned
He has the right idea. Once you die, all of this money isn't going to mean anything. He has so much that he can give a shit ton to his kids and still give away billions.

Awesome move.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
Billionaire charity dick measuring contests are the best kind of dick measuring contests. I hope the money is being put to good use. Endless praise for anyone who gives away huge sums of their personal wealth. Tenfold praise if they don't wait until they're dead to do it.
 
J

JettDash

Junior Member
Juneau Joe said:
Billionaire charity dick measuring contests are the best kind of dick measuring contests. I hope the money is being put to good use. Endless praise for anyone who gives away huge sums of their personal wealth. Tenfold praise if they don't wait until they're dead to do it.
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He's basically dedicating the rest of his life to making sure almost all of his fortune is put to good charitable use. And he's obviously a competent guy.
 
TheContact

TheContact

Member
Just to put into perspective how much a billion is...

One million seconds is 15.5 days
A billion seconds is 31.7 years
 
P

PaulloDEC

Member
It's nice to know that even with all of the truly shitty nerds in the world there's still some wonderful ones too.

Bill is going to leave this world having done a hell of a lot of good.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
JettDash said:
He's basically dedicating the rest of his life to making sure almost all of his fortune is put to good charitable use. And he's obviously a competent guy.
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Oh, yeah. I'm a huge fan of what he's doing. I'd like to think I could be a tenth as charitable in his position.
 
Q

Qvoth

Member
yeah heard this yesterday, literally insane
he should be honorary american president or UN secretary general or some shit
 
A

Alcotholic

Banned
Hopefully it'll be a nice booster shot for the poor.
Bill gates has been generous many times. I wish I could say the same for other super wealthy.
 
E

Estoc

Member
Such an inspiration, if I ever enter the super rich status, this is definitely what I would be doing for the rest of my life.

I will never join the super rich club. #TeamForeverPoor
 
C

cdyhybrid

Member
EchoChamber said:
That's almost two minecrafts.
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Did someone say Minecraft?

rnGdpDI.png
 
L

Lum1n3s

Member
Love the fact that he isn't passing much down like Jackie Chan is to their kids. Work for that shit because all of that money or most of it anyways is being donated to charities when they dead.
 
Bitanator

Bitanator

Member
He can donate 50 billion and still be worth 40 billion, dude is rich as fuck but he is being great about donating his money away
 
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