Over 30 US billionaires join the charity bandwagon
04 Aug 2010
More than 30 billionaires, including New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller and investor Ronald Perelman, were among 40 US businessmen who pledged to give away at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity.
The Giving Pledge, an organisation run by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, today announced that the 40 signatories have officially made the promise to give away more than half their fortunes to charity.
While millionaires like Baron Hilton and David Rockefeller are known for philanthropy, the list also includes some notable new ones, like 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 Gates Foundation plans to hold small dinners in coming months in which signers will try to persuade potential givers to give their John Hancocks - a handwritten document as a proof of identity and intent.
The list now includes Paul G. Allen, Laura and John Arnold, Michael R Bloomberg, Eli and Edythe Broad, Warren Buffett, Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Ann and John Doerr, Larry Ellison, 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 and Shelby White, according to `The Giving Pledge' website.
The Giving Pledge does not accept any money; it simply asks billionaires to make a moral commitment to give away their wealth to charity.
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