The Givers
What would you do if you were worth $40 billion? Warren Buffett plans on giving his away. (Most of it, anyway.) Buffett revealed his plan to give away 85% of his Berkshire Hathaway fortune in an interview with Fortune magazine editor Carol Loomis.
And, of course, Bill Gates is planning on stepping into a lesser role at Microsoft to focus on his charitable foundation. Sounds like the foundation will need it with all the money coming in from Buffet.NEW YORK (FORTUNE Magazine) - We were sitting in a Manhattan living room on a spring afternoon, and Warren Buffett had a Cherry Coke in his hand as usual. But this unremarkable scene was about to take a surprising turn.
"Brace yourself," Buffett warned with a grin. He then described a momentous change in his thinking. Within months, he said, he would begin to give away his Berkshire Hathaway fortune, then and now worth well over $40 billion.
This news was indeed stunning. Buffett, 75, has for decades said his wealth would go to philanthropy but has just as steadily indicated the handoff would be made at his death. Now he was revising the timetable.
"I know what I want to do," he said, "and it makes sense to get going." On that spring day his plan was uncertain in some of its details; today it is essentially complete. And it is typical Buffett: rational, original, breaking the mold of how extremely rich people donate money.
Buffett has pledged to gradually give 85% of his Berkshire stock to five foundations. A dominant five-sixths of the shares will go to the world's largest philanthropic organization, the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose principals are close friends of Buffett's (a connection that began in 1991, when a mutual friend introduced Buffett and Bill Gates).
The Gateses credit Buffett, says Bill, with having "inspired" their thinking about giving money back to society. Their foundation's activities, internationally famous, are focused on world health -- fighting such diseases as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis -- and on improving U.S. libraries and high schools.
At age 50, he's already revolutionized the computer industry, and now Bill Gates says he wants to change the world again -- in a different way.
"The change we're now seeing today is not a retirement, it's just a re-ordering of my priorities," said Mr. Gates at the announcement.
Speaking at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle, Gates said he was relinquishing his day-to-day management role at Microsoft in order to commit himself full-time to more charitable pursuits.
"Smart, committed people with the right support and vision can have a huge impact; it's about using technology, not just for the privileged few but for everyone."
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said it was time for the 50-year-old billionaire to leave the company he founded to become, in his words, "the greatest philanthropist of all time."
Over the last decade, Gates has worked to improve health conditions in Third World countries. Eleven years ago, Gates and his wife Melinda created the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation to eradicate killer diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria.It's good to see guys with money trying to make a difference in the world.
