At least that is something I would like to see happen. Bill Gates started it with his announcement of retiring from Microsoft in 2008 to focus on his foundation. Now the guy who ranks number two in the richest people in America is looking to add to the thought, pledging $40+ billion of his fortune to charities.
The nation’s second-richest man, Warren Buffett, has decided to turn over most of his $44 billion fortune to the nation’s richest man, Bill Gates. Buffett is committing to give about 10 million Class B shares in his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, to the $30 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Here’s the Gateses’ gracious response.) He’ll start by handing over 500,000 shares this year (worth about $1.5 billion at today’s price), and will make annual donations of smaller numbers of shares. Buffett will also give billions to foundations run by his children, and to the foundation created by his late wife, Susan Thompson Buffett. [slate]
I want to believe that people around the world who seem to have more money than they know what to do with might take some inspiration from this. Instead of hoarding it, building huge mansions, buying islands, or tucking cash away for trust fund babies, we might stand a chance at dealing with world issues. Famine, disease, debt, cleaner energy. It’s not wrong to enjoy the fruit of your labor, but why not try to do the world some good, even when you’re long gone?
Let’s just hope that Buffett’s fortune actually transfers without too much headache.
He and the Gateses sat down for an interview Monday with Buffett’s close friend, PBS talk show host Charlie Rose.
And Rose says the most excitement came when the session ended.
“We were all walking down. I was gonna say goodbye to them at the sidewalk,” he told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm Monday. “And Warren turns to me and says, ‘I forget the documents!’ I said, ‘Where are they?’ And he said, ‘I left them in the studio.’ So, I ran back to the studio and brought back the documents and Bill said, ‘Check and make sure I (Rose) didn’t change the beneficiary!’ [cbsnews]