
Buffett Donates $1.6 Billion to Gates Foundation - jacquesm
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-07-02/buffett-donates-1-6-billion-to-gates-foundation.html
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dennisgorelik
Gates actually donated more to his foundation -- he donated his time. I
believe that if Gates stayed Microsoft's CEO -- Microsoft would be more
successful company and delivered more to the society.

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pgbovine
_I believe that if Gates stayed Microsoft's CEO -- Microsoft would be more
successful company and delivered more to the society._

interesting opinion about microsoft possibly delivering more to society. would
you care to speculate on what possible ways they could better benefit society
if billg were still in charge? i can't think of how a new version of SQL
Server or MS Excel could do more direct benefits than malaria vaccines, etc.
but perhaps msft could put more money into basic research, using computational
methods to solve the world's problems, etc.?

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neilc
Well, if Microsoft delivered more value to shareholders (and to its
employees), then those folks could choose to contribute that money to a
variety of sources, philanthropic and otherwise. I'd personally think that the
Foundation has done more good than a better MSFT would have, but suppose (1)
billg delayed retiring by 10 years (2) we assume that billg's presence would
have drastically improved MSFT's fortunates, then I think it's plausible that
it would be a net benefit for society.

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known
With looming death tax, is there an alternative for Gates
<http://www.nodeathtax.org/deathtax>

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zandorg
He should build a moonbase with it.

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codemechanic
Amazing.

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dennisgorelik
What exactly do you find amazing in it?

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wake_up_sticky
The guy spent his entire life accumulating massive amounts of wealth, spent
virtually none of it, and is now using it to make the world a better place.
What don't you find amazing about that?

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dennisgorelik
I agree in general. But it seems you put a lot of weight on donation part.
Donating to charity is OK activity. Gates Foundation is probably one of the
best charities, but donating is not nearly as important in comparison with
Buffet's contribution to the society while he was making his billions. The
billions Buffet made is a rough indicator of how much he contributed to the
society. If he did not contribute -- he wouldn't make his fortune. Buffet also
shared his investing advise, which is extremely valuable. So again, in
comparison with what Buffet did already donations themselves do not look as
amazing.

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PostOnce
The greatest thing either of these men have done with their lives is commit to
philanthropy. Everything else pales in comparison, and the biggest impact they
will have on the world will have been through their philanthropy. They'll be
remember for two things: being filthy rich, and what they did with those
riches. Little will be remembered about either of the men personally, I dare
say.

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PostOnce
Tell me, downvoter, what Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have done that will be
more memorable than perhaps in a few years having wiped out malaria? Windows
Vista? The Zune? Buying Gillette and Geico?

Downvotes contribute nothing to a discussion, and without commentary they
serve little purpose, save to inform the downvotee that you have something
against what they said yet felt disinclined to share it..

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jeb
The Gates Foundation seems to have a lot of high-profile donators sticking a
lot of tax-free money in there.

Not to be cynical or anything - but there is as much malaria in the 3rd world
as there was before this foundation started.

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qq66
Um, no.

<http://www.globalhealthreporting.org/article.asp?DR_ID=54529>

