Gates says billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes

Yahoo – AFP, February 19, 2018

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says billionaires should pay
"significantly" more in taxes (AFP Photo/Etienne LAURENT)

Washington (AFP) - Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.

The Microsoft co-founder, the world's second richest man after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, was critical of a recent US tax overhaul that slashed corporate taxes and lowered the top bracket for individual income.

"I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said in an interview Sunday with CNN.

He said the tax overhaul passed in December favors the rich despite Republican claims it will help the middle and working classes.

"People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes," he said.

With a sixth of the US population living in what he called "disappointing" conditions, he said US policymakers need to think about rising inequality and ask, "Why aren't we doing a better job for those people?"

New dad Zuckerberg vows to give away Facebook fortune

Yahoo – AFP, Glenn Chapman, 2 Dec 2015

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla hold their baby

daughter Maxima (AFP Photo)

San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday he is a dad and pledged to give away his fortune to make the world a "better place" for baby daughter Maxima and others.

In a letter to Maxima posted on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan said they were going to give away 99 percent of their company shares -- estimated value $45 billion -- during their lives in an effort to make a happy and healthy world.

"Max, we love you and feel a great responsibility to leave the world a better place for you and all children. We wish you a life filled with the same love, hope and joy you give us. We can't wait to see what you bring to this world," the letter said.

Facebook chief executive and founder 

Mark Zuckerberg announced the birth

of daughter Max December 1 on his

 Facebook page (AFP Photo/Money

Sharma)

Zuckerberg will "gift or otherwise direct" nearly all his shares of Facebook stock, or the after-tax proceeds of sales of shares, to further a mission of "advancing human potential and promoting equality" by means of activities for the public good, the California-based social network said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Zuckerberg "intends to retain his majority voting position in our stock for the foreseeable future," Facebook said in the SEC filing.

"As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation," the Facebook chief and his wife said.

"Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities."

Giving Pledge

Zuckerberg early on added his name to those who have taken a Giving Pledge to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

"My hat's off to Mark Zuckerberg for making a decision he'll never regret and making a difference he'll forever be remembered for," pledge-signer and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an online post.

"The traditional approach to giving –- leaving it to old age or death –- is falling by the wayside, as it should. Mark's decision shows that when it comes to philanthropy, 30 is the new 70."

Zuckerberg is 31 years old, while Bloomberg is 73.

Breakthrough Prize Founders Priscilla Chan and Mark

Zuckerberg attend the Breakthrough Prize awards 

ceremony, at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain

View, California, in November 2014 (AFP Photo/

Steve Jennings)

Names on the pledge include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and IAC/InterActiveCorp powerhouse Barry Diller.

"We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today," Zuckerberg and Chan said in their letter to Max.

"Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here."

Zuckerberg in November said that he and his wife are donating $20 million to help get high-speed Internet service to US classrooms.

The money is being given to nonprofit group Education Super Highway to help with its mission, the Facebook chief executive said in a post on his page at the social network.

A month earlier, Zuckerberg and his doctor wife revealed plans to start a private school in a hardscrabble Silicon Valley town, mixing education with health care.

Zuckerberg voiced pride in his wife, Priscilla, for the plan to create "The Primary School" in the working-class city of East Palo Alto.

Last year, Zuckerberg and Chan began pumping $120 million into San Francisco Bay Area schools.

More than five years ago, Zuckerberg channeled $100 million to improve schools in the New Jersey city of Newark in an early foray into improving public education that got failing grades.

Dad time

Zuckerberg plans to take two months' paternity leave to be a dad.

Beginning with the 2016, dads working 

full-time for Facebook anywhere in the 

world will have the option of taking four 

months' paid leave (AFP Photo/Justin

Sullivan)

"Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families," Zuckerberg said in an earlier post on his Facebook page.

Beginning with the new year, dads working full-time for Facebook anywhere in the world will have the option of taking four months' paid leave.

All new dads working for Facebook outside the US currently get a minimum of four weeks' paternity leave, with more time offered in locations where required by local law, according to Facebook.

Same-sex partners who are not primary caregivers for babies get the same paid leave time as dads, the social network said.

The change, effective January 1, essentially raises parental leave time for dads and non-custodial same-sex partners from four weeks to four months.

Maternity leave offered to Facebook employees around the world is already four months, and the benefit was available to both moms and dads in the United States.

Facebook also gives a $4,000 bonus for parents to help meet the needs of new babies.

New dad Zuckerberg vows to give away Facebook fortune https://t.co/SSrPLJRfwE pic.twitter.com/J4fs0WbKzb

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) December 2, 2015

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Saudi Prince Alwaleed pledges $32 bn fortune to charity

Yahoo – AFP, Ian Timberlake, 1 July 2015

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal answers questions during a 2011 press

conference in Riyadh (AFP Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal on Wednesday promised his entire $32 billion (28.8 billion euro) fortune to charitable projects in coming years, in one of the biggest ever such pledges.

The pledge is "maybe... the first such big announcement" of its kind in the region, and is modelled on a charity established by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the United States, the prince told reporters.

Alwaleed said his charity "will help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world."

The money "will be allocated according to a well-devised plan throughout the coming years", he said, but stressed there was no time limit for the donation to be spent.

Alwaleed said he would head a board of trustees tasked with spending the funds, which would still be used after his death "for humanitarian projects and initiatives".

The 60-year-old magnate belongs to the Saudi royal family and is a nephew of king Abdullah, who died on January 23.

In the conservative Muslim kingdom, Alwaleed, who holds no government rank, is unusual for his high profile and periodic comments about economic issues.

"We are clearly in very close coordination with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation", which is already working with Alwaleed on a polio eradication project, he said.

"This is very much separate from my ownership in Kingdom Holding," and there should be no impact on the publicly listed company's share price, Alwaleed told reporters on the 66th-floor headquarters of the firm which he chairs.

'Dramatic and drastic'

But he said his charitable commitment would provide even more incentive for his business investments to be profitable.

As well as media stakes, Kingdom Holding has interests ranging from the Euro Disney theme park to Four Seasons hotels and Citigroup.

Alwaleed is constructing a tower in the Red Sea city of Jeddah that is to rise more than one kilometre (almost 3,300 feet) to be the world's tallest building.

Earlier this year, he opened a pan-Arab news channel in Bahrain but authorities there shut the station after less than 24 hours on air and a new home is being sought.

Alwaleed last week in Paris signed a letter of intent with France's CDC International Capital to create the first French-Saudi investment fund, worth up to $400 million.

A separate deal saw a French consortium and CDC IC invest about $150 million in Kingdom Holding.

Alwaleed told reporters he has already donated a total of $3.5 billion over more than 35 years through his Alwaleed Philanthropies.

The charity has distributed houses and provided electricity to isolated Saudi communities, while supporting other projects around the world.

He said he announced his pledge now, after years of preparation, to institutionalise the process "so they can continue after my lifetime".

Flanked by his son Prince Khaled and daughter Princess Reem, he said they will be president and vice-president of the charity after he dies.

"I believe that a person should take dramatic and drastic decisions at his peak," Alwaleed said, proclaiming himself to be in good shape.

"I'm very healthy, enough to bike every day three hours," he said. "I assure you my health is good."

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Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

Tim Cook is one of many high-profile business people in the US, including

 Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet, in giving at least 50% of their

wealth to charity. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

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Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $800m fortune to charity before he dies

• Cook says money will go to many social causes, as well as nephew’s education
• Apple co-workers found Cook’s sexuality to be a ‘yawner’, he says in interview

The Guardian, Rupert Neate in New York, 26 March 2015

Tim Cook is one of many high-profile business people in the US, including
 Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet, in giving at least 50% of their
wealth to charity. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Yim Cook is planning to give away all of his near $800m fortune before he dies, the Apple boss said in a surprisingly frank interview, in which he also described his sexuality as a “yawner”.

Cook, 54, who took over as Apple chief executive from Steve Jobs in 2011, told Fortune magazine that he planned to donate all of his wealth to charity after providing for his 10-year-old nephew’s education.

Cook, who has spoken publicly about the importance of stopping HIV/Aids and climate change, as well as championing human rights and equality, did not specify which causes he would support but said he had already begun donating money quietly. He said he would develop a systematic approach to philanthropy, rather than just writing cheques.

Fortune estimated that Cook holds $120m worth of Apple shares and a further $665m of restricted stocks.

Cook follows other high-profile executives in giving their money away. In 2010, Warren Buffett and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, an appeal to billionaires to give at least 50% of their wealth to charity. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and eBay founder Pierre Omidyar have all signed up.

Cook has previously spoken of his affection for his nephew. In a speech last year, he said: “I have a nephew that I dearly love that’s 10, and when I look at him, and when I think of leaving a world that’s not as good as when I entered it, there’s no bigger sin than that.”

In 2012, Cook donated $50m to Stanford hospitals, near Apple’s Silicon Valley headquarters, including $25m for a new children’s hospital. He also gave $50m to Product Red, a charity working to combat Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, according to Silicon Valley website the Verge.

Cook also spoke about his decision to come out as gay last year – making him by far the most influential gay business executive as head of the world’s most valuable company.

He said he made the decision to come out “quite some time ago” and that his announcement was viewed internally at Apple – where most people already knew he was gay – as a “yawner”.

However, Cook said making his sexuality public knowledge was difficult because he is a very private and guarded about his personal life. “To be honest, if I would not have come to the conclusion that it would likely help other people, I would have never done it,” he said. “There’s no joy in me putting my life in view.”

In the interview, Cook also took a strong line on investors trying to make a quick buck out of Apple’s rising share price. “The kind of investors we seek are long term because that’s how we make our decisions,” he said. “If you’re a short-term investor, obviously you’ve got the right to buy the stock and trade it the way you want. It’s your decision. But I want everybody to know that’s not how we run the company.”

Earlier this week, a financial analyst predicted that Apple could soon become the world’s first trillion dollar company. Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald on Monday said they thought Apple’s shares – which are currently trading at about $127, valuing the company at $733bn – could soon be worth $180 each, which would value the iPhone maker at $1.05tn.

It would be the first time any company had ever been valued at more than $1tn, and would make Apple more valuable than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Indonesia,the Netherlands or Saudi Arabia, according to World Bank statistics. It would also mean Apple would be worth 2.6 times as much as Google, the second most valuable company in the US, with a market valuation of $383bn.

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Bill Gates urges China's wealthiest to give to charity

Businessman makes plea in People's Daily for country to improve bad philanthropic record by investing in the poor

theguardian.com, Jonathan Kaiman in Beijing, Monday 28 April 2014

Bill Gates: 'Returns from investing in poor people are just as great as [returns]
 from investing in the business world.' Photograph: Mehdi Taamallah/AFP/Getty Images

Bill Gates has urged China's extraordinarily wealthy business elite to shed its aversion to philanthropy and donate to the poor, a potent message in one of the world's most economically divided societies.

"Only when we help poor people break away from destitution and illness can the whole world achieve sustainable development," Gates wrote in the People's Daily, a mouthpiece of the country's top leadership. "Investing in poor people requires the involvement of every social strata. I believe that the returns from investing in poor people are just as great as [returns] from investing in the business world, and have even more meaning."

China had 358 billionaires at the end of 2013 – a rise of 41 over the previous year and the second-most of any country in the world, after the US. Yet in terms of charitable giving, it ranks among the world's worst. According to the World Giving Index 2013, an annual survey by the NGO Charities Aid Foundation (pdf) (pdf), China ranked 115 among 135 countries for donating money and last for volunteering.

Income inequality counts among the country's most pressing social ills. According to a 2012 survey by Peking University, families in China's cities and coastal provinces earn significantly more than their rural and inland counterparts. An average Shanghai household, for example, brings in £2,790 a year, while an average family in the inland province Gansu makes less than £1,200.

While handfuls of individuals have profited enormously from China's economic boom, few have shown willing to share their wealth. In 2010, Gates, who runs the $38bn Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the American business magnate Warren Buffet asked 50 of China's richest people to join a charity dinner in Beijing. Many turned down the invitation, reportedly because they were uncomfortable being asked for donations.

Yet the country's philanthropic record is slowly improving. On Friday, Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, co-founders of Alibaba, China's biggest e-commerce company, announced plans to fund a $3bn foundation, the country's largest. The amount represents about 2% of the company's equity, all of it from the founders' shares. According to state media, the foundation will focus on environment, education and healthcare. Yet other details, such as its name and how the money will be distributed, remain unclear.

Ma, China's eighth richest man, stepped down as Alibaba's CEO last year and has since dedicated much of his time to charity efforts. He sits on the Nature Conservancy's board of directors and helps lead kung fu star Jet Li's One Foundation.

"When you register a new foundation in China you need a supervisory agency, so a lot of people have worried that by registering a private foundation they'd be giving up control over their personal wealth," said Anthony Spires, a sociology professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches China's civil society. "Many of these folks are used to being in charge – they have very clear issues that concern them  … and they don't want the government to tell them how to spend their money."

Spires called the size of the promised foundation "staggering".

"This will be the largest foundation in China, if they really do it," he said. "It's on par with Michael Bloomberg's philanthropy."

Alibaba is preparing a high-profile initial public offering on the New York stock exchange. Analysts expect the company to be valued at more than $100bn, which would make its IPO one of the biggest in history.

"My wife and I had this thought of setting up a personal charitable fund when we started the business," Ma, 49, told the state newswire Xinhua. "We'd like to earn money before we turn 50 years old and do charitable work in our time after 50."

Gates has responded to Ma's announcement, saying that the foundation will "do an immense amount of good, particularly in this remarkable time in the development of philanthropy in China", the newswire reported. Warren Buffet has called the two Alibaba founders "extraordinary leaders in business [who] have now become leaders in philanthropy".

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Jack Ma. (Photo/Xinhua)