New Delhi: There are many tech entrepreneurs who have made billions with their ventures but don’t believe in spending it in extravagantly.
Rather than private planes and summer homes, 12 of these tech titans have decided to donate their wealth to different causes through foundations and trusts.
Here is a list of some generous people in tech who have decided to donate rather than leave all of the wealth for their children.
Bill Gates – Co-founder, Microsoft
Bill Gates, who has a wealth of $84.9 billion (Rs. 5.6 lakh cr approx.) had clearly said in one of his interviews that he will not give his whole fortune to his three children. Instead, they will only get $10 million each, and the rest will go to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and “The Giving Pledge."
Larry Ellison - Oracle founder
Larry Ellison indeed leads a lavish lifestyle but still has assured to give away 95 percent of his wealth to charitable causes. He has a net worth of $49 billion (Rs. 3.3 lakh cr approx.). He also gave his children Oracle stock when they were still babies but now that there is a lot more wealth he will teach them charitable giving too.
Larry Page – CEO, Google
Larry Page with a net worth of $29.2 billion (Rs. 2 lakh cr approx.) has an interesting idea to distribute his wealth. In an interview, he revealed that instead of giving his billions to his two children, he would rather give it to entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, who are coming up with big ideas to change the world.
Pierre Omidyar – Founder, eBay
With a net worth of $8.1 billion (Rs. 54000 cr approx) Omidyar and wife Pam are some of the most generous people in tech and have given a lot to the public. They have also donated eBay shares to the Omidyar Network, which is the single biggest private donor in the fight against human trafficking.
Paul Allen – Co-founder, Microsoft
Paul Allen doesn't have any direct descendants but his net worth of $18.1 billion (Rs. 1.2 lakh cr approx.) will go to his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which he runs with his sister Jody Allen, and to the other charitable works, like the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and more.
Mark Zuckerberg – CEO and co-founder, Facebook
The Facebook CEO signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 but he has grown his wealth, which is now $35.7 billion (Rs. 2.4 lakh cr approx.). In February 2015 he donated $75 million (Rs. 490 cr approx.) to the San Francisco General Hospital, to add two trauma rooms, three operating rooms and to double the size of its emergency room.
Richard Branson – Founder, Virgin Group
The Virgin Group founder, and his wife Joan, signed the Giving Pledge in 2013, and pledged to give away half of their wealth, which is $4.8 billion (Rs. 32000 cr approx.) to charitable trusts. Also, their children are involved in the Charitable Trust.
Reed Hastings – Founder, Netflix
Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings and his wife Patti Quillin signed the Giving Pledge in 2012 when his net worth was valued only at $280 million (Rs. 18,00 cr approx.), which is now $858 million (Rs. 5700 cr approx.).
Gordon Moore – Co-founder, Intel
The Intel cofounder has a net worth of 7 billion USD (Rs 4.6 lakh cr approx.) and has given away more than $1 billion (Rs. 66,000 cr approx.) to charitable causes and also donated about half of his wealth to create the Moore Foundation in 2001. He has also signed the Giving Pledge in 2012.
Irwin Jacobs – Founder, Qualcomm
The Qualcomm founder has a net worth of $ 1.22 billion (Rs. 8000 cr approx.) and he has already given $500 million (Rs 2,500 cr approx.) to charitable causes including Cornell Tech Roosevelt Island campus, MIT fellowships, and the San Diego Symphony. He's also signed the Giving Pledge, to give away half of the billions.
Joe Gebbia – Founder, Airbnb
Airbnb co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Joe Gebbia, pledged to give away the majority of his wealth recently in May 2016. He has a net worth of $1.9 billion (Rs. 12,000 cr approx.).
Marc Benioff – CEO, Salesforce
Recently, Benioff launched a a campaign called SF Gives. This campaign challenged should donate 1% of its equity, 1% of its employees' time, and 1% of its resources to charitable efforts. He has a net worth of $4.2 billion (Rs. 28,000 cr approx.) and believes in charities.
