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Gates Makes Largest Donation Since 2000 With $4.6 Billion Pledge (bloomberg.com)
From a report: Bill Gates made his largest gift since the turn of the century, giving away Microsoft shares that accounted for 5 percent of his fortune, the world's biggest. The billionaire donated 64 million of the software maker's shares valued at $4.6 billion on June 6, according to a Securities & Exchange Commission filing released Monday. While the recipient of the gift wasn't specified, Gates has made the majority of his donations to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charity he and his wife use to direct their philanthropic efforts. It's the largest gift of Microsoft shares that Gates has made since 2000. The 61-year-old gave away $16 billion worth of Microsoft shares in 1999 and $5.1 billion a year later, according to calculations by Bloomberg.
I make $55k doing IT support in Silicon Valley. What am I doing wrong?
"Philanthropic efforts"
He still controls all of that money, but now he doesn't have to pay taxes on it.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
So now he'll never pay taxes on that money, but can still do pretty much whatever he wants with it. Why is it legal to donate to your own charity?
While Bill Gates (not to be confused with Billy Gates, a frequent /. commenter) is free to spend *his* money however he wants, I hope that it will go to something real like eradicating disease, preventing deforestation, or perhaps additional funding for protecting nearly extinct species.
I truly hope it's not yet another pointless money sink like sending girls to coding camps (have to challenge that patriarchy) or funding organic school lunches for poor-neighborhood children (that will still eat hamburgers and coke for dinner and breakfast). I know the latter two makes you feel all righteous and morally superior (it's an instant gratification), but it doesn't help anyone and may even harm the affected down the line.
That seems not charity but more like an investment and every really rich people seems have their own charity.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/39z97m/why_do_rich_people_setup_their_own_charity_rather/
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/12/10_tax_dodges_that_help_the_rich_get_richer_partner/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/georgeosborne/9195571/Wealthiest-people-abusing-tax-system-with-donations-to-charities-that-dont-do-charitable-work.html
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/12/gates-foundations-24-most-egregious-investments/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/gates-foundation-accused-of-dangerously-skewing-aid-priorities-by-promoting-big-business-a6822036.html
http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Gates_Foundation_Critique
He's done so much harm by selling overpriced software that consistently under-delivers, and all the other shit he did, and now he's saying "lookit meee! I'm bein' a fillytropeest!!!1!"... instead of, you know, using that fortune to fix his damn software.
I have far more respect for Steve Jobs in this respect, for he didn't announce his philantropy. And while his software sucks, it does suck quite a measurable lot less than billy gee's.
But I can't say that's cool without knowing who the recipient is, so 'no comment'.
The $4.6B donation will go to the Surface team to help improve the drivers.
That money should go to the Feds so it can be spend it the way it SHOULD be spent!! /S
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
How does this affect the economy. This money was basically out of circulation. Isn't this similar to printing another 4 billion and dumping it into the economy? Does this devalue our currency?
Funds his foundation by layoffs.
He could have given this stock to the people who made him rich. Nope. Can't reward those who make him rich.
Nice tax dodge, if you can get it.
When you donate appreciated shares to a charity you get to write off the current value of the shares. This means you avoid paying capital gains on any of those shares and the donation can also reduce your tax liability on your other earnings. I haven't looked into how the alternative minimum tax affects this, but even if it limits the tax benefit at the federal level, it doesn't affect the benefit at the state level.
Why are you people so bent out of shape?
Jealousy, that's why. Of course he'll never admit it, not even to himself.
Is this news? He's "pledged" to give away 50% of his wealth (any timescale, I'm not sure?), this is about 5%.
Who'd have thought it would be so hard to give away money and just live on the billions you have left? Just ask Monty Brewster, I suppose.
But then, supposedly he gets a tax break, so is that defined as something that Monty's lawyers would class as an asset or profit?
That should be enough for anybody.
W Buffett used similar option to cancel huge swaths of his tax liabilities in a triple-dip dodge. He donated billions to charities he controls, sure, but he donated appreciated shares of stock. So first he deducted the charitable donation, at the same time bypassing capital gains taxes, and he significantly reduced his potential estate taxes. And he created $10B in carryover deductions for future years.
Imagine if he had simply sold his shares, paid income and CG taxes, then didn't deduct the gifts on his taxes. Or just left the money in his estate so the government could get 40%. Think of the revenue he stole from taxpayers!
Won't hear progressives complaining, instead we get BG & WB saying taxes need to be higher.
Yay Bill! We applaud you for shifting money from one bank account to another. Such an amazing feat! Let's all worship you for such generosity.
When you have that much money, you can randomly do weird things with it, with no risk, to get attention focused on you or to see what comes out of peoples' mouths... sort of a litmus test, if you will. I can't imagine what it would be like to have that much money and get bored enough to fuck with it just to stir the proverbial pot.
I digress.
While it is great that Bill Gates is giving back to the world, it is also worth noting the source of that wealth.
Microsoft has been taxing many innovative companies for over a decade regarding "Intellectual Property". Whether it is through proxies such as Intellectual Ventures and Rockstar Group, or by funding SCO litigation through Baystar, Microsoft has done great harm to the Information Technology field.
Microsoft goes after individuals too. From Bill Gates famous 1976 letter to hobbyists to the psudo-police tactics of the Business Software Alliance, Microsoft has been treating customers like criminals for decades.
Where does Microsoft get all of their wonderful innovation? Simply by copying others. Embrace Enhance Extinguish. This applies to many of their competitors - Xerox, Netscape, Novell. Nokia, Sun (Java), and many more. Hell, Microsoft even patented SUDO in 2009!
What they don't copy, they buy. Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures has built a massive Patent portfolio, some of which was acquired from publicly funded universities. Vague patents for products that they never deploy are the ammunition that they use to shake-down other companies. With those that do not drink the MS cool-aid, FUD. Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt is the reason why so many Android vendors pay Microsoft. USB and portable media vendors pay Microsoft for exFAT (hardly an innovation).
Microsoft, a convicted monopolist, has become a tax on innovation, a detriment to the IT industry, and a parasite to all. Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Nathan Mhyrvold, and others are personally responsible for this situation. So, call me bitter and twisted, but heed the truth of Richard Stallman's statement when Steve Jobs passed, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." We will see history more clearly when these robber-barons are gone, even if they memorialize themselves through their foundations.
So, let's see... Bill Gates gives X billion bucks to himself, so he can do what he would have done anyway. This reduces his income tax burden by roughly X/2. Hey, we just gave Bill X/2 bucks! He is so smart.
The world would have been better off without Microsoft, even if that means a few villages in Sudanese Nigeristan don't get new toilets this year.
He should've only donated 640k, it's all anyone would ever need.
If Gates wants to do something that was unquestionably sincere maybe he should give back that money to all the people he swindled so that they can be the revered philanthropists rather than use it to intentionally/inadvertently pump up his own reputation. Otherwise its just like a bankrobber donating to charity. Admittedly the money is going to a lot of good causes but its also going to some bad causes too. And the people he crushed could have donated that money all the same. When he’s as rich as he is theres nothing left to buy but your own legacy, a rational psychopath could do what Gate’s is doing so why he gets so much credit is puzzling. No doubt, he’s shown he’s very smart but he’s also shown he’s a ruthless businessman, a businessman who perhaps is still playing the same game he’s been playing just at a higher level. Instead of throwing money to buy businesses he’s throwing money around to buy hearts and minds. Maybe he’s truly changed but I’ve seen no evidence.
...and a *lot* of them never shared in the spoils as they should have.
It would be nice if he would *donate* some of it back to *them*.
Microsoft; with Bill, Steve, and Paul in control; was directly responsible for so many violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act that I personally can't keep track of them all. You can essentially count every instance of EEE and FUD Microsoft ever perpetrated as additional violations of the Act.
The number of companies Microsoft destroyed numbers in the hundreds, possibly thousands. The numbers of careers Microsoft destroyed numbers in the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions.
The Justice Department (DoJ) lined up a hearty parade of lawsuits intended to bring Microsoft to justice for its crimes. They figured they would begin with one of the easiest ones where Microsoft leveraged its monopoly in PC operating systems to gain a new monopoly in web browser application software. That's an obvious and clear violation of the Act.
Unfortunately, Microsoft's legal department had a budget for this single case that exceeded the DoJ's budget for all the cases they tried plus their governmental bureaucratic overhead. So, Microsoft was able to drag that lawsuit out for over a decade. As it was grinding to a halt, George W. Bush was elected President. In the first few months of his administration, he scuttled what remained of the lawsuit AFTER Microsoft was found guilty and the trial moved into the penalty phase. Sorry, this was a civil lawsuit so Microsoft was actually found "liable". It's the same thing as when the government failed to convict O.J. Simpson of murder, so the families of the victims sued and O.J. was found "liable". The important point here is the utter and complete failure of the government to enforce the law.
Bill, Steve, and Paul made fun of our criminal justice system in the press the entire time. Since I live in western Washington, the heart of Microsoft country, I personally witnessed Bill on TV smiling as he made fun of the DoJ.
Some people are still waiting for the government to do SOMETHING to bring these criminals to justice, still waiting for the dynamic trio's conviction for at least SOME of the crimes Microsoft committed, and still waiting for all of them to begin the prison sentences they so richly deserve.
Instead, we have Millennials who fall to their knees at the very mention of their names, cooing, fawning, and worshipping the ground Bill walks on. Well folks, I humbly submit for your edification a simple mathematical and economic truth: if Bill, Steve, and Paul had not destroyed so many companies and careers, the total amount of money donated to charity over the years would be greater than the amounts Bill donates single-handedly these days and makes such great sounding headlines for.
There's no donation, just a move-around.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
I fully expect the comment area in this post to be filled with comments from people who never even heard all the stuff the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation did over the years.
Because of course there is a predominant bias against Microsoft that will certainly contaminate and overlook all the work that the foundation has done.
Quick read here before you post your creed against it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
If you'd rather have Gates keep his money and let it go to his own family so that we have another bunch of Trumps running around, I hope you rot in hell.
Old jokes and saying this no big deal. Seriously get over your hate of Bill Gates. It makes you look silly.