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Why Warren Buffett Is Poorer Than Mark Zuckerberg (inc.com)
Facebook's soaring stock price isn't the only reason 34-year-old Mark Zuckerberg is now richer than 87-year-old Warren Buffett. An anonymous reader quotes Inc:
There's another, more important reason that Zuckerberg is now worth more: Buffett has been doing a great job of giving his money away, something that he, Zuckerberg, Gates, and most of the world's most well-known billionaires have pledged to do.
Buffett has given Berkshire Hathaway stock now worth more than $50 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone. When it comes to giving, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have a lot of catching up to do. They appear to have devoted well under $10 billion so far to philanthropy... On the other hand, Zuckerberg, is more than 50 years younger than Buffett, so they likely have a lot more time in which to do their giving.
Three years ago the couple pledged to give away 99% of their net worth within their lifetimes.
Buffett has given Berkshire Hathaway stock now worth more than $50 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation alone. When it comes to giving, Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have a lot of catching up to do. They appear to have devoted well under $10 billion so far to philanthropy... On the other hand, Zuckerberg, is more than 50 years younger than Buffett, so they likely have a lot more time in which to do their giving.
Three years ago the couple pledged to give away 99% of their net worth within their lifetimes.
He's just less incredibly incredibly incredibly fucking rich.
The ends justify the means. Find the 30 richest people and take 99% of their money and redistribute it to everyone equally. Problems solved.
Zuckerberg would be left with only $810,000,000! I mean come on! Think of how little he has contributed to society, after all. The World needed another advertising platform! Another place for people to waste their lives away! And he helped get Trump elected!
And realize that the Forbes 400 is made up with quite a few billionaires. I think you need to expand your scope.
Eisenhower era income tax rates (inflation adjusted of course) and a 1% tax on capital over say 2 million dollars.
more than anything - way more than the fast cars and mansions and yachts - I would love to have my own charitable foundation.
Not sure what higher purpose anyone could ever aspire to in life.
With these valuations of things based on stock prices, remember that the listed prices are based on what it last traded for, or sometimes what the offers are for buying or selling some are at the moment (bid and ask). But if push came to shove, and he wanted to realize the value of that stock and sell a bunch of it to get cash, the price he'd get would go down, how much depending upon liquidity and how deep or shallow the demand for the asset was.
So the composition of their holdings really matters to tell how much their wealth really means if they actually want to do something with it or are faced with downward pressure. $10 billion in Tesla or Facebook stock is a lot more precarious than $10 billion in cash or well diversified holdings, even though the topline number is the same.
These charitable foundations that are set up by these billionaires are to avoid taxation upon the billionaires' death. Rather than transfer the wealth directly to their children when they die, which would trigger death tax, they instead give the money to the foundation, and then make sure the foundation will be under their children's control. No death tax, they get to write the 'gift' off on their ongoing taxes, and it's all legal smegal. The children then skim off the foundation for all their lives.
Yeah, they actually do some real charity work, as part of the cover. But it sure as hell is less money going out for real charity works than they'd lose to taxation if they didn't set up the foundation.
You, would have, a lot more time, if you didn't, put a comma, every three words, or, so.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
> In a proper free market economy, one that's relatively free of distortion, profit essentially gets driven down to nothing.
That's true, for the 99.9% of people who have a normal attitude about work and money, normal intelligence, normal levels of drive and dedication, etc.
There will always be a few people who are willing to give up everything else - family relationships, time off, weekends, social life, etc to compete in the "make money" game. They'll tend to make more money than people who lead a more balanced life. A few such people will also be extraordinarily intelligent. Some will be very gifted at hiring and motivating great people. Those who do their job extremely well, and put aside other priorities, will do a better job than others, and make more money. That comes at a cost to them, social life etc.
how do you prevent the people who collect surplus from erecting insurmountable barriers to entry? you probably need to regulate them. no regulations just means people hoard wealth and defend it more egregiously unbridled free market is not good for the community
Mr Buffet has a conscience.
He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, 'Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.'[
#DeleteChrome
It doesn't matter if they do it for selfish reasons. Maybe it matters for their salvation, I don't know. But if someone gives you a dollar, then you have a dollar. They didn't have to give that to you.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Girl: "Hey Elon! Are you going to give all your money away like those press-release-loving-aw-shucks other billionaires?"
Elon: "No way! I need every penny to build my DeathSt.... Er. Yeah. Giving away every dime!!!"
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Maybe someone who made it past the intro to economics course would be more qualified to comment here.
First of all, the stock price is not directly related to profits.
Unless it's Tesla.
When you're Elon Musk your company's stock price is supposed to be related to profits.
(on Slashdot at least)
No sig today...
" Actually distribute the wealth to the other 90%."
He's given 50 billion away. Assuming you mean other American's, would a $150 cheque really change your life? Or maybe he should be thinking globally, where would you like your cheque for $7 sent ?
"Or even just write a giant check to the treasury."
Woohoo, the US will only slip $935 billion further into debt this year instead of $985 billion.
Now I have the top 5 billionaires in the world pestering me to give them money.
FFS
Let my ramen noodles get soft before you expect me to invest like guys who have been doing this for 40+ years.
Not a Zuck fan, but on this issue he gets a pass from me.
....would a $150 cheque really change your life?
Absolutely. I never let myself spend that much on the lottery! And if I spent that much, how could I not win?
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
They should GIVE it to me. Waa, waa, waa
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
"Give away" from these self-serving douches is intriguing to me. If we give the benefit of the doubt and suppose Gates and Buffet are $250 billion in providing give-aways. And there are 7 billion of us on Earth.
Then I want my freaking $35 today. In CASH, not flippin' BitCoin or whatever you folks deal in!
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
"Three years ago the couple pledged to give away 99% of their net worth within their lifetimes."
Hey, there is an easy way to do that EVERY YEAR. There's is a line on your 1040 form that lets you pay as much extra tax as you want. I dare them to put that 99% down there and stop bitching about how the rich don't pay their fair share.
Beware of Sales Reps bearing gifts.
Facebook made $5 billion in profit in Q1, 2018. Tesla lost $709 million in Q1, 2018. And yet somehow Tesla is still worth 10% of Facebook? How does that make sense? Facebook is overpriced, at a P/E around 25-26. Tesla is just stupid with a P/E around -73.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Problem is you can only do that so many times. After the top 50, the next year you need to look at the top 100. Then the top 500. Then the top 2000. After 6-7 years, there's no one left to go after. The reality is the world GDP is about $78 trillion. That's all you can get. Divide that by 7.6 billion people, and it's around $850/month per person. Are you willing to slash your income down to that point? How about your friends, family, coworkers?
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands."
Judge Learned Hand, Helvering v. Gregory, 69 F.2d 809, 810 (2d Cir. 1934), aff'd, 293 U.S. 465 (1935)
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
So you think the rich just sit on their money, and it doesn't work for them? They don't buy nice things, or reinvest money into the economy via buying/investing in other companies?
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
So your contention is that a dollar spent in the market is better than a dollar invested in a company?
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
In a proper free market economy, one that's relatively free of distortion, profit essentially gets driven down to nothing.
Fortunately for those seeking to profit, there is no such thing as a "proper free market". A truly free market is unstable - it will always devolve into a state of equilibrium in which big players have incumbent advantages that allow them to suppress competition, and thus raise prices such that they profit. That's why it's so essential to have governance capable of maintaining a level playing field, breaking up trusts, and curtailing the worst excesses of the market.
Facebook was already worth a lot before it made any profit at all. Ditto Google, Amazon, and many other tech companies. The stock value of a company is based not only on current performance but on future potential.
Tesla inventors are betting that the company will successfully become a high volume car maker, and become one of the major brands in our electric car future. To a lesser extent they're also betting on Tesla's other product lines like solar roofs and the Powerwall. If they are right they stand to make a lot of money. If they're wrong and Tesla fails, they could lose most or all of their investment.
Buying Facebook stock is not without risk. Previous social media have succeeded for a while and faded away. (How is that investment in MySpace looking right now?) Or the company could sink due to a scandal. Facebook also has the problem that younger people are not engaging with it in the same numbers as in the past. (So far it's not hurting Facebook all that much because they're using Instagram instead, which is another Facebook property, but who knows what the social medium of choice of the next round of teens will be?) That leaves Facebook with an older user base that is less desirable to advertisers.
Notice how these extremely unseemly racist comments are all from "Anonymous Coward"s, come on, WHO ARE YOU? Put your money where your mouths are. Own your own racism... Jerks
Mostly true, the g8z foundation, in particular, is extremely suspect, as they are invested in the g8z Canadian shale-oil railroad, Monsanto, and other things that are leaving the world a much worse place than they found it... They are also the same things his non-foundation money is in. One of the first things virtually all robber-barons do, is set up their own charity... I guess all the pre-existing ones are somehow unworthy, when you're this rich.. yeah suure ok... gf8z is dodgy as hell, don't know why he should be revered by some, and thought to be a genius, and have answers about any random subject. He's just an opportunistic guy, who parlayed his mom being on IBM board, and stiff-armed any obstacles...
nice try mr anonymous... there is corruption in the manner of the "gift" itself... Once a flim-flam man (g8z, buffet -- Mr "burlington northern won't buy double walled tank cars himself", motherzukerberg -- "does jack-squonk about war criminal min aung hliang having a facebook page with a million likes from fellow reavers inciting hate"..), always a flim-flam man, or so it very much seems...