34 Billionaires Are Giving Half of Their Fortunes Away

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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett (R) and Microsoft Corporation founder Bill Gates (L) --- Image by © MIKE SEGAR/Reuters/Corbis

In other words, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are super-persuasive.

A few weeks ago, NewsFeed reported that Buffett and Gates had announced that they were going to try to convince other billionaires to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to philanthropic causes throughout their lives or after their deaths, through The Giving Pledge.

And while Gates and Buffett’s undertaking was admirable (Buffett’s promised to give 99% of his wealth away!), NewsFeed was slightly cynical about whether other billionaires would be as generous. Turns out, we were wrong!

So far 34 billionaires have made the pledge, promising to give at least 50% of their wealth. Reuters reports that among the billionaires joining the campaign are “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, entertainment executive Barry Diller, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens, media mogul Ted Turner, David Rockefeller and investor Ronald Perelman.”