Buffet Bends It Like Beckham

In a radical shift in his philanthropic plans, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett announced he will give away most of his company stock to five charitable organizations, beginning in July. The vast majority will go to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett disclosed the plans in an interview with Fortune magazine.

For more information, please see this.

Well, right after Bill Gates’ announcement to step away from Microsoft to focus on philanthropy and his foundation, I had criticized Buffet, Jobs and Ellison for being lesser men.

Now, I am delighted to drop Buffet off from that list, and hope that Jobs and Ellison will follow suit, and put Bill Gates in charge of their fortunes, in a similarly trusting, savvy move.

On the other hand, Ellison’s ego may not permit that.

Jobs, who has so far shown zero interest in philanthropy, will probably be okay with Gates managing the larger destiny of his fortune.

Needless to say, also, that if Jobs decides to dedicate his enormous talent and creativity into greater good, the world is likely to end a better place.

It is a wonderful trend that these men are setting, a stellar way to set examples for the growing wealth of the world resting in individual hands.

Recommended Reading:

Jobs vs Gates: Who’s The Star? in Wired Magazine’s January Issue.

And a response from Theo Cacao explaining the Jobs phenomenon.

My personal interest would be in seeing Jobs do something with EduTainment, where his talent, creativity, design & usability instincts, understanding of the consumer, entertainment, marketing – ALL will be leveraged. And he can do that in a for-profit mode, from Apple & Disney, let his shareholders and himself benefit.

The iPod is wonderful, but at the end of the day, there are more fundamental issues in Maslow’s hierarchy that need his attention.