DailyTech - Gates Retirement Tied to Buffett's Big Donation?

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Tim Thorpe (Blog) - June 27, 2006 6:49 AM

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8 comment(s) - last by masher2.. on Jun 30 at 2:14 PM

Gates retirement and Buffett's donation strikingly close to one another to just be coincidence

Over the weekend the world’s second richest man, Warren Buffett, announced that he was donating a large portion of his overall wealth to 5 charities including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Warren Buffett will donate approximately $1.5 billion annually to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but there is a catch. The money has to be spent in the same year that it was donated. This poses an interesting challenge to the foundation as the donation would effectively double the amount of money the foundation spends each year.

This announcement probably comes as no surprise to the world’s richest man as Warren and Gates are close friends. Lets face it, things involving this much money transferring hands don’t spawn overnight and the Gates family was probably aware of the impending deal for quite some time. I speculate that it is no coincidence that Bill recently announced his future departure from Microsoft to dedicate more time to he and his wife’s philanthropy efforts. It wasn’t shocking that Gates announced his retirement, but I think we now know why he decided to do it when he did.

Not to say however this isn’t great news, I applaud both Mr. Buffett and Mr. Gates efforts to better this world by fighting for world health and education.

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Hmmm

By dlapine on 6/27/2006 10:51:36 AM , Rating: 1

That's an interesting observation. I didn't realize that the terms of the deal included provisions that required the donated money to be spent in the year it was obtained.

If this is true, it appears that Bill Gates is still primarily interested in money. This would be just another means to an end.

Not sure why Mr Buffet would want Bill out of management though. Possibly as a public service? <grin>

RE: Hmmm

By ZardozFrayn on 6/27/2006 11:13:21 AM , Rating: 2

Buffet probably couldn't care less about who is at the helm of MicroSoft. Rather, I would guess he has an admiration for BG's ability as someone who can get things done, and wanted to maximize the effectiveness of his donation, by insisting that it receive all (or at least most) of Mr. Gates executive attention. Maybe. Maybe it's a plot to pool their resources to control the world through the development of mindless cyborg armies...

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RE: Hmmm

By berat556 on 6/28/2006 2:21:09 AM , Rating: 2

Yeah that is because Buffet has a dislike for money managers, i.e WALLSTREET

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The way they put it...

By bnme on 6/27/2006 11:17:29 AM , Rating: 3

They began talking about this several years ago when Buffett's wife passed away. Remember, his original intention was for his wife to handle the charity giving (he believed that odds were, he would pass away before his wife).

However, they also claim that the two things (Gates's retirement and Buffett's gift) barely have anything to do with each other. Buffett's main argument was that Gates's charity organization is the best possible option for him in terms of philanthrophy than anything else, and he compared it to selecting Tiger Woods to play a high-stake golf-game for you.

Bill Gates has been stepping back from Microsoft, with or without Buffett's gift in mind (and he wasn't sure that Buffett was THAT serious), and he is letting Ray Ozzie take a larger role at Microsoft (reference the countless articles on Microsoft and how Gates is stepping back from exec meetings, etc.).

Also to add, a recent Forbes column compared Gates and Buffett's charity work. Their argument was that it was better to do the charity work when you're alive than after you die and let other people handle it for you (they chose really large charity organizations and listed some of the absurd donations to random things that had nothing to do with the original vision of that charity organization).

Buffett's decision for his charity giving is the same as it is for his business decision. Let the people who can do it best do it for you. He believed his wife would have done an excellent job, but with her passing, the best was the Gates's foundation.

Doesn't he own...

By DigitalFreak on 6/28/2006 12:40:24 PM , Rating: 2

a chain of hamburger joints? ...searching for my lost shaker of salt...

Oh, wrong Buffet.

Actually the timing is just a coincidence...

By techfuzz on 6/28/2006 1:12:10 PM , Rating: 2

From an interview between Buffet and Fortune magazine on June 25th:

People will be very curious, I think, as to how much your decision - and its announcement at this particular time - is connected to Bill Gates' announcement in mid-June that he would phase out of his operating responsibilities at Microsoft and begin to devote most of his time to the foundation. What's the story here?

I realize that the close timing of the two announcements will suggest they're related. But they aren't in the least. The timing is just happenstance. I would be disclosing my plans right now whether or not he had announced his move - and even, in fact, if he were indefinitely keeping on with all of his work at Microsoft.

On the other hand, I'm pleased that he's going to be devoting more time to the foundation. And I think he and Melinda are pleased to know they're going to be working with more resources.

Bill's Got Gas!!! Lot's of it

By rupaniii on 6/28/2006 11:35:42 PM , Rating: 2

Hey all, this is part of the plan. Steve's finally backed Microsoft into a corner on the OS front, and it's betting the world on .NET and forgetting it's core. So, Billy's heading out to .... Greener Pastures.. Green Switchgrass, Corn Oil, and other BioFeul pastures.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/11/17/gates-energy-etha...
What better than to be the main man on the cusp of the new Fuel Market!?
The man knows money. Between saving the ozone layer and trying to end all sickness, this man's a candidate for President of the US or leader of the UN in, oh, 10 years?
Who want's to take this bet?

Who can spot the logical fallacy in both statements?

By masher2

(blog) on 6/30/2006 2:14:28 PM , Rating: 2

> "Gates retirement and Buffett's donation strikingly close to one another to just be coincidence..."

While in my backyard last night I observed a shooting star-- just seconds after I experienced a sharp abdominal cramp from dinner's spici chili. These events are obviously too close in time to be mere coincidence.