Investing

This Is How Many Billionaires Have Joined Warren Buffett's "The Giving Pledge"

Rich Duprey

Published: October 13, 2024 8:34 pm

Warren Buffett created the Giving Pledge, a campaign to convince billionaires to give away half their fortune to charity before they die. He was joined in the effort by fellow billionaire Bill Gates and Gates’ then-wife Melinda French Gates. It has evolved into a global initiative with some 240 signatories from 30 countries to the pledge.

According to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans have given $287 billion to charity in their lifetimes. But that accounts for just 5% of their $5.4 trillion in combined wealth and only one-third of the increase in their wealth in the past year.

Here are eight notable signers of the Pledge and how much they’ve given away of their wealth so far. Also, some controversies have arisen between billionaires and their charitable priorities.

Warren Buffett

The man who started it all also happens to be the person who has donated the most over a lifetime of giving. Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A)(NYSE:BRK-B) has given away $56.7 billion over his lifetime. He has committed to giving away 99% of his estimated net worth of $143.1 billion. As a percentage of the total, Buffett has contributed about 30%.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates

Bill Gates and his former wife Melinda French Gates are co-founders of the Giving Pledge. Gates has a net worth of $106.2 billion while French Gates is worth $29 billion. Together they have donated $42.5 billion, or 24% of the total. Much of their contributions are through their Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Michael Bloomberg

Businessman and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was present at the original Giving Pledge meeting with Buffett and the Gates. Bloomberg has a net worth of $96.3 billion and has donated about 15% of his wealth, or some $17.4 billion. His primary focus is on climate change, health and education.

MacKenzie Scott

MacKenzie Scott, former wife of Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos, received $38.3 billion as part of her divorce settlement in 2019 and immediately began her philanthropic efforts. In that time, she has donated $16.6 billion of her estimated $35.3 billion net worth, or 32% of the total. Scott targets her charitable donations to economic issues and racial and gender equality. Bezos himself, with a $196 billion net worth, is not a Pledge signer.

Jim and Marilyn Simons

The founder of the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, Jim Simons and his wife Marilyn, were early Pledge signers. They have a net worth of $30.7 billion and have contributed $6 billion to charity, some 16% of their total. Simons died this past May.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan were also on board with the Pledge from the outset and to date have donated some $4.5 billion of their combined $165 billion net worth, or about 3%. They focus on areas of science and education in their giving.

Anne Wojcicki

Anne Wojcicki became a billionaire following her company 23andMe Holding (NASDAQ:ME) going public in 2021. She became a Pledge signer the following year. However, as the value of her company has fallen to penny stock status, her wealth has declined with it. She has a net worth of $270 million, but how much she has donated to charity is unknown.

Susan Wojcicki and Dennis Troper

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and her husband Dennis Troper, signed the Pledge last year. She had an estimated net worth of $780 million at the time of her death in August. She was the sister of Anne Wojcicki.

Billionaire bickering

Even billionaires quarrel. Tesla‘s (NASDAQ:TSLA) Elon Musk, a Pledge signer, and French Gates had a public spat after Gates endorsed Joe Biden for president and then Kamala Harris. Musk supports Donald Trump. 

He said Gates’ endorsements could bring about “the downfall of Western civilization.” She was nonplussed and said his criticism was “silly.”

Male billionaires can do more

Gates disparaged Musk and other male billionaires such as Peter Thiel, Jack Dorsey, and Pershing Square Capital Management‘s Bill Ackman for not doing enough.

Gates told The New York Times, “Well, the people you just named have not been very philanthropic yet. They use their voice and they use their megaphones, but I would not call those men philanthropists.”

Musk on charitable giving

Although a Pledge signer, Musk remains skeptical of charities. Forbes estimates the world’s richest man with a net worth estimated at $257.6 billion has given away less than 1% of his wealth. The Times says his donations benefit himself, his partners, and his family. They point to a county impacted by debris from a SpaceX rocket that exploded and the Ad Astra non-profit school his children attend.