Perhaps too late to blog, but never too late to use as a value adding illustration. This is CSR– getting too personal. May his tribe increase!!
Gokongwei patriarch leaves half of fortune to charity
By Wilson Lee Flores
The Philippine Star 08/13/2006
Self-made multibillionaire John Gokongwei Jr. is donating half his fortune — at least P20 billion — to charity to mark his 80th birthday and his holding company’s 50th anniversary.
At a dinner reception for 1,500 guests held last Friday at his Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Gokongwei announced that he would donate half of all his shares in the JG Summit Holdings conglomerate to various charities through the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation.
He said he was doing this “after discussions with my wife and children.” On the day of his birthday, the total market capitalization of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. was pegged at P41,462,869,108.
The first recipient of Gokongwei’s donation is his alma mater, San Carlos University in Cebu, which received P50 million for its new Gokongwei School of Engineering.
“Gokongwei Brothers Foundation has donated around P400 million in the last five years and we shall be doing more philanthropy in the coming years,” he said.
Gokongwei’s donation is the biggest philanthropic endowment in Philippine history, similar to American tycoon Warren Buffett’s announcement two months ago donating 10 million shares of his Berkshire Hathaway firm to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan also recently announced he is donating half his fortune to charities through his own foundation.
I’m always so impressed when crazy rich people do this. Is nice people with a heart are able to earn that type of money.
Kluge gives $400M to Columbia University Wed Apr 11, 2:07 PM ET NEW YORK – Billionaire media entrepreneur John Werner Kluge is giving $400 million to Columbia University for financial aid, one of the largest gifts ever to an American university, the university announced Wednesday. Kluge attended Columbia on scholarship and credits the opportunity with helping him become a successful broadcast entrepreneur. While most large donations are made toward the construction of a new building or to endow a professorship, Kluge wanted his to go for financial aid to students. It is the largest in Columbia’s history and will… Read more »