Investor Ron Conway and Zillow CEO Rich Barton are among 13 new billionaires who have agreed to give away most of their fortunes by signing the Giving Pledge
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A new round of billionaires has signed onto Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, whose signatories agree to give the majority of their fortunes away.
The new billionaires include Zillow cofounder and CEO Rich Barton as well as famed Silicon Valley "super angel" investor Ron Conway, according to the Giving Pledge's website. Early Facebook employee Jeff Rothschild, who has a net worth of $3.8 billion according to Forbes, and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwartzman also signed this year. As Forbes estimates, the combined net worth of the new signatories sits at more than $40 billion.
The Giving Pledge was founded in 2010 by Bill and Melinda Gates and investor Warren Buffet as a "movement of philanthropists who commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills." Signatories must be bona fide billionaires.But a 2020 report from the think tank Institute for Policy Studies found that the majority of the original signatories are now much richer than they were when they signed back in 2010, suggesting that they are making money faster than they are giving it away.
As Forbes notes, the pledge isn't binding, meaning Giving Pledge can't force those who sign to give their fortunes to charitable organizations. The Giving Pledge also doesn't oversee donations made by signatories.Copyright © 2021. Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.For reprint rights. Times Syndication Service.
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