Dozens of U.S. billionaire promised to give at least half their wealth to charity

New York  – Tens of millionaire United States (U.S.) on Wednesday (4 / 8 ) promised to give at least half their wealth to charity, as part of a charity campaign two richest men, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.Forbes magazine estimates based on the billionaire’s wealth, at least amereka can give 150 billion dollars worth of money. Among the rich people who joined the campaign for “The Giving Pledge” is a New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the media magnate Barry Diller and Ted Turner, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, director of “Star Wars” George Lucas and energy king T. Boone Pickens.

Till now 40 richest people in the U.S., including Microsoft founder Gates and investor Warren Buffet who give a commitment.Since the campaign was launched in June, Buffett, Gates and his wife Melinda have spoken to the 20 percent richest people in the U.S. – between 70 to 80 people – to take their share. “In many cases we believe they already have the interest to charity. Already there are 40 people who signed,” said Buffett.”We want to recruit as many mungkind from 40 people to contribute and so they invite others so we can make a bigger stake and start with the good.”

U.S. millionaire campaigns asked to give at least half their wealth during their lives, or after they die, and to publicize their cause with a letter explaining their decision.Gates has kekeyaan approximately 53 billion worth of dollars, which put him in second place in the world’s richest people list of Forbes magazine. Buffett’s third-richest man is, his wealth comes from insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The company ranked third in the list with a fortune worth 47 billion dollars.

“The Giving Pledge” does not accept money or directing people on how menyumbang.Para billionaires are only required to make a moral commitment to give their wealth to charity.”The idea is not to tell anyone when or how to do it, but at least offer what has been learned by the other,” Buffett said.Millionaire who was involved during this average has been actively involved in charity utnuk kegitan everything from genetics and cancer research, education, gun control, library and art.

Tax Avoidance motivation was not
“I’ve always said that I like making money, and I like to give it. I do not like to inheritance. More harm than benefit,” said Pickens, whose wealth worth approximately one billion dollars.

Buffet and Gates will make some dinner this year to recruit more millionaires, and a member of “The Giving Pledge” will hold annual meetings to discuss their charitable activities. They also will meet with some of the richest people in China in September and India in March.”We expect this to be followed by other countries. If they want to follow what we consider to be a good idea and do it, we’ll be happy,” said Buffett.Forbes said the U.S. is home to 403 billionaires, the highest compared to other countries.

“I always thought that the best thing is to make the world a better place for your children and your grandchildren, instead of giving them some money. The kids you get more benefit from your charity work than your legacy,” said Bloomberg , which has a net worth of 18 billion dollars.

Buffett said there were no members of “The Giving Pledge” whose motivation is to avoid taxes.Real estate and construction billionaire Eli Broad, the capitalist John Doerr, a media entrepreneur and former leader Gerry Lensfest Cisco Systems John Morgridge joined Gates and Buffett as “The Giving Pledge” was introduced in June. As many as 34 other members announced on Wednesday.

Buffett pledged in 2006 to give 99 percent of fatherly fortune to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities yayasana. Bill and Melinda has so far donated more than 28 billion of their wealth to their foundations. List of billionaires and their letters can be read on the site http://www.thegivingpledge.org.

Who Partake Join The Millionaires
Paul Allen (57) has a wealth of 7.8 billion poundstrling founded Microsoft. She resigned in 1983 because of fear of cancer. Since then she has helped charities.

Michael Bloomberg (68) is a financial news tycoon with a fortune of 12 billion pounds, which now serves the New York mayoralty for the third time. He once said: “The best financial planning ended with the toss check to the funeral home.”

Warren Buffett (79) is the world’s third richest man who has a wealth of 30 billion pounds through the investment company Berkshire Hathaway. He vowed to give 99 percent of the money.

Bill (54) and Melinda Gates (45). Bill is the inventor of Microsoft, and he remains the largest single shareholder with a profit of 33 billion worth of poundstrling. He founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, which has donated more than 17 billion pounds for charity.

George Lucas (66) has a personal fortune of about 1:26 billion pounds. Director of “Star Wars” it never won an Oscar and Golden Globe and she often works with Steven Spielberg.

T. Boone Pickens (82) American financial expert who heads the BP Capital Management and was worth two billion pounds.

Rockefeller David (1995) is a member of the Rockefeller family, one of the famous American family that started from the 19th century. Personal fortune valued at 2 billion pounds.

Diane von Furstenberg (63) and Barry Diller (68) between them, worth a combined wealth of more than 1 billion pounds. Diane is a designer known for “wrap dress” designs, while Barry’s famous thanks to popular shows like “The Simpson” while working at Fox television stations.

Ted Turner (71) founder of the CNN news network and has a net worth of 1.1 billion pounds. He had more land than other U.S. citizens and have the largest bison herds on the planet.

Barron Hilton (82) is one of Conrad Hilton, who started the chain of hotels with the same name, and is the grandfather of Paris Hilton. He has wealth valued at approximately 1.6 billion pounds.(AFP)

British candy maker Cadbury PLC was thrown further into doubt Tuesday when a major Kraft Foods Inc

Kraft Cadbury

LONDON The battle for British candy maker Cadbury PLC was thrown further into doubt Tuesday when a major Kraft Foods Inc. shareholder voted not to endorse the U.S. company’s hostile takeover bid, even as Kraft sweetened its offer with more cash.Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said it had voted against Kraft’s proposal to issue 370 million shares to finance its 10.3 billion pound ($16.5 billion) bid, saying it was worried Kraft would raise the bid even higher.Kraft earlier Tuesday increased the cash part of its offer after agreeing to sell its North American pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion. Nestle also said it wouldn’t be making its own offer for Cadbury, as some analyst had speculated.That leaves Kraft the sole bidder for now, though the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Dentyne gum has said it has received expressions of interest from The Hershey Co. of the United States and Italy’s Ferrero International SA.

Cadbury dismissed Kraft’s plan to use the money raised from selling brands such as Tombstone and Jack’s to increase the proportion of cash in its offer as “tinkering.”Shares in the British maker of Dairy Milk chocolate and Dentyne gum were down 3.7 percent at 775 pence, after briefly diving to 764.4 pence following Berkshire Hathaway’s announcement.Berkshire Hathaway, which holds 9.4 percent of Kraft’s stock, said that the share issue would give Kraft “a blank check allowing it to change its offer to Cadbury in any way it wishes.””And we worry very much that, indeed, there will be an additional change from the revision announced this morning,” it added. “To state the matter simply, a shareholder voting “yes” today is authorizing a huge transaction without knowing its cost or the means of payment.”

Kraft, based in Northfield, Illinois, could not immediately be reached for comment on Berkshire Hathaway’s move.Kraft, whose brands include Philadelphia cream cheese and Oreo cookies, earlier said its change to offer reflected calls by some Cadbury shareholders to have more of the offer in cash and “to be more sparing in its use of undervalued Kraft Foods shares as currency for the offer.””Kraft Foods continues to believe that its share price is depressed as a consequence of a number of short term factors which it believes will dissipate once the uncertainty surrounding its offer for Cadbury is resolved,” the company said in a statement.

Kraft said Tuesday it will use an amount equivalent to the net proceeds from the pizza sale, which it estimates to be 60 pence per Cadbury share, to fund a partial cash alternative to its offer.It also extended the deadline for shareholders to accept its bid until Feb. 2 – the last day in the 60-day timetable set by the U.K. Takeover Panel.It has until Jan. 19 to revise its offer further.Berkshire said it will vote to issue shares only if it does not think the final offer hurts value for Kraft shareholders.

Cadbury’s share price is still well above the original 742 pence value of Kraft’s offer – 300 pence in cash and 0.2589 Kraft shares for each Cadbury share – reflecting the odds that changing the cash component is unlikely to be enough to win over shareholders who are seeking a higher overall price.Cadbury, which recently outlined its credentials as a stand-alone company by raising its long-term performance targets and producing better-than-expected profit margins, said the offer continued to undervalue the British company.

“Kraft has once again missed the point,” it said. “Despite this tinkering, the Kraft offer remains unchanged and derisory with less than half the consideration in cash.”Cadbury is due to provide a trading update, including the key Christmas season, next week.Nestle’s earlier decision to rule itself out of the bidding settled rumors that the Swiss maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate was gathering a war chest for a rival bid after it agreed to sell off its 52 percent stake in eyecare company Alcon for $28 billion and announced it would spend less cash on share buybacks.

Some analysts still believe that another suitor may emerge.”We think that Hershey is keen to make a deal with Cadbury,” analysts at Numis stockbrokers wrote in a research note. “In reality Nestle is acting as a fund provider to the Cadbury deal and we would not be surprised to see the Swiss group play that role again by buying assets from Hershey, the Kit Kat brand in the U.S. being an obvious candidate.”

Nestle, meanwhile, is gaining a pizza business that includes the Tombstone and Jack’s brands in the U.S., the Delissio brand in Canada and the California Pizza Kitchen trademark license. It also includes two Wisconsin manufacturing facilities in Medford and Little Chute, Wisconsin.Nestle said the acquisition will add a “new strategic pillar” to its frozen food portfolio in the U.S. and Canada, making it a significant player in the $37 billion a year pizza market. Nestle is already represented in the U.S. with brands such as Stouffer’s, Lean Cuisine, Buitoni, Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets.Shares in the Swiss company rose 1.5 percent to 50.95 Swiss francs.About 3,400 employees are expected to transfer to Nestle.(AP)