The Mad Professah Lectures: Bill Gates

Showing posts with label Bill Gates. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Bill & Melinda Gates Give $500K To Approve R-74

http://washingtonunitedformarriage.org/washington-united-for-marriage-salutes-signature-gifts-from-mayor-bloomberg-and-bill-melinda-gates-in-closing-days/! Although he had previously given $100,000 as part of a pair of six-figure donations by the current and former CEOs of Microsoft corporation to support marriage equality in Washington, it was announced on Tuesday that Bill and Melinda Gates wrote another check, this time for $500,000, to approve Referendum 74.

Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $500,000 to the campaign to uphold the state's gay marriage law.

The donation was announced Tuesday by Washington United for Marriage, which is working to approve Referendum 74. The donation was made on Oct. 15, but didn't publicly post online with the Public Disclosure Commission until Tuesday. Referendum 74 asks voters to either approve or reject the law allowing same-sex marriage that was passed by the Legislature earlier this year.
Bill Gates had made a $100,000 contribution to the campaign earlier this year.

About $11 million has been spent on the campaign so far, with a bulk of it spent by gay marriage supporters. Washington United for Marriage has far outraised its opponents, bringing in nearly $11 million compared to the more than $2 million raised so far by Preserve Marriage Washington, which opposes the law.

The Gates' are not the only billionaires to show their support for marriage equality. Mike Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, has announced that he will match dollar-for-dollar all donations up to $250,000, which could end up raising another $500,000 for Approve Referendum 74.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Top 10 Billionaires in the United States

The list of the 400 richest people in the United States was released by Forbes magazine recently. The top 10 have a number of familiar names, led by Microsoft founder Bill Gates at #1 and Nebraska-based investor Warren Buffet at #2. At #3 was Larry Ellison who made waves with the news that he was buying the Hawaiian island of Lanai in its entirety. The infamous Koch brothers, who are attempting to buy their preferred election result thanks to loopholes in campaign finance laws are tied for 4th, followed by 4 members of the Walton family (whose patriarch founded the Walmart company) and at #10 is the 3-term mayor of
New York City, Mike Bloomberg.

Forbes magazine notes that things are going very well for most of the super-ricj=h, with their wealth increasing at an astonishing rate:

Gates alone was worth $7 billion more than he was last year. Berkshire Hathaway head and renown investor Warren Buffett again ranked No. 2 on the list, with his net worth climbing by the same amount to $46 billion.

Larry Ellison, head of software maker Oracle, remained in the No. 3 spot, but posted the biggest gain in wealth on the list, with his net worth rising by $8 billion to $41 billion.

Two-thirds of the list’s members saw their wealth grow over the past year to an average $4.2 billion, Forbes said.

It's too bad that we have a communist president or else these revered job creators would not be suffering so much! (Yes, this is sarcasm!)

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

REI Takes Strong Position in Favor of LGBT Equality

In the ongoing kulturkampf about LGBT equality in general and marriage equality in particular the pressure on corporations to take a stand has become intense. I have neglected to comment on the recent Chick-Fila-A brouhaha, but I do think it is significant when corporate entities (or their CEOs) stick their neck out to reveal their values to the community.

To that end, with the ongoing fight over Washington's Referendum 74 continuing, several Washington-based companies have been forced to say whether they are in favor of marriage equality (i.e. on the Approve Referendum 74 side) or not. Previously we discussed huge personal donations from Washington-based tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and his wife (Amazon.com) and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer (Microsoft).

The latest one to join the good guys is the well-known outdoors retailer REI.

Washington United for Marriage reacts:

“REI is taking a position in support of marriage equality — an issue that is important to the co-op as an inclusive organization and a welcoming place to work and do business,” wrote [CEO and President Sally] Jewell, who went on to describe the importance of her own 34-year marriage through raising children, job changes and relocation, and the joys and challenging of aging parents.

“Marriage equality is important to the co-op because the benefits, legal clarity and social understanding that Warren and I have enjoyed these past 34 years should be available to any two people who want to express their love and make a permanent commitment to each other that is so clearly provided for in the legal definition of marriage,” Jewell wrote.

“We are so proud to have REI take this powerful step in endorsing the freedom to marry and our effort to Approve Referendum 74,” said WUM Campaign Manager Zach Silk. ”REI is one of Washington’s iconic companies and it’s woven into many of our lives. Whether we’re on a day hike, paddling in a kayak, or pitching a tent with our kids, we’re generally doing it with gear we got at REI. As a result, this endorsement will register with a lot of people and we’re very grateful to have REI’s support.”

With annual sales of $1.8 Billion, REI has nearly 5 million co-op members nationwide and has been on Fortune’s Best Places to Work ranking every year since the inception of the list. REI has a long history of environmental stewardship and is committed to “increasing access to outdoor recreative through volunteerism, gear donations and financial contributions.”

Among the leading business supporters of Approve 74 and WUM are Nike, Starbucks, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Alcoa, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Vulcan.

Take another close look at that list of corporations in favor of the marriage equality referendum in Washington: it's basically a who's who of the business community in the state! As I keep on saying, the kulturkampf is basically all over except for the gnashing and wailing of teeth. Of course, that means the battles will get louder and nastier as the bad guys realize they are going to lose the war and might as well take as many casualties now.

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Microsoft CEOs Donate $200K To Approve R-74

Current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and former Microsoft CEO (and co-founder) Bill Gates have each donated $100,000 to Washington United for Marriage, the marriage equality group tasked with defending that state's marriage equality law by advocating for the approval of Referendum 74.

KING-5 reports:

Microsoft is just one of several prominent Pacific Northwest businesses that have expressed their support for same-sex marriage, including Starbucks Corp. and Nike Inc.

Referendum 74 was certified for the ballot last month after gay marriage opponents turned in more than 240,000 signatures, far more than the minimum of 120,577 valid voter signatures required.

The referendum seeks to overturn the law passed earlier this year allowing same-sex marriage in the state. That law was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in February. The law was supposed to take effect June 7 but was put on hold once the signatures were turned in.

This is an important signal to business interests that the leaders of the state's largest corporation are firmly in support of marriage equality (as are a majority of Washington voters) and are willing to put their money where their principles are.

Hat/tip to LGBT Think Progress

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Bloomberg's List of the Richest People in the World

Bloomberg News has started a daily index compiling the worth of the Top 20 billionaires in the world. Note that the richest person in the world is from Mexico.

Also, note that right-wing Republicans like the Koch brothers (Wisconsin Governor's Scott Walker's sugar daddies) and Sheldon Adelson (Newt Gingrich's) are in the Top 15.
Curiously, Mike Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News is not on the Bloomberg Billionaires index.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Oh Canada!

Oh, Canada! I just love that progressive country to the North. Here's another reason: Canada's conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced a multi-million dollar commitment to HIV vaccine research this week. The Canadian government will invest over 111 million U.S. dollars matched with $28 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a facility in Canada to test HIV vaccines. “This collaborative effort between Canada’s New Government and the Gates Foundation will contribute to the global effort to develop a safe, effective, affordable, and globally accessible HIV vaccine,” said the Prime Minister.