Friday, April 20, 2012
Samueli, Musk Join Buffett, Gates In Pledge To Give Away Wealth
Two Southern California technology entrepreneurs--Henry Samueli, who co-founded Broadcom, and Elon Musk, who heads up Hawthorne-based SpaceX--have joined Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates in adding their names to the Giving Pledge, the effort started by Buffett and Gates to giave away at least 50 percent of their wealth in their lifetimes or at death to charity. The Giving Pledge added twelve billionaires Thursday at a private, hosted dinner in Southern California yesterday with Buffett. The Giving Pledge looks to sign up billionaires to publicly pledge to give away a significant chunk of their wealth, and to spur philanthropy among the super-rich. The group now has 81 members on their list. Musk made his initial fortune by co-founding PayPal, and has since been working on Tesla Motors and SpaceX; Samueli and his wife had already been very involved in philanthropy through the Samueli Foundation.