To Give or to Keep? Microsoft's Bill Gates, Mexico's Carlos Slim Follow Different Paths Tim Johnson - McClatchy Newspaper
go to original February 15, 2013

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, right, and Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim attend the inauguration of a new research center at the International Center for Improvement of Corn and Wheat (CIMMYT) in Texcoco, Mexico, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Gates and Slim teamed up to to fund the seed breeding research complex, which the CIMMYT says aims to sustainably increase the productivity of maize and wheat systems to ensure global food security and reduce poverty. (Associated Press)

TEXCOCO, Mexico — Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is famed for his philanthropy. Carlos Slim Helu, the Mexican tycoon, is not. This week, they stood together at a research center here, drawing attention to their different approaches to giving their wealth away.

Gates believes in philanthropy as gospel and urges the rich to donate much of their fortunes. Slim has been called a philanthro-skeptic. He is wary of charity.

Despite those views, they have much in common, including mind-boggling wealth. Slim has a net worth that Bloomberg Markets magazine estimated late last year at $77.5 billion, making him the world’s wealthiest man. Gates’ riches trail only slightly at $64.4 billion.

They also share a history of relentless – even predatory – business practices that helped them amass their fortunes.

But Gates has seen his image morph since the late 1990s by committing assets of $30 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which targets problems of disease and hunger that afflict the world’s poorest. As frequently as not, he’s on a jet to Africa or Asia bringing attention to humanitarian issues.

... Slim, 73, lives in a nation with little tradition of philanthropic giving. Slowly, he’s overcoming a reluctance to donate money, but he still voices doubts about whether giving simply breeds dependency.

When he does give, Slim funds environmental, health and educational programs, but he avoids projects to strengthen democracy or civic participation.

Read the whole story at NewsObserver.com

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