NEW YORK, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third consecutive year, Warren Buffett tops BusinessWeek's annual ranking of "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists." Bill and Melinda Gates, George Kaiser, George Soros, and William Barron Hilton round out the top five.
This year 12 new philanthropists join BusinessWeek's 2008 list, which ranks donors based on their gifts over a five-year period. The most generous newcomer is hotel magnate William Barron Hilton, whose $1.7 billion pledge late last year to fund children's and global health causes made him No.?5. His foundation's assets have suffered losses, even though they were diversified in stocks ranging from pharmaceuticals to finance.
Many givers on the BusinessWeek ranking made their fortunes during the market's boom times. Now, instead of wealth creation, the U.S. is experiencing a period of wealth contraction, which is influencing just about everything in the philanthropic world. The crisis is inspiring divergent approaches to giving. Some big donors, such as investor George Soros (No.?4), plan to boost individual giving while the slump strains public finances and nonprofit budgets. Others, such as real estate developer Donald Bren (No.?9), are slashing their donations.
The economic downturn's greatest impact is likely to be felt next year, when wealthy individuals have a better sense of how much their net worth has shrunk. Since many will have fewer dollars to give, donors are picking their causes more selectively and keeping more money in the U.S.
The need to diversify is this year's big lesson for philanthropists. T. Boone Pickens (No.?16) lost some $2 billion in his energy investment fund in 2008, causing him to pull back on giving. Former AIG CEO Maurice R. (Hank) Greenberg had planned to donate most of his fortune, valued last year at $2.5 billion, through his family foundation. Now he says the plunge in AIG's share price has cut his net worth by more than 90% and he has downsized his plans.
BusinessWeek's special report, "The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists," is featured in the December 8th issue, on newsstands December 1st. Expanded content, including interactive tables, slideshows, and methodology, is available online at http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/08_49/B4111philanthropy.htm .
"The 50 Most Generous Philanthropists" 2004-08 Giving Rank Name (MILLIONS) 1 Warren Buffett $40,655 Berkshire Hathaway CEO 2 Bill & Melinda Gates 2,625 Microsoft co-founder 3 George Kaiser 2,377 Oil and gas, banking, real estate 4 George Soros 2,214 Investor 5 William Barron Hilton 1,700 Heir and former CEO of Hilton Hotels 6 Walton Family 1,380 Family of Wal-Mart founder 7 Herbert & Marion Sandler 1,329 Golden West co-founders 8 Peter Peterson 1,168 Blackstone Group co-founder 9 Donald Bren 908 Real Estate Developer 10 Michael Bloomberg 903 Bloomberg founder, NYC mayor 11 Jon Huntsman 803 Huntsman chairman 12 Bernard Osher 800 Banking, investments 13 David Rockefeller 770 Standard Oil heir, banking 14 John & Tashia Morgridge 715 Cisco Systems chairman emeritus 15 T. Denny Sanford 706 Banking and credit cards 16 T. Boone Pickens 704 Energy and investing 17 Shelby White 614 Widow of investor Leon Levy 18 Alfred Mann 600 Medical devices, aerospace 19 Kirk Kerkorian 598 Investor 20 Eli & Edythe Broad 589 SunAmerica, KB Home founder 21 Jeffrey Skoll 551 Founding president of eBay 22 Veronica Atkins 529 Widow of Dr. Robert Atkins 23 Robert Wilson 512 Investor 24 Pierre & Pam Omidyar 504 eBay chairman and founder 25 David Koch 440 Koch Industries executive vice-president 26 Lorry Lokey 433 Business Wire founder, chairman 27 Sandy & Joan Weill 411 Former Citigroup chairman, CEO 28 John Kluge 410 Metromedia founder 29 Julian Robertson 354 CEO of Tiger Management 30 Bernard Marcus 351 Home Depot co-founder 31 Irwin & Joan Jacobs 341 Qualcomm co-founder 32 Ted Turner 318 CNN founder 33 Philip Knight 314 Nike founder and chairman 34 David & Suzanne Booth 309 Dimensional Fund Advisors CEO 35 Robert Day 290 Trust Company of the West CEO 36 Hansjorg Wyss 277 Medical devices 37 James Simons 275 Investor 38 Dan Duncan & family 259 Oil and gas 39 Ted & Vada Stanley 256 MBI founder 40 Charles Koch 246 Chairman and CEO, Koch Industries 41 David & Cheryl Duffield 245 PeopleSoft co-founder 42 Sheldon Adelson 243 Chairman and CEO, Las Vegas Sands Corp. 43 Thomas & Stacey Siebel 242 Siebel Systems founder 44 Henry Kravis 239 Founding partner of KKR 45 Paul Allen 232 Microsoft co-founder, Vulcan chairman 46 Mortimer Zuckerman 215 Real estate and publishing 47 Oprah Winfrey 214 Harpo chairman 48 Peter Lewis 206 Progressive chairman 49 Harvey Najim 202 Sirius Computer Solutions chairman and CEO 50 Marguerite Hoffman 201 Widow of investor Robert Hoffman
