Steve Jobs, the Secret Philanthropist
Steve Jobs
In 2011, the media accused Apple co-founder and genius Steve Jobs of not being generous with his wealth. However, Jobs secretly gave more than US$50 million to charities and hospitals all over the United States.
According to the Herald Sun, Jobs was rebuked for not giving enough to charity during his lifetime and it is only after his death that the truth has been finally revealed by his widow.
Laura Powell Jobs, Steve’s widow, finally broke the silence about her late husband’s charity and donations.
“We’re really careful about amplifying the great work of others in every way that we can, and we don’t like attaching our names to things,” she said in an interview with the New York Times.
Apparently, the genius behind the iPhone was shy about his philanthropy that he did not even discuss it with his biographer.
In 2011, a New York Times article claimed that there were no public records of Jobs ever giving to charity. They bluntly wrote that:
Despite accumulating an estimated $8.3 billion fortune through his holdings in Apple and a 7.4 percent stake in Disney (through the sale of Pixar), there is no public record of Mr. Jobs giving money to charity. He is not a member of the Giving Pledge, the organization founded by Warren E. Buffett and Bill Gates to persuade the nation’s wealthiest families to pledge to give away at least half their fortunes. (He declined to participate, according to people briefed on the matter.) Nor is there a hospital wing or an academic building with his name on it.
With the revelation of Job’s charity and donations, the New York Times can now rewrite their description of him to include; genius, innovator, visionary and – philanthropist.
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