eBay’s Skoll pledges ‘almost all’ of his $4.3bn fortune to good causes

eBay billionaire Jeff Skoll has committed to sign 'almost all' of his $4.2bn fortune over to good causes over his lifetime or after his death.

The former president of the online auction site and founder of the Skoll Foundation, which supports social entrepreneurs around the world and hosts the annual Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Oxford, has signed up to the ‘Giving Pledge’.

The pledge, set up by fellow billionaires Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, aims to get wealthy Americans to publicly commit to giving their cash away. However, it is called a ‘moral commitment’ and is not a legal contract. So far, 40 billionaires have pledged their fortunes.

The pledge states: ‘While the Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires, the idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognise givers of all financial means and backgrounds. We are inspired by the example set by millions of Americans who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.’

Other billionaires signed up include David Rockefeller, worth $2.9bn, who set up the David Rockefeller Global Development Fund to improve access to health care, research international finance and trade, fight poverty and support sustainable development, and CNN founder Ted Turner, worth $1.8bn, who created the Turner Foundation, which focuses on philanthropic grants in environment and population. Mayor of New York Michael R. Bloomberg, worth $18bn,and Star Wars creator Geirge Lucus, woth around $3bn, have also signed up.

The billionaires have all made their pledges publicly in letters published on the Giving Pledge website.

In his public statement, Skoll said, since going from in-debt student to billionaire, he ‘resolved to do good things for the world with that money, in smart ways’.

In the past decade, Skoll has also founded film company Participant Media, which has funded such films as An Inconvenient Truth and The Cove, set up social network site TakePart and started a new foundation, the Skoll Global Threats Fund.

He said: ‘I have already donated about half of my net wealth to these organisations in the last 11 years. I expect to contribute almost all of my wealth to the betterment of humanity either during or after my lifetime.

‘In the meantime, I will continue to double down on innovative solutions that have an enduring social impact and I will continue to support catalytic mechanisms, like the Skoll World Forum and TakePart, that forces change from all corners and cultures of humanity. In doing so, I hope to inspire others to do the same.’