Bill Gates' charity blows $258 million in India

[an excerpt] Gates announced the ten-year, $100 million Avahan during his much-publicized visit to the country in 2002. This was, and still is, the largest-ever initiative in India for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

[and then, it went south from there.....]




read:::Bill Gates' Indian Education

Begging for Billionaires (the movie)

On the heels of screenings at film festivals in Minnesota, California and Texas; "Begging for Billionaires: The Attack on Property Rights in America" will debut in the Kansas City metro area where much of the film was shot. The once-time, public screening is 5:30 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 19 at the Glenwood Arts Theater, 9575 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park, Kan. Tickets are available on the festival’s Web site (www.kansasfilm.com) for $8.

“Kansas Citizens have heard about this project for years, and a lot of them are anxious to finally see it,” says Begging for Billionaires director Phil Klein. “We filmed for four years in Kansas City, St. Louis, Sugar Creek and Arnold, Missouri.” The Kansas City scenes depict family-owned businesses displaced by the controversial land grabs devised to clear space the Sprint Arena (still without a permanent tenant) and the privately-owned Power & Light District.

read:::full article


beggingforbillionaires.com

Book review: The Accidental Billionaires

A book review excerpt:

Witness The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding Of Facebook—A Tale Of Sex, Money, Genius, And Betrayal, Ben Mezrich’s attempt to cash in on the Facebook phenomenon...........Mining his Harvard background once again, he weaves the story of Facebook’s origins as an idea for a hotornot.com-style dating website—but exclusive to the campus, like the university’s elite social clubs—into a hyperbolic techno-capitalist romance novel, complete with faithless lovers, spurned suitors, and jilted spouses.


article

Harvard: #1 in billionaire alums

The Top Billionaire Universities

No. 1 Harvard University

Number of billionaire alumni: 54

Harvard has churned out more 10-figure titans than any other school on the planet (counting both undergraduate and graduate degrees). The school's roster of billionaire alumni includes Michael Bloomberg, Sumner Redstone, David Rockefeller, Sr. and William Randolph Hearst III.

No. 2 Stanford University

Number of billionaire alumni: 25
Stanford has the second-highest number of billionaire grads in the world, including Charles Schwab. Still, the Harvard of the West is probably better known for its billionaire dropouts. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page earned master's degrees in computer science from Stanford before leaving Stanford doctorate programs to start the famously profitable search engine. Another (very rich) quitter: Microsoft Chief Exec Steve Ballmer.

No. 3 University of Pennsylvania

Number of billionaire alumni: 18
Early last year, U. Penn had 27 billionaire graduates, thanks to its famous business school, Wharton. But the financial meltdown last year shaved off almost a third of that list, including hedge fund tycoon Peter Briger Jr. and money maven Marc Rowan. Amongst the school's remaining billionaire grads: Ronald and Leonard Lauder, and Michael Milken.

No. 4 Columbia University (tie)

Number of billionaire alumni: 16
Amongst Columbia's grads is affable billionaire Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man. While studying in New York (class of 1951), the Berkshire Hathaway chief learned from value-investing legend Benjamin Graham. Other rich alum: Wal-Mart Chairman S. Robson Walton and Henry Kravis.

No. 4 Yale University (tie)

Number of billionaire alumni: 16
Yale is alma mater to a slew of billionaire clans, including the Mars chocolate fortune (Forrest Mars Jr. and John Mars) and Cargill agricultural fortune (Cargill MacMillan Jr. and Whitney MacMillan). Investor Eddie Lampert and Blackstone Group co-founder Stephen Schwarzman also graduated from Yale; both were members of the infamous secret society Skull & Bones.

Forbes article

Copyrighted, Forbes.com. All rights reserved.

86 that T. Boone Pickens Wind Farm

Plans for the world's largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle have been scrapped, energy baron T. Boone Pickens said Tuesday, and he's looking for a home for 687 giant wind turbines. Pickens has already ordered the turbines, which can stand 400 feet tall—taller than most 30-story buildings.

CNBC article

Carl Icahn wants more of Biogen

Billionaire investor Icahn targets Biogen Idec again

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is continuing to put pressure on Cambridge biotechnology giant Biogen Idec.

For the second year in a row, Icahn nominated several directors to sit on Biogen Idec's board. This year, he nominated directors to fill four of the board's 13 slots, the company announced this morning.

If successful, the slots would give Icahn a powerful platform to push for changes in the company, including a possible sale of the firm.


Boston Globe article

Billionaires and sports

Well, we have written about billionaires and sports from time to time here at Think Billion$.

So just today, we bumped into an interesting article about mostly NFL and NBA billionaires and how they got to where they are today. For instance, the NFL's Malcolm Glazer got started as an owner of Florida trailer parks.


read>>> How to be a billionaire sports team owner

A Billionaire Family Shares its Rules

The 3 Investing Rules of a Billionaire Family

James Tisch, the current CEO, recently discussed the guiding principles on which Loews was built in a Motley Fool article.

No, the first rule isn't to avoid giving money to Bernie Madoff.

The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2008

Here at Think Billion$, we've been doing some thinking and serious research. The outcome of which is our First Annual "The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2008" list. How about that?

So here's the list and let us know what you think:


1. Jim Clark, the Silicon Graphics founder and serial entrepreneur for being bad in a good way!!?? It was discovered that Jim, 64, has inked Australian super-model Kristy Hinze, 28, to a term sheet as wife number four. You rascal, Jim. Best of luck to both of you from Think Billion$.

2. Donald Trump, for insisting he is still a billionaire, when he is not. And even suing the newspaper reporter for discovering it. Bad form Donald. Very bad.

3. Mark Cuban, for being Mark Cuban, for getting tangled up with the SEC and for thinking that he could buy the Chicago Cubs, and for being Mark Cuban.

4. Jerry Yang, for not maximizing Yahoo shareholder value while the money was on the damn table, Jerry!

5. Michael Bloomberg, for not respecting motherhood in the office and for appointing himself King of New York City.

Happy New Year to one and all!!!

Jeff Bezos and Amazon Win the Holiday Season Again

Amazon and billionaire Jeff Bezos once again prove they know how to get business done and that they have a sustainable business model no matter what the macroeconomic conditions deliver.

Amazon once again added to its market share and has enjoyed a wonderful holiday season sales-wise. Amazon announced its 14th record holiday season, with 72.9 items ordered every second, up from 62.5 last year. Amazon has proven once again that what really counts is revenues and profits.

Congratulations to Jeff Bezos and the Amazon.com gang!

French L'Oreal billionaire Bettencourt takes a big financial hit from Madoff

The fortune of billionaire heiress Liliane Bettencourt, the world's richest woman, may have had significant investment exposure to Wall Street fraudster Bernard Madoff.

Liliane Bettencourt is the principal shareholder of L'Oreal, one of the world's leading cosmetics and beauty companies.

In an unrelated story, Bettencourt announced this month that: "... she would never see her daughter again as a family dispute over allegations that she had been abused by a photographer friend reached new depths."

Bill Gates and friends go zoom zoom

Billionaire investors Bill Gates and Edward S. Lampert are increasing their stakes in AutoNation Inc.

According to recent filings with the SEC, the two investors have accumulated more than 57% of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based car dealer’s shares.

Casino billionaires crap out in Las Vegas

The casino empires are still in place for Nevada gaming moguls Sheldon Adelson and Kirk Kerkorian.

However, that doesn't mean both billionaires are going to have a Merry Christmas.

Forbes magazine has placed both Adelson and Kerkorian at number one and number four, respectively, on their list of America's Biggest Billionaire Losers Of 2008.

The Censorship of Nicole Buffett

Nicole Buffett, granddaughter of billionaire Warren Buffett, bumped up to #1 in popularity for several hours today on the Google Trends list. And, why not, Warren Buffett is #1 on his list too - it simply runs in the family.

So why all the interest in the young and pretty Nicole Buffett???

Well it is the story of her documentary appearance saying things that Warren Buffett simply didn't believe should be revealed or said by proper young ladies like Nicole. Warren even wrote her a letter! Nicole has said publicly that: “I’ve been very blessed to have my education taken care of, and I have had my living expenses taken care of while I’m in school”..... and other such things. Goodness.

According to Warren Buffett, Nicole must be the type of granddaughter that should be seen and not heard.

Mark Zuckerberg is now the formerly "Youngest Billionaire In World History"

Henry Blodget, in this week's Silicon Valley Insider, writes how Mark Zuckerberg, through no fault of his own, is now the guy who used to be the "Youngest Billionaire In World History."

According to the never-wrong Wikipedia, Forbes recently declared Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg "possibly the youngest self-made billionaire ever." That was before this year's stock market crash.