Alexander Wells
When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we investigate the rise of American Oligarchy—and what it means for the rest of us. You can read all the pieces here.
Since 2010, some 242 of the world’s wealthiest people and couples from 29 countries have committed to giving away at least half of their vast fortunes. The Giving Pledge starts with a simple premise: Collective giving, in the words of co-founder Bill Gates, can “help the world become a better place.” It has certainly helped better the lot of longtime pledgers, most of whom are as rich or richer today, even after adjusting for inflation, then they were when they signed up.
Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, etc.)
Musk, whose richest-man status relies on public subsidies and contracts, once told a follower that half of his wealth would be used to “help establish a self-sustaining city on Mars” in case “we destroy ourselves”—which is more likely now, given what he’s done to Twitter. In 2021, he gave $5.7 billion in (mostly) stock to his Musk Foundation—tax break!—but only 2.7 percent of it went out to charities that year, per the foundation’s IRS filings.
Wealth at signing (2012): $2.7B | Wealth today: $223B (all figures in current dollars)
Robert F. Smith (Private equity)
America’s richest Black man—and the first African American to sign the pledge—stunned Morehouse grads at their 2019 commencement by announcing he’d pay off all of their student debt. The next year, he signed a federal plea deal copping to 15 years of tax evasion. To escape prosecution, Smith agreed to pay more than $139 million in back taxes and cooperate in the prosecution of fellow billionaire tax-evader Robert Brockman, who died while awaiting his February 2023 trial.
Wealth at signing (2017): $3.1B | Wealth today: $9.2B
Vladimir Potanin (Russia, metals)
The Moscow banker masterminded Russia’s fire sale of assets in the 1990s, acquired the world’s largest nickel producer, and took his wealth offshore. “I am trying to make my own contribution toward a better world,” he wrote in his pledge letter. After Russia invaded Ukraine, the State Department sanctioned him for his “direct ties to Vladimir Putin,” and the Guggenheim parted ways with its longtime trustee.
Wealth at signing (2013): $18.5B | Wealth today: $22.3B
Warren Buffett (Investing)
Until recently, Buffett was the top shareholder in Wells Fargo, which cheated Black and Latino homebuyers and opened millions of fraudulent accounts in customers’ names. His pledge letter lamented how the economy stiffs teachers and soldiers while richly rewarding “those who can detect the mispricing of securities.” But in 2022, workers at his BNSF Railway had to threaten a strike to get a few paid sick days.
Wealth at signing (2010): $66B | Wealth today: $122B
Sam Bankman-Fried (Cryptocurrencies)
The former billionaire wunderkind and major Democratic donor championed “effective altruism” as a way to save future generations. Per one lawsuit, his brother and an executive from his foundation wanted to use assets from SBF’s crypto exchange, FTX, to buy the island nation of Nauru as a base to rebuild civilization. SBF got kicked off the pledge list in 2022, but by then he had bigger fish to fry.
Wealth at signing (2022): $21.7B | Wealth today: zero
Sources for wealth figures: Forbes (at signing; converted to December 2023 dollars with BLS CPI Inflation calculator)), Forbes real-time billionaires (today, Jan. 22, 2024)
