Microsoft co-founder pledges to donate half his $13.5bn fortune to good causes

Microsoft co-founder pledges to donate half his $13.5bn fortune to good causes

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Paul Allen, who founded the Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates, has announced that he plans to give more than half of his estimated $13.5bn fortune to philanthropy, in response to ‘The Giving Pledge’ initiative recently launched by Gates and fellow philanthropist Warren Buffett.

The pledge calls on US billionaires to give away 50% of their wealth and Allen joins Eli and Edythe Broad, John and Ann Doerr in making the commitment.

Allen has already given away more than $1bn through foundations and non-profit organisations he has created.

He said he had planned for many years that the majority of his estate would be left to philanthropy to continue the work of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and to fund non-profit scientific research, like the ground-breaking work being done at the Allen Institute for Brain Science.

Allen has tended to support programmes in the Pacific Northwest, the Allen institute and the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum in Seattle.

Last year, having given away $85m, he ranked number 11 on the Philanthropy 50, the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the nation’s 50 largest donors – his eighth appearance on the list.