by Patricia Sellers
You thought that peer pressure ended in high school?
Not so. This is the method that Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates are using to challenge America's billionaires.
This morning, Fortune broke the story that Buffett and the Gateses (MSFT) are calling on the other wealthiest in the land to give half of their personal net worth to charity. "The biggest fundraising drive in history" is what my colleague, Carol Loomis, calls the challenge.
The mega-idea, as Carol explains in her story, was born at a May 2009 dinner in New York City. The dinner included David Rockefeller, Oprah Winfrey, Ted Turner, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and led to dinners in other cities, where group-think fueled other billionaires to reconsider the final destination of their wealth.
"You could tell the people who were still kind of on the cusp of thinking about how they were going to do this," Melinda told Carol. Melinda actually missed the first dinner but made the other two, in New York and Silicon Valley. Of her dinner companions, she said, "They were like, 'Yeah, okay. I've been kind of thinking in this direction. I knew I was going to get around to it. But wow!'
"And so, learning from others in the group, you could see the power of the idea starting to gel with them."
Wives were essential to get traction, says Melinda, who insisted that they be included in the dinners. "Even if he's the one that made the money, she's going to be a real gatekeeper. And she's got to go along with any philanthropic plan, because it affects her and it affects their kids."
"It was really neat to hear in a few cases how the men let the women kind of move them," she added.
It was a cache of California couples -- the John Doerrs, the Eli Broads, and the John Morgridges, whose billions come from Cisco (CSCO) -- who vowed early on to give at least 50% to charity. And in so doing, they are pressuring others to be "Great Givers," as Buffett decided to call them.
As for the importance of the women, Buffett told me, back when I interviewed him for a Melinda Gates cover story in 2008, that he might not have given his wealth to the Gates Foundation if it weren't for Melinda. Today, again, Bill's other half plays the critical role of pragmatic doer.
"One of the things I adore about Bill and Warren is," Melinda told Carol, "having a big idea but saying we don't exactly know how to execute it." As she says, "It takes some people to make it happen. So I help manage those pieces. And I enjoy that."
She led the design and creation of the website givingpledge.org, which went up this morning. Now Melinda Gates hopes that the spirit of largess -- really big giving -- spreads beyond the super-rich.
"My hope for this is that it takes on this momentum not only with the billionaires but that it expands out," she says, noting that young people she meets in colleges and grad schools say they want to give back to society.
"I do think there's a crowd mentality," she adds. "It becomes the right thing to do. And so, more will because others are doing it."
Rarely does a rebuff from Warren Buffett do so much good. Kraft Foods (KFT) stock rose 4.9% yesterday after the Oracle of Omaha, whose Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) is Kraft's largest shareholder, voted against an issuance of 370 million shares to help finance a Cadbury (CBY) acquisition. Cadbury fell, on the logic that Buffett, by tightening the leash on Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld, is preventing her from sweetening the price for MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 6, 2010 3:52 PM ET
By Beth Kowitt
Want to know what the next big thing is for investors? Look for industries that haven't hopped onto the digital wave, said Nancy Peretsman of Allen & Co. during Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit.
"You can see that for very few businesses," said Peretsman in a session on investor insight with Juliet Flint, partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.
Essentially none of the women at Fortune's conference can say MORE
Jennifer Lai - Sep 15, 2009 4:38 PM ET
"I left a legacy of shame. It is something I will live with for the rest of my life."
-- Bernie Madoff at his sentencing in a Manhattan courtroom today. He received 150 years in prison. According to Fortune's Nick Varchaver, who was at the sentencing, Madoff explained his crime the same way he did when he pleaded guilty in March: ""I couldn't accept the fact that, for once in my MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jun 29, 2009 6:40 PM ET
by Patricia Sellers
You might call Al Koch the world's biggest trash collector. As bankrupt General Motors (GM) splits into two parts -- New GM, containing Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, and Old GM, containing designated bad assets such as Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab -- Koch is the hired gun who's supposed to create value from that latter lot.
Bringing "New GM" out of bankruptcy will be difficult enough. Why would anyone MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 1, 2009 2:41 PM ET
Lots of people are now seeing light at the end of the global recession, but it pays to keep the dark clouds in sight. My Fortune colleague Shawn Tully does that in his just-published story about Ireland. As he notes, Ireland's economy is suffering the deepest plunge of virtually any country outside of Iceland. And it's not over yet.
To get a broader view of global risk, I called Ian Bremmer, MORE
Patricia Sellers - May 14, 2009 11:01 AM ET
"If you are in the investment business and you have a high IQ, sell 30 points to the next person. You do not have to be a genius at all. But you do have to have emotional stability, and you have to have some peace about your decisions. I don't know how much is innate and how much can be taught. If you have that quality you will do very MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - May 8, 2009 6:57 PM ET
"This is a time for smart people. This is a time for entrepreneurial people. This is a great time for people like me."
--Donald Trump on Larry King Live Wednesday night. With his trademark bravado, Trump told Larry the moment is ripe for investing in real estate. "You go see your bank -- maybe you can make a deal, maybe you can't. But you can make a deal with a bank MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Apr 16, 2009 6:52 PM ET
Blackstone Group (BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman is worried. Very worried.
Last evening, at the firm's annual press dinner, the big boss of the buyout industry riffed about what he's been hearing as he has circled the globe. I was lucky enough to sit at his table -- and I asked him that question, in fact: So, Steve, how do you think the U.S. and its economic policies are being viewed abroad? MORE
Patricia Sellers - Apr 15, 2009 1:48 PM ET
"When I call Charlie with an idea, and he says, 'That is really a dumb idea,' that means we should put 100% of our net worth into it. If he says, 'That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard,' then you should put 50% of your net worth into it. Only if he says, 'I'm going to have you committed,' does it mean he really doesn't like the idea."
--Berkshire Hathaway MORE
Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Apr 13, 2009 7:33 PM ET
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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