The Billionaire Who Is Trying To Go Broke

Chuck Feeney; 

Photograph via New Decade

I just come across this wonderful story about Chuck Feeney and I found it inspiring and I decided to share it with you. Enjoy your reading..

Charles Francis Feeney (born April 23 1931 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) is an Irish-American businessman who made his fortune as a co-founder of the Duty Free Shoppers Group. The concept of “duty free shopping”—offering high-end concessions to travelers, free of import taxes—was in its infancy when Feeney founded DFS on November 7, 1960. DFS would soon became the world’s largest travel retailer. During the same period, Feeney banked nearly $334 million in dividends that he in turn invested into hotels, retail shops, clothing companies and tech startups. In 1996, his DFS interests were acquired by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) for $1.63 billion. Over his career Feeney amassed a $7.5 billion fortune that he intends to give away entirely in his lifetime.

His foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, has funnelled $6.2 billion into education, science, health care, aging and civil rights in the U.S., Australia, Vietnam, Bermuda, South Africa and Ireland. The remaining $1.3 billion will be spent by 2016, and the foundation will be shuttered in 2020. [Source]

According to Forbes, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett credit Feeney as a major inspiration for both the $30 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. As of July 2013, 113 billionaire individuals and couples and one family group have signed the pledge. [Source]

“I had one idea that never changed in my mind—that you should use your wealth to help people. I try to live a normal life, the way I grew up,” Feeney says. “I set out to work hard, not to get rich.” [Source]