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When Steve Jobs announced his resignation the world more than mourned: people poured their hearts out, weeping because the greatest visionary of our generation will no longer envision cool, affordable gadgets. While Jobs created life-changing devices, as one of America's wealthiest (and most visible) CEOs he had one very big shortcoming: He doesn't do charity. At least not publicly, which is really a shame, given his affluence and position.
Jobs has money, but as DealBook's Andrew Ross Sorkin points out, he doesn't give it to the needy, and he's certainly had plenty of opportunities.
Despite accumulating an estimated $8.3 billion fortune through his holdings in Apple and a 7.4 percent stake in Disney (through the sale of Pixar), there is no public record of Mr. Jobs giving money to charity. He is not a member of the Giving Pledge, the organization founded by Warren E. Buffett and Bill Gates to persuade the nation’s wealthiest families to pledge to give away at least half their fortunes. (He declined to participate, according to people briefed on the matter.) Nor is there a hospital wing or an academic building with his name on it.
Not only has Jobs himself sat out the philanthropy game, but his very profitable company, Apple, has no charity arms continues Sorkin. "In 1997, when Mr. Jobs returned to Apple, he closed the company’s philanthropic programs. At the time, he said he wanted to restore the company’s profitability. Despite the company’s $14 billion in profits last year and its $76 billion cash pile today, the giving programs have never been reinstated."