Warren Buffett, known for his legendary investments and philanthropic activities, has made it to the top of the 50 most generous American billionaires list.
NEW YORK: Warren Buffett, known for his legendary investments and philanthropic activities, has made it to the top of the 50 most generous American billionaires list prepared by a leading US magazine.
Topping the 'Conde Nast Portfolio' magazine's list of generous billionaires, Buffett has edged past his friend and software czar Bill Gates, who is at the second spot followed by Eli Broad -- founder of financial major SunAmerica -- in the third position.
However, two other popular names -- that of Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and media moghul Rupert Murdoch -- are placed in the bottom half of the list at 49th and 50th places, respectively.
According to the magazine, 78-year-old Buffett who also heads Berkshire Hathaway, gave away USD 46.1 billion between 2002 and 2006.
Buffett has a net worth of USD 52 billion but the legendary investor's donations during 2007-08 have not been disclosed. Conde Nast Portfolio noted that his favourite cause is education.
Gates who has a net worth of USD 59 billion, gave USD 3.7 billion in the 2002-06 period. In 2007-08 alone, the software czar donated USD 10 million.
For the 53-year-old architect of Microsoft, the favourite cause is healthcare.
The billionaires have been ranked on the basis of the magazine's Generosity Index which ranks billionaires' philanthropy relative to their wealth.
Other names in the top ten are George Soros who runs Soros Fund Management (4th), John Kluge of Metromedia (5th), New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (6th), David Koch of Koch Industries (7th), eBay founder Pierre Omidyar (8th), George Kaiser of BOK Financial (9th) and Michael Dell of Dell Computers (10th).
At the third place is Broad who had given away USD 1.15 billion between 2002-2006 and donated USD 609.3 million in 2007-08 period. The magazine noted that his favourite causes are education, arts, science and health-care.
Conde Naste Portfolio said the donations made by both Ballmer and Murdoch have not been disclosed. The 52-year-old Ballmer has a net worth of USD 15.2 billion, while Murdoch who is 77 years old, has a net worth of USD 8.8 billion.
Further, Oracle's Larry Ellison (21), Steve Cohen of SAC Capital (24), three from Internet giant Google -- Larry Page (28), Sergey Brin (31) and Eric Schmidt (34), Carl Icahn of Icahn Enterprises (33) are among the 50 most generous billionaires.
The list would be published in the November issue of the magazine.
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