Bono Defends Steve Jobs Amid Criticism Over His Public Giving

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Posted September 2, 2011 at 4:03pm by iClarified

In a letter to editor of the New York Times, Bono the lead singer of U2, defends Steve Jobs against criticism over his lack of public giving.

The New York Times published an article on Aug 29th entitled, "The Mystery of Steve Jobs' Public Giving".

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.

The article does acknowledge that Steve Jobs may be making anonymous charitable donations.

There has long been speculation that an anonymous $150 million donation to the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California, San Francisco may have come from Mr. Jobs.

Bono has come to Steve Jobs defense and written a letter to the editor stating his support for the Apple founder.

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As a founder of (Product)RED, I'd like to point out that Apple's contribution to our fight against AIDS in Africa has been invaluable. Through the sale of (RED) products, Apple has been (RED)'s largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - giving tens of millions of dollars that have transformed the lives of more than two million Africans through H.I.V. testing, treatment and counseling. This is serious and significant. And Apple's involvement has encouraged other companies to step up.

Steve Jobs said when we first approached him about (RED), "There is nothing better than the chance to save lives."

I'm proud to know him; he's a poetic fellow, an artist and a businessman. Just because he's been extremely busy, that doesn't mean that he and his wife, Laurene, have not been thinking about these things. You don't have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn't do things by halves.

BONO
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Bono Defends Steve Jobs Amid Criticism Over His Public Giving

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Caelii - September 13, 2011 at 5:56am

God, I feel like I suhold be takin notes! Great work

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farpthor - September 2, 2011 at 5:33pm

It's absurd to criticize someone because he's not openly and publicly giving away half of his hard-earned money. This editor at NYT is a fool to even write something like this.

asdasd - September 2, 2011 at 6:07pm

agreed !

Mimshack tee - September 2, 2011 at 9:22pm

Yes! Hard earned money. You need to stop criticizing him and do something with your life dude.

David - September 2, 2011 at 11:51pm

Capitalist billionaires pick their pet causes to give back to the community because it's the right thing to do...for their public image and for their soul. It's a win-win situation. How many mansions and jets do you need before you realize the money doesn't help the way you feel about yourself? It's not communist or anarchist to believe in philanthropy, it's makes good business sense and it's good for your integrity. Now that people know this about Steve, they see him in a different light and his reputation will suffer. if hard work was equal to success, we'd all be rich. Jobs has been really lucky.

Gytha - September 14, 2011 at 4:18am

Shoot, so that's that one spupoess.