Largest Charitable Gift Ever: How The Seventh-Richest Man In The World Wants To Leave His Legacy

Billionaire and Bloomberg LP founder Michael Bloomberg, who is worth an estimated $94 billion, plans to leave his business empire to his charity. 

The donation could be one of the largest charitable contribution in the history, company spokesman Ty Trippet told the Financial Times in an extensive piece published on Thursday. 

“He has committed to giving the company away to Bloomberg Philanthropies when he dies, if not sooner,” Trippet said. 

According to the Financial Times, Bloomberg will likely put the company in a “perpetual purpose trust” that would be overseen by friends and family, including his daughters Emma and Georgina. The company's profits would go to Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Bloomberg Philanthropies doled out roughly $1.6 billion in 2022.

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Bloomberg’s likely successor as CEO is Jean-Paul Zammitt, a company veteran, the Financial Times reported. However, the publication also noted that a new internal contender has emerged and that “Bloomberg might also look outside the company when he finally steps back, as he did when he left to be New York mayor in 2002.”

“Mike asks his senior leaders every time they meet if they have more than one successor, and while he has succession plans for himself, he has not discussed them with anyone,” Trippet told the Financial Times. 

Bloomberg Philanthropies focuses on education, the arts, the environment, government innovation and public health.

In 2010, Bloomberg signed the Giving Pledge and promised to donate most of his wealth toward social causes. Nine years later, he announced a $500 million investment to combat climate change, according to Fortune. 

Earlier this year, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a donation of $420 million over four years to an initiative to reduce tobacco use, bringing the foundation's total commitment to the cause to more than $1.5 billion since 2005.

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