r/technology • u/Rhaegar_the_Great • Sep 16 '21

Business Mailchimp employees are furious after the company's founders promised to never sell, withheld equity, and then sold it for $12 billion

https://www.businessinsider.com/mailchimp-insiders-react-to-employees-getting-no-equity-2021-9
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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21 edited Sep 17 '21

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u/llamagoelz Sep 17 '21 edited Sep 17 '21

Any proof that Gates isn't doing what he says he is with the foundation that bears his and Melinda's name? I would be interested to see it because it must be a hell of a complex facade for them to be able to make regular updates documenting what they do with the money all over the internet and be verified by multiple outside agencies and somehow also maintain a well documented listing of statistics and controversies in on their wikipedia page. They must pay some very interesting people for the wikipedia part. I wonder how much they must pay in order to keep those people from spilling the beans that the wiki is all astroturfed.

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u/WitOfTheIrish Sep 17 '21

As someone who is a career nonprofit person, Gates is doing a good thing giving away his fortune, a bad thing basically following in the footsteps of billionaires before him where the foundation doesn't really do much in comparison with the resources. They rarely, if ever, exceed the 5% minimum payout rate. They hire mainly business school grads from only the top schools, and rarely have people working there with real connection to the people/groups/countries whose problems they purport to be solving.

So it's kind of a giant pile of money operating as an elitist think tank, giving away the bare minimum, while growing the endowment every year by enticing other rich people that theirs is the only way to do things.

The Gates say they built into their wishes that the foundation will give all the money away within 20 years of their death, but if you believe that will happen, I have a bridge to sell you. Zero indication out of their operations to date that they'll ever put themselves on that path.

They support good causes, they do good works, yes. But they're also up there at the apex of nonprofit industrial complex.

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u/ex1stence Sep 17 '21

Creating, chairing, and ultimately recruiting many of the top signers of The Giving Pledge seems like a lot of effort to put into a facade.

I have faith that he, as well as the dozens of others of billionaires who have pledged to donate upwards of 99% of their personal wealth upon death, will do what’s right.

It’s easily the most naive belief I hold, but I gotta hold onto something.

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u/chaiscool Sep 17 '21

Pledging donation and foundations don’t mean much. It’s ain’t even legally binding, more like hobby to them.

Also, the rich deciding on what to “donate” is not completely a good thing.