this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2025
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[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 324 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (16 children)

O’Kelley’s [sic] says billionaires represent “such an incredibly ludicrous waste of money in a world where there’s so many people who don’t have that,” but he says actually being one is also “othering”—separating you from the limits and consequences that define normal life. “There’s something about keeping connected to normalcy that is really, really important,” the entrepreneur explains. “I don’t want a yacht and I don’t ever want to be able to be without consequences. I think that’s the biggest risk, is, how can we be accountable when we have so much money we can buy anything?”

He gets it. Past a certain point, wealth erodes your humanity. I think I'd have picked $100M too - at a safe 4% return that's $4M per year, plenty for anybody to live on but not megayacht money.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 64 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Motherfucking $4MM total is enough to live on with a return like that.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 149 points 1 week ago (42 children)

Sure, but choosing to live on $160k/yr would be a bit much when you're starting with $1.6B. I can't fault him for still wanting to enjoy being wealthy instead of upper-middle-class and definitely don't think it's reasonable to complain that giving away 95% of his wealth is somehow not enough.

[–] orgrinrt@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Even if it still feels a bit wrong, I can somehow reason with there being wealthy people and the motivation of potential lavish life, since some seem to really need it to make any effort in society. It’s somewhat understandable at least. Talking about tens of millions, with a bit of stretch hundreds - okay, I can stomach it even if it still seems extremely excess.

But billions… that’s already ten times more than that. How anyone can stomach that, I don’t get.

While my heart disagrees, my brain can get, with some effort, behind what this guy says. It kind of makes sense at least. Retaining your humanity and giving up such an inconceivable amount of money for that, really sounds pretty good in this world we’ve been living in lately. Sounds fucking weird to feel good about someone still having such excess in comparison to all the people struggling with next to nothing, but at least there’s some amount of backbone and clear thought involved.

Not sure what to think still. Like someone else commented, better reserve outright okaying this until we know how the money was given away.

But if it turns out to be sensible and humane, I can honestly say I’m fine with the kind of millionaire this one is. It’s not ideal, but it’s tolerable and in some niche sense, justifiable. If it’s all good, I even wish all the millionaires were like this… if we have to have them, as a compromise with the part of people who need all that, the “dream” to strive for, for whatever reason, at least let them be sensible and moral in some way, such as this…

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[–] dogs0n@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It doesn't make any sense to keep just enough, because then you may have to worry about weathering any economic storms in the future.

I think the amount he kept is reasonable, especially when they are pretty much one of a kind for doing this.

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[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Plenty for a normal yacht, the kind you can sail by yourself or with a partner. Megayachts are basically private cruise ships that need a full staff to sail. Even if I had the money I wouldn’t want that!

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[–] rozodru@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago

I've always said If I could have enough where I could purchase in cash a cottage in a small cottage town here in Canada with a top of the line internet connection and I'd never have to work or worry about money for the rest of my life I'd be happy. what would I do? nothing. I'd pursue my hobby projects, more FOSS development, gaming, painting, build model kits, drink beer, eat whatever I wanted, and socialize with as few people as possible.

That's all i want. I just want enough money right now to achieve that.

[–] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

And you would only pick 100mil because of how fucked up the world is. You can easly burn half a million in US if you have a serious health condition.

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[–] ideonek@piefed.social 99 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I reserve my praises until I learn how exactly he gave away the money. Family-controlled foundations that only do political lobbing while avoiding taxes are a thing .

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 66 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

I wasn't able to find details with a quick search, but it sounds like it wasn't his own foundation:

After the AppNexus sale, O’Kelley and his wife carefully chose which causes to support. Their donations focus on education, social justice, technology access, and healthcare initiatives.

https://www.ceotodaymagazine.com/2025/08/could-you-give-away-1-5-billion-like-this-ceo/

Perhaps the only good billionaire is one who isn't.

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[–] Nightlight17776@lemmy.ca 59 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Wait is this really a good rich person? I have to think something's up

[–] derry@midwest.social 48 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Gen Xer, we're mostly cool. Still some ass hats but most of us try to be cool, do the right things

[–] SirSamuel@lemmy.world 49 points 1 week ago

Oh, sorry, forgot you were here

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 week ago (3 children)

most of us try to be cool

i'm also gen X. your experience doesn't match mine

[–] derry@midwest.social 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sorry man. I hope you're ok.

[–] solsangraal@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 week ago (4 children)

not really, but thanks. for some reason gen x went "i love fascism."

https://williamfleitch.medium.com/why-did-generation-x-go-so-hard-for-trump-ab5ce5ac8659

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/heres-the-generation-that-went-strongest-for-trump-and-the-surprising-one-that-shifted-left/ar-AA1tTVEc

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/10/gen-x-politics-explained-republicans.html

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/why-gen-x-went-maga/

personally: a lot of the dudes i grew up with are absolutely full-blown "my purpose in life is to be better than everyone else, and trump is going to give me that" mentality

again, i'm glad that your experience is better, but please don't assume that it's across the board

the maga fascist cult is a fucking cancer that afflicts every age group. make people afraid, give them an "enemy" to hate, profit

fucking nazis

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[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 49 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Should have shared the money with the workers who built the company into a $1.6B valuation and worth acquisition.

[–] meliaesc@lemmy.world 31 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Jesus Christ, it's never good enough for you, why even bother trying.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 19 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Just because he gave it away, doesn't remove his responsibility for how he "earned" it.

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[–] adminofoz@lemmy.cafe 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

At the end of the day, stolen wages are still stolen wages.

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[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 week ago

If only he believed in himself, he could have been a billionaire…

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[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Good for him.

Raise the taxes, remove the cap on FICA contributions, implement universal healthcare.

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[–] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'd take just one single measly Canadian million dollars, buy a ~300-400K small house far from the city with enough land to have peace and quiet, and maybe try a greenhouse for vegetables.

That leaves enough money with what I already have to cover never working again, various moving expenses, some repairs and renos, and maybe the occasional weekend transexual escort in my whirlpool.

[–] Horsey@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (11 children)

600K definitely can’t cover your incidentals over 20+ years.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

Oh. I thought this was The Onion for a second when I saw the title.

[–] Vile_port_aloo@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

How many more people/companies do we need to see doing this before we see change?

I am praising the action not the individual :)

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

$100 million invested into dividend stock would gross him $1-5 million per year. About 1/3 of that will be paid in taxes, depending on what kind of dividends those are.

Me personally, I think I'd be happy with $10 million but I guess you get hungry when there's a lot of food in front of you.

[–] seralth@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Depends if you want rich people play money or just comfy people play money.

Also if you want to say buy a beach front house in california or a nice mountain home in Colorado. That alone can run you a few millions dollars upfront not to mention a the on going costs.

100m is honestly not a lot of money if you plan to not for for the next handful of decades and want to actually enjoy a rich life style.

10 mill will put you in a nice middle class home and keep you living a middle class life style for the same length of time.

Wealth to life style scales pretty well from 10 to 100 million dollars when your looking at a 35 year span.

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[–] jacecomix@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just a general reminder to anyone to use a site like Charity Navigator to find good causes to donate to.

[–] saimen@feddit.org 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

He's not wrong. Being circled by scavengars like some kind of dying leviathan is not a sane way to live.

[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

He sold the company for $1.6bn, but he had a 10% stake. So his stake was worth $160m. He kept $100m. So he gave away $60m.

He did not give away a billion dollars. The article headline and the article itself is written in such a way that it arguably obscures the facts and confuses.

It's great he gave away $60m but it's got little to nothing to do with his opinion that he doesn't believe in billionaires; including that in the headline makes it seem like he gave away a billion dollars.

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