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Comment by protomyth | Hacker News Reader

He earned it so he can spend it anyway he wants, but it would probably help a lot more people if he used the money to become an angel investor in a lot of small businesses that would employ a lot of people. Funding startups in bio and space that would advance the technology, but probably wouldn't get funding from other sources.

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No, he probably wouldn't. Look, I understand that this site has a lot of startups, but don't let the echo chamber go to your head. Funding startups is expensive-- we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars minimum, I expect, for a startup that most likely will fail. That same hundreds of thousands of dollars can save the lives of thousands of people that are starving to death or dying of disease.

True, but a billion does a lot of startups and research money leads to treatments.

Also, doing a small business equivalent to the charity that pays single bill for a person (since many people are one bill away from broke) would help amazingly well. Buying a expensive coffee machine for the local family bakery, or paying a months rent for the some other local business might put them on solid ground and allow them to hire people. I just think someone with his business talent could really build neighborhoods better than most generic charities.

Once again, it is his money and how he chooses to spend it is his business and is amazingly generous.

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