Dan Gilbert talks to reporters inside Quicken Loans headquarters in downtown Detroit.DETROIT, MI - Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and 5-Hour Energy creator Manoj Bhargava have joined 92 other billionaires pledging to give away half of their wealth, the
The report says that the prominent Detroit-area businessmen's names were released yesterday by the Giving Pledge organization, which was formed by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010.
The organization's website has letters posted from Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, and from Bhargava, sharing their reasons for joining the pledge.
"Wealth is created. If that wealth is all passed on to another generation its benefits are often greatly underutilized as those who inherit the wealth view their mission as one of maintaining it," the Gilberts' letter reads. "The better path is one that allows wealth to be activated as a force to make the world a better place through endless avenues."
Bhargava's letter reads, in part:
"My choice was to ruin my son's life by giving him money or giving 90+% to charity. Not much of a choice," the letter states. "Service to others seems the only intelligent choice for the use of wealth. The other choices especially personal consumption seem either useless or harmful."