Reed Hastings, executive chairman and co-founder of Netflix, has donated $1.1 billion worth of his stake in the streaming giant to a charity that grants money for several causes. The Silicon Valley charity is known for working in the areas of affordable housing, early childhood development, and disaster relief, among others.
Hastings has given the shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which is famous among tech entrepreneurs for its benefits like tax saving and privacy, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Earlier, Hastings listed a gift of two million shares in a regulatory filing. However, the 63-year-old did not mention the name of the recipient.
A spokesperson for Netflix has confirmed that it was the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the Wall Street Journal report added.
The total donations account for 40% of Hastings's shareholding in Netflix. Hastings decided to donate after the stock rose sharply in response to a positive earnings report.
As per Verity, which keeps a check on stock transactions by corporate leaders, Hastings further holds options on about 2.5 million shares, having strike prices ranging from $49 to $680 a share, the WSJ report mentioned.
Started in 2007, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation is aimed at helping wealthy Silicon Valley executives channel charitable contributions. It provides donor-advised funds, which let people contribute a percentage of their wealth and then specify how the money should be spent for charity.
The foundation had assets worth more than $10 billion at the end of 2022. Some of the previous donors include Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who donated over $1 billion worth of the company's stock a decade ago.
While donating to this foundation, people get an immediate tax benefit and more privacy compared with other philanthropic initiatives. The trust has to disclose ultimately where its funds go, but it does not need to reveal the details of donors.
At the end of 2022, the foundation reported as many as 1,060 donor-advised funds, which held over $9.4 billion of the $10.1 billion in total assets.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
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