Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

[Sapiens]

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Sec...-45304702.html

A top-secret meeting of the world’s richest people to discuss the global financial crisis was held in New York on May 5, IrishCentral.com has learned exclusively.

The mysterious, media-blackout meeting was called by Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire-Hathaway; Bill Gates, co founder of Microsoft; and David Rockefeller Jr., chairman of Rockefeller Financial Services.

In addition to Gates, Buffett and Rockefeller, the attendees included Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Ted Turner, and New York CityMayor Michael Bloomberg, among others.

It was held in the President's Room at Rockefeller University In New York at 3 p.m. on that Tuesday afternoon.

How so many giant figures in American life managed to interrupt and coordinate their schedules on such short notice, and meet in total secrecy in the world’s media capital remains a mystery -- as does the ultimate outcome of the billionaires' conference.

In their letter of invitation, Gates, Buffett and Rockefeller cited the worldwide recession and the urgent need to plan for the future. They said they wanted to hear the views of a broad range of key leaders in the financial and philanthropic fields.

Each attendee was given 15 minutes to deliver a presentation on how they saw the future global economic climate, the future priorities for philanthropy, and what they felt the elite group should do.

According to one of the attendees, Gates was the most-impressive speaker of the day, with Turner the most-outspoken and Warren Buffet the most-insistent on his agenda for change.

Winfrey was said to be in a “listening mode."

Gates was worth an estimated $57B in 2008; more recently, Buffett clocked in at an estimated $37B -- making them the richest Americans.

Winfrey was once the world’s only black billionaire, and has extensive holdings in the entertainment and publishing industries, as well as being a leading philanthropist.

Turner, founder of CNN, once donated $1B to the United Nations. Soros has a personal fortune estimated at $11B, while Bloomberg is listed as the eighth-richest American with a net worth of $20B .

Other invitees included Eli and Edythe Broad, whose current fortune is estimated at $5.2B by Forbes Magazine; John Morgridge, former CEO of Cisco and his wife Tashia; Peter Peterson, senior chairman of the Blackstone Group; Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger Management Corp.; and Patty Stonesifer, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

"They were all there, the great and the good," a participant told IrishCentral.com

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

Gates was the most-impressive speaker of the day

Does anyone here have an idea what Gates has been saying lately on matters economic?

[GRG55]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Sec...-45304702.html

...How so many giant figures in American life managed to interrupt and coordinate their schedules on such short notice, and meet in total secrecy in the world’s media capital remains a mystery...

LOL. We can blame that on Warren Buffett too...

Back in the good old days it was easy to track the movements of the high and mighty by hanging around the airport and noting the tail numbers on the Learjets taxiing up to the ramp. Berkshire's Netjets now means there's no need to own your own jet, and much more anonymous to fly practically anywhere in the world. Who knows which one in the fleet is the one carrying Warren or any of the others today...;)

[metalman]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Sec...-45304702.html

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller Jr., Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Ted Turner, Michael Bloomberg and 'other' rich people meet to discuss the economic crisis... we're saved!

[LargoWinch]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

The meeting was so top secret that Alex Jones was shouting in a megaphone just across the street: "go back home reptilians" (or something like that).

[GRG55]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller Jr., Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Ted Turner, Michael Bloomberg and 'other' rich people meet to discuss the economic crisis... we're saved!

Hey, maybe they were meeting to try to figure out how to force delivery of physical Au on the maturity of their Comex contracts?

[flintlock]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller Jr., Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Ted Turner, Michael Bloomberg and 'other' rich people meet to discuss the economic crisis... we're saved!

Yeah, I'm sure they are really worrying their asses off about us right now.

Buffett: "Dammit George, people are hurting out there, cancel your pedicure and be at the meeting. We've got a world to save"

[marvenger]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

anyone know how much rockefeller is worth?

[sn1p3r]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

30% less than 2007? just a guess...

[Jay]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, David Rockefeller Jr., Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, Ted Turner, Michael Bloomberg and 'other' rich people meet to discuss the economic crisis... we're saved!

Freaky, the guy in the blue shirt just might be me! He's a clone at least.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

anyone know how much rockefeller is worth?

$2.2 billion

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/wor...ires_land.html

[Slimprofits]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

msm picked up coverage today

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...-was-a-secret/

“It was a private meeting,” said Karen Denne, a spokeswoman for the Broad Foundation, which runs Mr. Broad’s charitable efforts.

“Essentially it was a brainstorming session where people who are very charitable talked about charity in today’s economic climate,” said an assistant to one of the participants, who was told about the discussion but asked not to be identified because of the request for secrecy.

[..]


Details about how the event came together were just as closely guarded. The person said to be the organizer, Patricia Q. Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Gates foundation and currently chairwoman of the Smithsonian Institution, did not return messages requesting comment.

The gathering started at 3 p.m. on May 5, a Tuesday, and lasted through dinner at the private residence on the Rockefeller campus of Paul Nurse, the university’s president, while he was out of town, said Joseph Bonner, a spokesman for the university.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7628545

"The overwhelming reason for the meeting was need -- that was the issue that galvanized everyone to participate," Patricia Stonesifer, senior advisor to the Gates foundation's trustees, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett, told ABCNews.com. "This was a group very committed to philanthropy coming together to see how they can join together to do more."

[..]

"This particular group had never come together as a group before but many of the attendees had met in the past either individually or in smaller groups -- but never all at once," she said. "This was a great discussion and they agreed to continue the dialogue and meet again in the future. There were a lot of good ideas."

She said that the discussion "ranged from emergency relief efforts to scholarship efforts, to U.S. education efforts to global health." Another attendee who asked to remain anonymous described the meeting as "a private gathering of friends and colleagues to share their history and excitement about their philanthropy. [It was] a group together discussing a range of things they are working on."

When again asked about the meeting following ABC News.com's initial report Mayor Bloomberg said he sometimes holds private meetings that are "not going to be on the public schedulues. There are meetings all over this city and there are some very powerful people in this city."

[rjwjr]

Re: Meeting of world's richest people held in New York

I wouldn't be so quick to knock this meeting. Gates and Buffet have shown incredible philanthropy, and I am especially intrigued by Peter Peterson's attendance. See bio here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_George_Peterson

He's the guy behind the I.O.U.S.A movie/dvd that talks about the danger of our huge deficit and future liabilities. www.iousathemovie.com

Let's give these guys the benefit of the doubt at least. They may have talked about more than philanthropy. Maybe they are worried about the system and are stepping up to do something. Too bad EJ wasn't there...not over a billion yet?