But since I'm not crazy about harvard, this is a story that doesn't move me at all.
Posted on 06/21/2006 4:00:32 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Harvard is still waiting for software billionaire Larry Ellison to make good on a $115 million pledge, a year after he announced what would have been the largest single contribution in the university's history.
Harvard said on Wednesday it hasn't received a cent from the flamboyant founder and chief executive of software giant Oracle Corp. and that school officials have spent months trying to reach him to discuss the matter -- without success.
"Larry Ellison never paid us. The donation was never finalized," said Harvard spokeswoman Sarah Friedell.
The university has laid off three people it had hired to help run the proposed institute for health research as it waits for the funds promised by Ellison.
Oracle spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to comment on the matter. Officials with the Ellison Medical Foundation couldn't be reached.
The fact that Ellison -- a two-time university drop-out -- hasn't made good on his pledge to fund health and environmental research at Harvard hasn't prevented the gesture from improving his reputation for generosity.
In October, Forbes Magazine listed him as one of the top 10 philanthropists in the business world, based on the size of the gift he had promised Harvard. He ranked just after Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates and financier George Soros.
Several other high-tech billionaires are also among the world's top philanthropists.
Google creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page have set aside at least $1 billion for projects tackling poverty and energy consumption while EBay founder Pierre Omidyar committed $400 million to spur development in poor countries.
Forbes ranks Ellison as the world's 15th-richest person, tied with France's Liliane Bettencourt, heir to the L'Oreal cosmetics empire.
Harvard is still hoping that Ellison will pony up the promised funds, said Christopher Murray, a professor who was slated to run the Ellison-funded institute.
"We hope and expect that we will be able to bring to fruition ... Larry Ellison's enthusiasm for this important endeavor," Murray said in an e-mail.
Harvard's total endowment at end of fiscal 2005, was $25.9 billion, according to the Harvard Guide. (Additional reporting by Michele Gershberg in New York)
Couldn't happen to a nicer university.
PAY US!!! scream the liberal masses. Do you like the company you keep Larry?
And frankly, couldn't happen to a nicer guy (don't tell Larry or he'll buzz my house in his MiG)...
Perhpas they misunderstood him. Ellison was BIDDING $115M for Harvard.
How's old Ted Turner doing on his $1B to the UN?
A prestigious institution like Harvard hasn't heard the adage about not counting one's chickens before they hatch?
He probably spent the money on another sailboat.
Stiff them.
The have the address where they are suppose to send the money in an Oracle database. Everytime they try to access it, it freezes and locks up every computer in the house.
"The university has laid off three people it had hired to help run the proposed institute for health research as it waits for the funds promised by Ellison."
OK. let's wring our hands in unison as Harvard University with a Billion Dollar Endowment Fund absolutely must lay off 3 people because of Larry Ellison. The 3 people are probably a "Woman" a "Child" and a "Minority". They are are always hardest hit during these times of chaos and tumult.
But since I'm not crazy about harvard, this is a story that doesn't move me at all.
FMCDH(BITS)
C'mon, maybe they're all just starstruck and imitating America's sweetheart.
Barfed on keyboard, so, you'll be sending me a new one when???? LOL!!!
ROTFL!
Perhaps Mister Ellison has come to realize that the University is pursuing cannibalism in the name of enlightened medical research. Perhaps Mister Ellison doesn't condone the conceiving and harvesting of earliest aged humans. Perhaps Mister Ellison has come to realize that the use of extra-corporeal uterine tissue for sustaining embryo-aged humans, only to kill them in a few days for their body parts (their stem cells) is wrong. Perhaps ... but that would assume Mister ellison actually gives a damn other than the tax deduction and his legacy. Perhaps he does.
He owns almost 1,300,000,000 shares of ORCL, which is currently trading at $14.50, which puts his holdings at around $18.5 billion in ORCL stock.
I don't understand. Why wear make up and a fancy dress just to show off your pits. I don't get it!
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