Apparently  IKEA, more as tax avoidance than altruism, is technically the world's largest charitable foundation, though clearly Gates foundation, at 29 billion, is the world'd largest "real" charitable endeavor. Gates reported yesterday that he's leaving Microsoft over the next 2 years to devote full time to Gates Foundation activities.

One of my greatest disappointments is to hear far too many technology people absurdly suggest that Gates' motivations are other than the obvious – spearheading one of the greatest philanthropic efforts of all time that primarily serve the two most significant challenges of humanity – health and education.