But of a misleading headline, particularly if you read further. I spent a large part of my career in the hedge fund world so I’m familiar with Chris Hohn and TCI.
The article states that the dividend of 575 million was paid from the holding company and reinvested back into TCI. Rather than ‘paid himself’ it would be more accurate to say, ‘transferred profit from one entity to another entity’. Hedge funds are structured with a management fee and an incentive fee, so even the term ‘paid himself’ is a little misleading. The fund received a fixed management fee and an incentive fee based on performance, it’s not like he just decided to pay himself that.
He is famous for living a fairly modest lifestyle, and it’s called ‘TCI’ because it stands for ‘The Children’s Investment’ fund, and He is known for basically ploughing everything into charitable causes.
“Hohn is also one of the UK’s biggest philanthropists, and has pumped more than £4bn into his personal children’s charity. In recent years he has also taken on the cause of the climate crisis, promising to use his fund’s $35bn of investments to “force change on companies who refuse to take their environmental emissions seriously”.
He is the biggest single donor to Extinction Rebellion on account of the “urgent need” for people to wake up to the climate emergency. “I recently gave them £50,000 because humanity is aggressively destroying the world with climate change and there is an urgent need for us all to wake up to this fact,” Hohn said in 2019. His charity is thought to have pledged a further £150,000.”
Fair enough to dislike the finance world, but it’s a fairly misleading and sensationalized story.
It’s a bit random how it’s deemed fine to shit on people who have done well for themselves in this country.
That’s the equivalent of what I will earn over the next 20 years and I’m in a decent job. And he gets it in a day.
That kind of gross wealth and inequality gives him too much financial power. Also this charity aspect, it’s cool and all. But it’s been given to his own charity. Charitywashing.
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Somehow I just know that all these people bitching about a billionaire doing charity where he chooses the causes to fund would be screaming just as loudly if the government took the value donated as charity as taxation and then spent it on government priorities.
Especially as said priorities are funding the Ukraine war, new subs for trident, new nukes for trident subs, reworking parts of the U.K. Armed Forces and retooling with new kit and vehicles, massively subsiding MP expenses and housing, giving money to cronies via dodgy contracts, and ruining the country through brexit.
Money given to a cause goes to that cause.
Money taken by the state goes to their pet projects which are never the same as the voters.
A hedge fund makes money at the expense of thousands of others.. tell me what these people REALLY do for anyone but themselves.. we live in an age where legalised greed is somehow acceptable but don’t ask us to admire these white collar charlatans
6 comments
But of a misleading headline, particularly if you read further. I spent a large part of my career in the hedge fund world so I’m familiar with Chris Hohn and TCI.
The article states that the dividend of 575 million was paid from the holding company and reinvested back into TCI. Rather than ‘paid himself’ it would be more accurate to say, ‘transferred profit from one entity to another entity’. Hedge funds are structured with a management fee and an incentive fee, so even the term ‘paid himself’ is a little misleading. The fund received a fixed management fee and an incentive fee based on performance, it’s not like he just decided to pay himself that.
He is famous for living a fairly modest lifestyle, and it’s called ‘TCI’ because it stands for ‘The Children’s Investment’ fund, and He is known for basically ploughing everything into charitable causes.
“Hohn is also one of the UK’s biggest philanthropists, and has pumped more than £4bn into his personal children’s charity. In recent years he has also taken on the cause of the climate crisis, promising to use his fund’s $35bn of investments to “force change on companies who refuse to take their environmental emissions seriously”.
He is the biggest single donor to Extinction Rebellion on account of the “urgent need” for people to wake up to the climate emergency. “I recently gave them £50,000 because humanity is aggressively destroying the world with climate change and there is an urgent need for us all to wake up to this fact,” Hohn said in 2019. His charity is thought to have pledged a further £150,000.”
Fair enough to dislike the finance world, but it’s a fairly misleading and sensationalized story.
It’s a bit random how it’s deemed fine to shit on people who have done well for themselves in this country.
That’s the equivalent of what I will earn over the next 20 years and I’m in a decent job. And he gets it in a day.
That kind of gross wealth and inequality gives him too much financial power. Also this charity aspect, it’s cool and all. But it’s been given to his own charity. Charitywashing.
[removed]
Somehow I just know that all these people bitching about a billionaire doing charity where he chooses the causes to fund would be screaming just as loudly if the government took the value donated as charity as taxation and then spent it on government priorities.
Especially as said priorities are funding the Ukraine war, new subs for trident, new nukes for trident subs, reworking parts of the U.K. Armed Forces and retooling with new kit and vehicles, massively subsiding MP expenses and housing, giving money to cronies via dodgy contracts, and ruining the country through brexit.
Money given to a cause goes to that cause.
Money taken by the state goes to their pet projects which are never the same as the voters.
A hedge fund makes money at the expense of thousands of others.. tell me what these people REALLY do for anyone but themselves.. we live in an age where legalised greed is somehow acceptable but don’t ask us to admire these white collar charlatans