The History of Brian O’Kelley It stands out among business and technology holders for a very rare decision in a context of Technological Millionaires. Like many others before him, O’Kelley gave a millionaire ball selling his company Appnexus in 2018 for 1.6 billion dollars. The most surprising thing is that, instead of withdraw with full pocketshe chose to be alone a small part of fortune and donate the rest to beneficial causes.
Such and as they counted in Fortunehis position has given what to talk about, especially in a context where more and more entrepreneurs reflect on The social impact of their fortunes and the responsibility of returning part of the benefits to society, instead of limiting itself to accumulating Large amounts of money that would not spend Not in seven lives.
His vision of ethical wealth
Brian O’Kelley sold his company to AT&T for an amount of $ 1.6 billion in 2018. instead of retire to enjoy your new fortuneO’Kelley had with his wife what he defined as a “really interesting conversation”: decide How much money they needed To live comfortably.
“We simply calculate an amount that we consider enough to buy a house and things like that, we double it and give it the rest,” confessed the entrepreneur to Fortune. The final figure were nothing negligible 100 million dollars, equivalent to 10% of their participation in the company after the acquisition. The rest, more than 1.5 billion dollars, was allocated to beneficial causes and social projects.
O’Kelley maintains a very clear philosophy about The accumulation of money: “I don’t believe in billionaires. I think it’s simply ridiculous.” For the entrepreneur, the really important thing is to keep the feet on the floor and limit personal wealth to continue making responsible decisions in everyday life.
“We never wanted to have so much money that we did not have to make decisions. We have an incredible life, we can do almost everything we want. But we cannot do everything we want. We have to talk about our budget as any other person,” said the millionaire businessman.
O’Kelley It is not the only millionaire that assumes one Ethical perspective of its wealthand insist on demanding governments a greater tax imposition For great fortunes. The Founder of Appnexus considers that accumulating billions and show off it It takes you away from reality. “I do not understand why you need 200 billion, 500 billion or even 1,000 million. The joy of appreciating what we have and making those difficult decisions is really fundamental.”
Millionaires who do not want to leave inheritance
Brian O’Kelley either wants his children to enjoy a life ofprivileges without making any effort To deserve it. “I feel fatal because my children can fly in Business“, says the millionaire of 1.96 m, ensuring that he does it for comfort.” I have flown all over the world in a tourist class many times, this is to give me a whim, but I do not want to spoil my children. And a lot of this leads me to think about how they see life from their eyes. I want them to share a little of that fight that I had to do to get there. “
This approach goes in line with the growing trend between millionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett or Mick Jaggerwho have announced that They will not leave their fortunes to their children and prefer allocate your money to social works. Gates, for example, states that 99% of his fortune will be donated and that only 1% will go to their children, so they can learn The value of the effort.
O’Kelley is overwhelming when talking about ostentatious lifestyles pointing out that hopefully more people question why the style of Jeff Bezos life. “You cannot have a yacht, a helicopter, an island and a large building with your name and all those things, because then you are a bit unbearable. No human being can really appreciate that. It is a waste of incredibly ridiculous money in a world where there are so many people who do not have it.”
The entrepreneur considers to stay connected with normality and have limits that allow you to carry A responsible life. “There is something to stay connected to normal that is really important. I don’t want to get to act without consequences. I think that is the greatest risk, how can we be responsible when we have so much money that we can buy anything?”
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