'Large inheritances can kill heirs.' -Vladimir Potanin (Photo from http://dc-epaper.com)
Hyderabad, Feb. 3: Following the footseps of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin plans to donate his entire fortune after his death, the Russian agency RIA Novosti quoted Mr Potanin from an interview with The Financial Times.
The Russian Tycoon says, “Large inheritances can kill heirs,” adding “a million [dollars] handed over
from inheritance helps a person to receive a good education, find employment without haste and find himself. A transferred billion [dollars] kills him and deprives him of the sense of life”.
He made his fortune during the loans-for-shares auctions in the mid-1990s when Russia’s cash-strapped government sold the country’s biggest industrial assets for a song, Mr Potanin he had not made up his mind yet on specific charitable projects. He has a daughter and two sons.
His step comes after repeated requests by the Russian President, Mr Dmitry Medvedev, and the Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir Putin, urging businessmen to spend money on charitable projects.
“My children are growing up, their father is a billionaire and a well-known guy. They, for one, are in my shadow, and secondly what motivation in life do they have to achieve something?” he said.
“In this sense, I consider it a very correct step to hand over one’s fortune for the service of society and not for inheritance. I am going to follow the example of (Bill) Gates and (Warren) Buffet.”
[source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/russian-donates-21bn-380]