Billionaire Vinod Khosla to donate half his fortune

Pioneering cleantech venture capitalist and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla and his wife Neeru have agreed to donate half of their estimated $ 1.4 billion fortune to charity.

[caption id=“attachment_3015” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Big heart: Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, smiles during the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in Dana Point. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters”]  [/caption]

In an announcement made on Thursday, the Khoslas and nine other families joined The Giving Pledge, a program founded by Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates that encourages the world’s wealthiest people to commit to life-long philanthropy. Currently, 69 individuals have joined the pledge, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and filmmaker George Lucas.

Khosla, 56, started his venture capital firm, Khosla Ventures in 2004 after a stint at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, another Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Khosla Ventures invests in cleantech and information technology, and Khosla has expressed particular interest in funding clean technology that passes the “ Chindia test,” or technologies that have the greatest potential for addressing climate change through widespread adoptability in both countries.

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