CHARITY GETS $1B IN NIKE STOCKS
Nike Inc.’s Phil Knight donated almost US$1 billion of the apparel maker’s stock to a charitable group this week. Knight, 80, Nike’s founder and chairman emeritus, gave 12 million shares, according to a regulatory filing that didn’t identify the beneficiary beyond noting that he and his wife Penelope are directors of the entity. The Knights previously contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to the University of Oregon and Stanford University. The latest donation — worth US$990 million when it was made Wednesday — represents about 0.7 per cent of the company ’s outstanding shares and 3.1 per cent of his US$32 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s 500 richest people. It’s the latest example of mega-philanthropy. Last month, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person, pledged US$2 billion to help lowincome and homeless people. Bloomberg