US billionaire Bill Ackman donates $3.25 mln for ambulances in Ukraine
Photo Reuters
The US billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has pledged $3.25 million to help buy more than a dozen ambulances for Ukraine
Ackman's donation will cover the purchase of 15 specially equipped Toyota 4×4 Land Cruiser ambulances, Reuters reports.
"I had breakfast with my college buddy Bill Ackman this morning, walked him through the attached slide deck I put together about my ambulances-for-Ukraine mission, and on the spot he agreed to donate US$3.25 million," investor Whitney Tilson, who is on the advisory board of Ackman's charity, Pershing Square Foundation, says in his letter to Ackman.
Tilson has been leading an effort to buy ambulances for Ukraine that will be operated by humanitarian aid group MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station), which is based in Malta.
The Land Cruisers cost roughly US$116,000 each and come with an extended roof that let medical personnel stand up as they treat patients.
Ackman, whose great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from Ukraine, has an estimated net worth of US$3.5 billion, according to Forbes. Ackman and his wife, Neri Oxman, have pledged to give away the majority of their fortune and have supported causes ranging from medical research to relief to earthquake-stricken Haiti to Harvard University's crew team.
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