Petition: A Call for Billionaires to Redistribute Wealth
The Issue
Petition: A Call for Billionaires to Redistribute Wealth
We, the undersigned, call on the world's richest people to voluntarily commit a portion of their wealth to addressing the urgent crises of our time: poverty, climate change, inadequate healthcare, and failing public infrastructure.
The scale of wealth concentrated at the top has grown at a pace far outstripping wages, public services, or opportunity for ordinary people. While extreme wealth accumulates, millions struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and basic necessities.
We are not asking for charity as spectacle, and we are not asking billionaires to dismantle their fortunes or sell off their companies. We understand that most billionaire wealth is tied up in stock, and that forced selling at scale could crash markets and hurt ordinary shareholders, pensions, and employees. We are asking for a genuine reckoning with the responsibility that comes with extraordinary wealth — not a demand that risks collateral damage to people who had no part in creating it.
The concrete ask: that the world's 100 richest people donate a meaningful share of the liquid cash they already hold — money sitting in bank accounts and cash-equivalents, not invested in their companies. Collectively, the top 100 are estimated to hold in the region of $70 billion in liquid cash. Donating even half of that — roughly $35 billion — would not require selling a single share, would not threaten any company's stock price, and would still leave every one of them enormously wealthy.
We call on billionaires to:
Commit publicly to donating a defined share of liquid cash holdings within a set timeframe
Support policy reforms — including fair taxation — that reduce systemic inequality, not just individual giving
Be transparent about cash holdings and the impact of any pledges made
This is not a radical redistribution. It costs the givers little and could mean a great deal to those in need. History shows that when the gap between the wealthy and everyone else grows too wide for too long, public patience runs out and demands for change become impossible to ignore. Voluntary action now — however modest — is an opportunity to help shape a fairer system before that pressure boils over into forced change.
We urge action — not eventually, but now.
Yours sincerely,
The 99%
38
The Issue
Petition: A Call for Billionaires to Redistribute Wealth
We, the undersigned, call on the world's richest people to voluntarily commit a portion of their wealth to addressing the urgent crises of our time: poverty, climate change, inadequate healthcare, and failing public infrastructure.
The scale of wealth concentrated at the top has grown at a pace far outstripping wages, public services, or opportunity for ordinary people. While extreme wealth accumulates, millions struggle to afford housing, healthcare, and basic necessities.
We are not asking for charity as spectacle, and we are not asking billionaires to dismantle their fortunes or sell off their companies. We understand that most billionaire wealth is tied up in stock, and that forced selling at scale could crash markets and hurt ordinary shareholders, pensions, and employees. We are asking for a genuine reckoning with the responsibility that comes with extraordinary wealth — not a demand that risks collateral damage to people who had no part in creating it.
The concrete ask: that the world's 100 richest people donate a meaningful share of the liquid cash they already hold — money sitting in bank accounts and cash-equivalents, not invested in their companies. Collectively, the top 100 are estimated to hold in the region of $70 billion in liquid cash. Donating even half of that — roughly $35 billion — would not require selling a single share, would not threaten any company's stock price, and would still leave every one of them enormously wealthy.
We call on billionaires to:
Commit publicly to donating a defined share of liquid cash holdings within a set timeframe
Support policy reforms — including fair taxation — that reduce systemic inequality, not just individual giving
Be transparent about cash holdings and the impact of any pledges made
This is not a radical redistribution. It costs the givers little and could mean a great deal to those in need. History shows that when the gap between the wealthy and everyone else grows too wide for too long, public patience runs out and demands for change become impossible to ignore. Voluntary action now — however modest — is an opportunity to help shape a fairer system before that pressure boils over into forced change.
We urge action — not eventually, but now.
Yours sincerely,
The 99%
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Petition created on 7 July 2026