Philanthropy Becomes Flashpoint in Billionaires’ Online Feud

A Twitter battle between billionaire investors Carl Icahn and Bill Gross over the former’s public call for Apple to buy back $150-billion in stock has become a forum for sniping over each other’s charitable giving, Bloomberg writes.

Mr. Icahn’s Apple campaign had already attracted considerable social-media attention when Mr. Gross, of the Pacific Investment Management Investment Co., tweeted last week, “Icahn should leave #Apple alone & spend more time like Bill Gates. If #Icahn’s so smart, use it to help people not yourself.” Mr. Gross added that he too should be more like Bill and Melinda Gates, whom he called “paragons.”

On Monday Mr. Icahn tweeted back at Mr. Gross, “If you really want to do good, why not join givingpledge.org like Gates, I and many others have?” Mr. Icahn signed the Giving Pledge in December 2010, committing to donate half of his approximately $21-billion fortune.

Mr. Gross, whose net worth is estimated at $2-billion, is not listed as a signer on the Giving Pledge Web site, but he has endowed a $293-million foundation. In a Bloomberg blog post, business columnist Jonathan Weil writes that while Mr. Gross introduced the issue of giving to the exchange, Mr. Icahn’s retort “violates the Giving Pledge’s spirit. It isn’t supposed to be used as a cudgel to browbeat one’s critics.”