$400 Million In Student Aid For Students Of Columbia University.
John Werner Kluge a media billionaire entrepreneur is giving away $400 million to Columbia University to be used for student financial aid. This is one of the largest gifts ever to an American university and will be paid out from his estate after his death.
Kluge, a German immigrant, graduated from the Ivy League school about 70 years ago. He attended the school on scholarships and, is thankful for the opportunity that helped him become a successful broadcast entrepreneur.
According to university President Lee C. Bollinger, John's amazing generosity will ensure that young people have a chance to benefit from a Columbia education regardless of their wealth or family income and that his extraordinary gift, coupled with his earlier gifts, will help generations of Columbians.
Kluge bought a single radio station in 1946 for $15,000 and built it into Metromedia Broadcasting by 1960. In 1983, Kluge took Metromedia private and he then sold off the broadcast properties gradually for $4.65 billion.
He was ranked as the wealthiest man in America from 1989-91 and last year, he was listed as the 25th richest American with an estimated net worth of $9.1 billion.
Kluge has in the past, given $100 million to Columbia for the Kluge Scholars Program, which has supported 500 undergraduate students by giving four-year need-based scholarships to 40 to 60 students a year.
As of last year, the Ivy League school had an endowment of more than $5 billion, larger than most universities but smaller than other Ivy League schools.
