r/nextfuckinglevel 2d ago

Billionaire speaker Robert F. Smith tells 400 graduates he's paying off all their student loans ($40 million in total)

13.1k Upvotes

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1.1k

u/Poppanaattori89 2d ago

So inspirational. I really liked this part of his speech:

"Instead of getting the free education you deserve, here's some dirty money that I don't deserve to try to distract you from the fact that I don't deserve it."

408

u/WZAWZDB13 2d ago

"I'll have made it back using questionable business practices before you've found a job."

141

u/nikdahl 1d ago

This mother fucker bought the company I worked for, then layed me off. He can get fucked like every other billionaire.

47

u/Qaaarl 1d ago

But what are 5 things you’ve done today? (Hard /s )

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u/WZAWZDB13 1d ago

1) Called this guy an asshole 2) 4 other things

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u/Bald_Nightmare 16h ago

You're hired

-25

u/MagicHarmony 1d ago

Exactly. Its so disingenuous.  He gave .0037% of his net worth away. What a saint and scholar. We should all be so lucky to have .0037% of our wealth to carry that much weight but for the average American that would be $148. 

13

u/ninenineten 1d ago

Check your math, no shot this is correct

10

u/lolwut19 1d ago

they’re a little bit off, I’m assuming they calculated by average or median income vs net worth. that being said, the numbers are still disgusting.

“…in October 2024, Forbes reported Smith’s net worth to be $10.8 billion, and that he was the 88th richest person in the United States.”

40 million divided by 10.8 billion = 0.0037

the median net worth in the US is $192,700. the average net worth is $1,063,700.

192,700*0.0037=712.99

1,063,700*0.0037=3,935.69

edit: average income in the US is $39,982.

39982*0.0037=147.933, so that’s where they got the $148 figure

2

u/FritterEnjoyer 1d ago

.37% is literally 100 times larger than 0.0037%. That’s quite a bit more than “a little bit off” lol.

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u/lolwut19 1d ago

what are you talking about? “.37%” isn’t used anywhere in mine or their calculations

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u/FritterEnjoyer 1d ago

Ahh my bad, I assumed everybody opining on math here could convert decimals to percentages.

Real quick bud, google what .0037 is once converted to a percentage. It’ll blow your mind.

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u/lolwut19 1d ago

you understand there’s a way to talk to people without sounding like a miserable cunt right?

-3

u/FritterEnjoyer 1d ago

what are you talking about? “.37%” isn’t used anywhere in mine or their calculations

Bud, you’re the one that started with the posturing here. You’re just mad that you sounded like a jackass and I decided to match your energy.

1

u/lnterGalacticPotato 1d ago

You are obv correct in the math, but you seem to have taken his response in a more negative tone than it was likely intended. And even if he was being a jackass, do you have to take his eye out for it?

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u/WZAWZDB13 1d ago

I think a lot of people don't really grasp how insanely much a billion is.

Someone with a single billion can give away 99,9% of their wealth and still be a millionaire, something most people won't ever be.

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u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface 1d ago

The difference between $1 billion and $1 million is about $1 billion.

3

u/Blake404 1d ago

0.0037 is 0.37%, still crazy.. but you gotta multiply by 100 when calculating percent :)