Apple will donate $2.5 million to victims of Hurricane Sandy, according to an internal memo obtained by 9to5Mac. The charitable gift comes on top of untold millions raised by Apple customers for the American Red Cross through a special page on iTunes.
Apple originally launched the Hurricane Sandy relief page in iTunes on November 1, just days after the storm decimated communities up the East Coast, including towns and cities in New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Apple iTunes customers can give amounts ranging from $5 to $200 through the page.
Sandy is said to be the second most-costly hurricane in U.S. history, after 2005′s Hurricane Katrina. Eleven days after Sandy made landfall, around 265,000 homes in New Jersey, and more than 168,000 in Long Island remain without electricity. An untold number of people are displaced or homeless because of the storm.
News of Apple’s donation follows a joint project between Silicon Valley vacation rental starup Airbnb and the New York City Mayor’s Office, which are urging Airbnb hosts (or anyone with a bit of extra room) to lend out their space to displaced Sandy victims for free. As of this writing, more than 530 hosts have signed up for the effort.
Apple’s charitable giving has increased under CEO Tim Cook. In February, Cook revealed that the company had given a total of about $150 million to charity, a large number, but a small fraction of the electronic giant’s approximately $117 billion in cash it had on hand, as of this summer.
That was generous of them and $2.5 million is better then nothing.
Tried to post a reply to one of the comments below, but it seems not to have worked… How can any of you be COMPLAINING about this, saying “IT’S NOT ENOUGH”?? Great job at looking a gift horse in the mouth and showing a COMPLETE LACK of anything resembling appreciation! This 2.5 million is on top of the other millions they have helped raise in donations. Apple was under no obligation to add to the pot, but I’d say $2.5 million dollars is a pretty large chunk of change to give away as a donation! Americans need to get off the hand out train and start appreciating what is given to them freely for a change! Bad things happen, and when they do, no one OWES you a solution or a way to buy one, so when it’s given freely show some damned gratitude and respect to those who reached into their pockets instead of ranting that they didn’t reach deep enough for crying out loud!!
2.5 Million?!? That’s it.. Your a multi-Billion Dollar company and you give 2.5 Million.. Ok.
I agree! I was shocked, kept looking at the MILLION part of the donation, 2.5 MILLION??? That is PEANUTS. It’s probably the amount the executives thought was the minimum they could possibly give without being accused of being stingy tight wads!
Maybe learn a bit about basic economics.
Public traded companies like Apple can’t go around giving all their money to charity when they feel like, the money belongs to the shareholders. It’s not Tim Cook’s money.
After ripping off the U.S. or 100′s of Millions of dollars, by not pay proper taxes and investing primarily in offshore interests so profits go overseas! 2.5 Million – Big Deal – chicken feed in comparison.