Back in 2015 Mark Zuckerberg and his wife gave $75 million to San Francisco’s public hospital. They name the hospital after them. Ten years later they can’t change the name without giving the money back.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s adopted hometown of San Francisco on Tuesday formally condemned the naming of a major hospital after him and his wife…
Activists on both the left and the right have grown sharply critical of big tech companies like Facebook. And simultaneously, there is a building backlash movement to charitable gifts from the mega rich.
The 10-1 vote is a manifestation of each of those crosscurrents, which both run particularly strong in liberal San Francisco. The measure has no legal force and is merely symbolic.
Selling “naming rights” is big business. For decades, the convention center on the Detroit riverfront was “Cobo Hall”, named after a former mayor. Then money changed hands, and it became “TCF Center” (TCF Bank). Then more money changed hands, and it is now “Huntington Place” (Huntington Bank).
pop culture tidbit: the opening of the original “Robocop”, which is set in Detroit, has an evening shot of a city skyline.
The helo that took that shot flew directly over Cobo Hall. The while lights visible just below the “Roboco” title are on the rooftop parking lot of Cobo. The tall building in the background, with the red light on top, is the Penobscot Building, an art deco landmark, built in 1928.
