What's your point? You make it sound as if he's hypocritically passing off his action as an altruistic gesture.
Bottom line is: it was a smart tax move. He created a company worth a lot of money. He wanted to "donate to charity" as efficiently as possible.
What he did ended up benefiting his charity a lot more than if he had made a donation after selling the company first. The fact that he is sitting pretty doesn't change that fact.
I think several people on HN could end up benefiting from doing the same thing. Either because the numbers work out to their advantage, or because they are willing to make a small hit to stiff the tax man, or they just really want to help out some cause such as their school etc.
Bottom line is: it was a smart tax move. He created a company worth a lot of money. He wanted to "donate to charity" as efficiently as possible.
What he did ended up benefiting his charity a lot more than if he had made a donation after selling the company first. The fact that he is sitting pretty doesn't change that fact.