Why would someone donate millions of dollars to a project that is grossly over-budgeted? Check this out.
A billionaire co-owner of the L.A. Lakers has offered to donate $20 million to the California courts to help develop a new computer system that already has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars.
The state Judicial Council has agreed to consider the offer, as officials see the proposed donation from Patrick Soon-Shiong as a way to get the troubled project off the backburner. Amid some questions over Soon-Shiong’s intentions and lingering concerns over the sheer cost of the computerized record system itself, the state plans to enter a three-month discussion period over whether to move forward.
Back in February of this year, an audit of the computer system concluded that the project was way over budgeted, but stopped short of suggesting to end it.
I’m sorry, but over a billion dollars for one computer system for one client in a local market does not sound right at all. Someone is getting broke of big time. I’m also a little bit suspicious about a person who does not have the reputation of making bad investments throwing this kind of money into a black hole.
