The reason you're being downvoted is because you're disagreeing with an opinion that isn't held. They aren't getting press for this donation to say "holy shit

The reason you're being downvoted is because you're disagreeing with an opinion that isn't held. They aren't getting press for this donation to say "holy shit he's a wonderful man", they're doing it to encourage others to donate. As the quote in the article says, "This grant is an important endorsement of the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, and I hope it will send a signal". To people who know who he is, it's a personal endorsement, to people who don't, then a $500k donation looks huge and acts as an endorsement in itself. Additionally, it acts as a human interests piece to remind people that they too should donate - i.e. this story gives sites like VB the chance to write about it.