Tech tycoons get the ice bucket treatment

Microsoft's Bill Gates, HP's Meg Whitman and Cisco's John Chambers get soaked to raise money for ALS support

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has hit the channel, with chief executives of some of the biggest tech companies volunteering to take part and donate to related charities.

Microsoft's Bill Gates, HP's Meg Whitman and Cisco's John Chambers are among the tech leaders to have taken part in the challenge, which aims to raise money for charities supporting those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or motor neurone disease as it is known in the UK.

The challenge involves a bucket of icy water being thrown over the head of a nominated person, who donates cash and in turn gets to nominate three others to take part.

Celebrity involvement and support from the ALS Association have buoyed the popularity of the challenge, videos of which have spread quickly across the internet throughout this week.

Well-known faces such as David Beckham, George W Bush and Simon Cowell have taken part in the challenge so far, along with a handful of familiar faces from the technology world.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates (pictured, right) took part in the challenge after being nominated by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, and HP chief executive Meg Whitman also took the plunge (See videos below).

NetApp boss Tom Georgens also endured an icy soaking, nominating John Chambers, leader of his firm's partner Cisco, to do the same. On completing the challenge, Cisco's Chambers nominated EMC's chief executive Joe Tucci to take part.

The ALS Foundation claims the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised $41.8m (£25.20m) so far.

Microsoft's Bill Gates

HP's Meg Whitman