Bill Gates to give away fortune by 2045 via foundation, accuses Musk of harming world’s poor
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Mr Bill Gates said he was speeding up plans to divest his fortune and close the Gates Foundation on Dec 31, 2045.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
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LONDON - Mr Bill Gates pledged on May 8 to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades and said the world’s poorest would receive some US$200 billion (S$259 billion) via his foundation at a time when governments worldwide are slashing international aid.
The Microsoft co-founder also hit out at Mr Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key figure in President Donald Trump’s administration, accusing him of “killing the world’s poorest children” with huge cuts to the US aid budget.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Mr Gates told the Financial Times.
The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has led to the decimation of the US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Mr Gates and Mr Musk once agreed over the role of the wealthy in giving away money, but have since clashed several times.
Mr Gates, 69, said he was speeding up plans to divest his fortune and close the Gates Foundation on Dec 31, 2045.
“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” he wrote in a post on his website.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold on to resources that could be used to help people.”
In an implicit rebuke to Mr Trump’s slashing of aid from the US, the world’s biggest donor, Mr Gates’ statement said he wanted to help stop newborn babies, children and mothers dying of preventable causes, end diseases like polio, malaria and measles, and reduce poverty.
“It is unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” he added, noting cuts from major donors, including Britain and France.
Mr Gates said that despite the foundation’s deep pockets, progress would not be possible without government support.
He praised the response to aid cuts in Africa, where some governments have reallocated budgets, but said that as an example, polio would not be eradicated without US funding.
Mr Gates made the announcement on the foundation’s 25th anniversary. He set up the organisation with his then wife Melinda French Gates in 2000, and they were later joined by investor Warren Buffett.
“I have come a long way since I was just a kid starting a software company with my friend from middle school,” he said.
Foundation has given US$100 billion
Since its inception, the foundation has given away US$100 billion, helping to save millions of lives and backing initiatives like the vaccine group Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
It will close after it spends around 99 per cent of his personal fortune, Mr Gates said. The founders originally expected the foundation to wrap up in the decades after their deaths.
Mr Gates, who is valued at around US$108 billion today, expects the foundation to spend around US$200 billion by 2045, with the final figure dependent on markets and inflation.
The foundation is already a huge player in global health, with an annual budget that will reach US$9 billion by 2026.
It has faced criticism for its outsize power and influence in the field without the requisite accountability, including at the World Health Organisation.
Mr Gates himself was also subject to conspiracy theories
He has also spoken to US President Donald Trump several times in recent months on the importance of continued investment in global health.
“I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world’s poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving, because it is such a profoundly impactful way to give back to society,” Mr Gates wrote. REUTERS
