Tech billionaire Bill Gates has announced his intention to donate 99 percent of his wealth over the next two decades, with plans for his philanthropy, the Gates Foundation, to cease operations by 2045.
In a statement released on Thursday, Gates also strongly criticized fellow billionaire Elon Musk, an advisor to former US President, for his efforts to reduce United States funding for essential aid, such as food and medical assistance, in developing nations.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times, referencing Musk’s collaboration with the former US administration to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
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Gates, whose current estimated net worth is around $108 billion, has long been a prominent figure in philanthropy, particularly in the area of medical aid for impoverished countries.
He has also become a symbol of the significant influence that such vast wealth can exert on areas ranging from politics to global health.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates opposed the relaxation of patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines to enable poorer nations to produce their own versions more quickly. He argued that this would harm innovation and intellectual property rights.
Critics accused him of promoting “vaccine apartheid” and questioned whether his substantial funding of organizations like the vaccine group Gavi and the World Health Organization gives him disproportionate influence in global health without sufficient public oversight and accountability.
Over the years, Gates has consistently stated his commitment to giving away the majority of his considerable fortune. While his current net worth is approximately $108 billion, he anticipates the foundation will spend a total of about $200 billion by 2045, contingent on inflation and market conditions.
“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,” the 69-year-old co-founder of Microsoft wrote in a post on his website. “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people,” he added.
Gates also expressed concern over the US’s reduced involvement in global health and humanitarian aid, offering a veiled criticism of the former US administration. “It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” he said.
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