Bill Gates announced that he will be donate 99 percent of his fortune through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years.
The Microsoft billionaire made the announcement in a blog post, saying he was inspired to make the commitment by Andrew Carnegie’s critique of wealth accumulation.
Currently, Gates ranks as the world’s fifth richest person with a $168 billion fortune. In the post, Gates emphasised, “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 Gates Foundation was established in 2000 by Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates. He wrote after giving away ‘virtually all’ of his wealth, the foundation will close on December 31st, 2045. Originally, the Foundation was set to shutdown 20 years after his death.
Gates stated he believes the foundation can now achieve its goals on a shorter timeline: “By accelerating our giving, my hope is we can put the world on a path to ending preventable deaths of moms and babies and lifting millions of people out of poverty.”
In the blog post, Gates acknowledged that donations cannot compensate for multibillion-dollar foreign aid cuts by the U.S. and other wealthy nations. He also critiqued the actions of some billionaires and their contributions to gutting U.S. aid programs. In reference to Elon Musk and his role in DOGE, Gates said “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.”
Some experts have voiced concern that the Foundation is too big to scrutinise, stressing the group’s lack of transparency, spending priorities and its veto power over global health institutions are alarming.
