Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced plans to donate 99% of his massive fortune over the next 20 years, aiming to wind down his foundation by 2045. "I don’t want people saying ‘he died rich’ when I’m gone," Gates, 69, wrote in a blog post on Thursday.
Gates said the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has already given $100 billion to health and development initiatives and expects to distribute another $200 billion, depending on markets and inflation, over the next two decades. He referenced Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay, The Gospel of Wealth, which argues that the wealthy have a duty to give back, quoting Carnegie: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
This pledge marks a faster pace of giving. Originally, Gates and his ex-wife Melinda planned for the foundation to operate for decades after their deaths. Speaking to the BBC’s Newshour on Thursday, Gates explained the shift: “It’s about urgency. We can spend more if we’re not trying to last forever, and I know the spending will reflect my values.” Even after giving away 99% of his wealth, Gates, ranked by Bloomberg as the world’s fifth-richest person with a $108 billion net worth, could still be a billionaire. In his blog, he shared a timeline showing his wealth dropping near zero by 2045, with the foundation tapping its endowment for the $200 billion.
Gates, who co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, stepped away from the company over time, leaving his CEO role in 2000 and chairmanship in 2014. Inspired by philanthropists like Warren Buffett, Gates has faced criticism that his foundation avoids taxes and wields too much influence over global health.
In his blog, Gates outlined three goals for the foundation: wiping out preventable diseases killing mothers and children, eradicating infectious diseases like malaria and measles, and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. He criticized the U.S., UK, and France for slashing foreign aid budgets, writing, “It’s unclear if the world’s richest countries will keep supporting its poorest people.” He added that the foundation will focus on helping people and nations escape poverty.
In the Newshour interview, Gates sharply criticized tech billionaire Elon Musk, accusing him of causing child deaths through U.S. aid cuts tied to the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). “These cuts will kill millions of children,” Gates said. He also addressed Musk’s false claim, later retracted, that a canceled grant to a hospital in Mozambique’s Gaza Province was funding condoms “for Hamas” in Gaza. Gates clarified the funds were for preventing HIV transmission from mothers to babies, saying, “I’m disappointed [Musk] made abrupt cuts and mischaracterized them. This is serious stuff.”