Bill Gates has pledged to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades (2045)
He also said the world’s poorest would receive some $200 billion via his foundation at a time when governments worldwide are slashing international aid.
He also hit out at Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key figure in President Donald Trump’s administration, accusing him of “k!lling the world’s poorest children” with huge cuts to the United States aid budget.
“The picture of the world’s richest man k!lling the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” 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), which has previously provided billions in funding for everything from vaccines for children to emergency food assistance.
Gates and Musk once agreed over the role of the wealthy in giving away money, but have since clashed several times.
Gates said he was speeding up plans to divest his fortune and close the Gates Foundation on December 31, 2045.
“People will say a lot of things about me when I d!e, but I am determined that ‘he d!ed rich’ will not be one of them,” the 69-year-old billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist 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.”
In an implicit rebuke to Trump’s slashing of aid since returning to office in January, 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’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” Gates added, noting cuts from major donors including Britain and France alongside the United States, the world’s biggest donor.
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