Bill Gates has announced he will give away 99 per cent of his remaining wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next 20 years. This move will accelerate plans to pour roughly US $200 billion into global health and development efforts.
The 69‑year‑old Microsoft co‑founder said he will close the foundation on December 31, 2045 to focus resources on eradicating diseases and reducing poverty.
Gates said he would direct the funds toward ending preventable deaths among women and children, wiping out polio and malaria, and tackling inequity worldwide.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people,” he wrote on his personal website. Gates noted that successful partnerships with vaccine alliances, the Global Fund and other initiatives have already saved millions of lives.
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In a sharp rebuke of Elon Musk, Gates accused the world’s richest man of “killing the world’s poorest children” after Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slashed about 80 per cent of USAID’s budget.
Musk has boasted of feeding the agency “into the wood chipper,” leaving programs that once disbursed US $44 billion facing severe cuts. Gates warned these reductions risk reversing decades of progress in reducing global mortality, predicting “millions more deaths” unless governments restore funding.
Gates said his foundation and other philanthropies cannot fill the gaps left by retreating governments and urged Congress to reverse the cuts. He expressed hope that wealthy nations will recommit to aid over the next two decades, particularly in regions that have reallocated domestic budgets to cushion the impact in Africa.
Gates said he has discussed global health funding with President Joe Biden’s administration and spoken twice with former President Donald Trump since January 20. He stressed that sustaining government investment is essential to maintain momentum against polio, malaria and other threats.
“The world does have values, that’s what my parents taught me,” he said, underscoring his belief that moral responsibility should drive continued support for the poorest people.
Making the pledge on the foundation’s 25th anniversary, Gates noted that the final total could vary with market performance and inflation. However, he maintains he remains committed to deploying nearly all his fortune to leave the world better than he found it.