MMicrosoft founder Bill Gates wants to transfer around 20 billion US dollars to his foundation immediately. “I intend to give practically my entire fortune to the foundation. I will slide down the list of the richest people in the world and eventually disappear altogether,” the 66-year-old wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
In a post on his blog, Gates explained that the $20 billion will increase the Gates Foundation’s budget from $6 billion before the coronavirus pandemic to $9 billion a year by 2026 . He founded the foundation with his wife Melinda, from whom he is now divorced. “I don’t consider giving this money as a sacrifice,” Gates wrote. The sum should be transferred later this month. He wants to transfer all his wealth to the foundation, except for what he needs for himself and his family.
In the post, Gates lists the most important goals of his foundation as preventing further pandemics, reducing child mortality, eradicating diseases, improving food security and education, achieving gender equality and combating climate change. The foundation and its partners should help to advance innovations in these areas that “can make a big difference”.
Gates also explicitly mentions the major American investor Warren Buffet, who provided more or less half of the entire financial resources of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Since 2006, Buffett, who runs the world-famous investment company Berkshire Hathaway and was a trustee of the Gates Foundation until last year, has donated almost 40 billion US dollars, most recently 3.1 billion US dollars in June of this year. Buffet and Gates have pledged to donate the majority of their wealth through The Giving Pledge, an initiative they co-founded.
Bill Gates, who founded what later became the IT giant Microsoft together with Paul Allen in 1975, is considered one of the richest people in the world. According to Forbes magazine, the 65-year-old is said to be worth more than 102 billion US dollars (which currently corresponds to around 100 billion euros). This puts him fifth on the global super-rich list. He led this for many years. The first two places are currently occupied by Tesla founder Elon Musk with an estimated fortune of 219 billion US dollars and Amazon boss Jeff Bezos (171 billion US dollars).
