Bill Gates, intends to donate virtually all of his wealth to the foundation bearing his name, which would eventually remove him from the list of the world’s richest individuals.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 2000 by the multibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft and his then-wife Melinda, is expected to spend $9 billion yearly by 2026, up from its current $6 billion.
“To help make this spending increase possible, I am transferring $20bn to the foundation’s endowment this month,” Gates announced on Twitter.
The co-founder of Microsoft revealed via a Twitter thread that he was moving $20 billion to the foundation’s endowment this month in order to expand expenditure to $9 billion annually by 2026, citing the pandemic’s setbacks, the crisis in Ukraine, and other causes.
“As I look to the future, I plan to give virtually all of my wealth to the foundation,” Gates said. “I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world’s richest people.”
He also expressed gratitude to renowned businessman and billionaire Warren Buffet for his longtime commitment to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and said his “incredible generosity is a huge reason why the foundation has been able to be so ambitious.”
Buffett, Gates, and Melinda French Gates founded an initiative called The Giving Pledge in 2010 as a “movement of philanthropists who commit to giving the majority of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes, either during their lifetimes or in their wills.” Its garnered signatures from over 200 billionaires across the world.
“I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for reducing suffering and improving lives,” Gates wrote. “And I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up at this moment too.”
Given his longstanding commitment to addressing global challenges like climate change, Gates has been vociferous about the need to donate his money for a long time. Given how much of his wealth he gives away, he has even said that his children won’t inherit it and grow up to be billionaires.
He has a current net worth of $114 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index.
Source: businessinsider.com
