Bill Gates announced Thursday that he will give away "virtually all" of his remaining fortune - estimated at over $100 billion - through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by 2045, after which the organization will close permanently. The move, billed by the foundation as the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history, comes as Gates also issued sharp criticism of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk for slashing international aid budgets.
The Microsoft co-founder, currently worth $108 billion, said the foundation would distribute roughly $200 billion over the next two decades. "People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' will not be one of them," Gates wrote in a blog post. "There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people."
The Gates Foundation, created in 2000 with Melinda French Gates, has already distributed more than $100 billion. It plans to accelerate spending to an annual $9 billion by 2026, focusing on three main goals: ending preventable maternal and child deaths, eradicating infectious diseases like polio and malaria, and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.
Gates' announcement coincides with global retrenchment in public aid spending. In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates blamed Musk - now the richest man in the world and head of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency - for cuts to USAID and other foreign aid programs. "The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," Gates said.
Trump's return to the White House in January brought sweeping reductions to U.S. foreign aid, echoing his previous term's confrontations with global health institutions. Gates said the foundation's ability to deliver impact has been undermined by these cuts. "It's unclear whether the world's richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people," he said.
The foundation has drawn criticism for its outsize influence in global health, including from some quarters of the World Health Organization. Gates acknowledged these tensions, noting that government funding remains essential.
Despite longstanding cooperation, Gates and Musk have increasingly clashed over philanthropy and public health. While Musk and some conservative officials call for reducing dependence on government aid, Gates has doubled down on efforts to address poverty, disease, and inequity through large-scale public-private collaboration.
Founded with an endowment now worth $77 billion, the Gates Foundation is expected to exhaust its assets and Gates' remaining fortune by the time it shutters on December 31, 2045. The plan accelerates the original vision of winding down the foundation decades after Gates' death.
"I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world's poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving," Gates wrote.
