Tech billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is known for his philanthropic works across the world. And on May 8, Gates announced that he will donate his remaining 99% wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the next 20 years. He also shared that the Gates Foundation would close its operations by 2045.Bill Gates, 69, has a personal wealth of $168 billion and this makes him the fifth richest man in the world, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires’ Index.He posted about his decision on his personal blog. He wrote, “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… There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned.”The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports many causes including global health and education; it has also made a sustained effort to eliminate poverty. According to Associated Press (AP), the foundation’s donation will be distributed over time, thus enabling it to spend an additional $200 billion over the next 20 years. This makes Gates’ pledge to donate his remaining wealth as one of the most significant philanthropic contributions ever made by an industrialist, surpassing even the historic donations of American titans like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.
How much wealth will Bill Gates’ children inherit?
Bill Gates was married to Melinda French Gates for 27 years, and the duo got divorced in May 2021– a news that shocked the world. Bill Gates has three children with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, namely– Jennifer Gates Nassar, Rory Gates, and Phoebe Gates.Over the years, Bill Gates has been quite vocal about his children not inheriting much of his wealth– and his reason will surprise you. Recently, he also spoke about this to Raj Shamani in an interview. Gates said, “Well, I think everybody gets to decide on that. In my case, my kids got a great upbringing, education, but less than 1% of the total wealth because I decided it wouldn’t be a favour to them. It’s not a dynasty. I’m not asking them to run Microsoft.I want to give them a chance to have their own earnings and success, be significant and not overshadowed by the incredible luck and good fortune I had.”Gates added, “Different families see that differently. I think the people who’ve made fortunes from technology are less dynastic and so they’ll even take their capital and give a lot of that away. You can have the view of giving away your capital or just giving away your earnings. And, of course, I love all philanthropy, but the tech sector is probably the most aggressive about giving most of it away.”What are your views on Bill Gates’ decision to give away only less than 1% of his wealth to his children? Tell us in the comments section below.
