© Kuhlmann / MSC
In a series of tweets, Bill Gates says he wants to use almost all of his fortune to help humanity meet the challenges it faces. The co-founder of Microsoft announces that he will probably no longer be one of the richest men in the world.
We no longer need to introduce Bill Gates who, for a long time, was at the head of the ranking of the richest men in the world. The former leader of Microsoft, who recently released one of his first CVs, shares his desire to put his fortune at the service of humanity.
Bill Gates wants to disappear from the list of the richest men
In a blog post and through several tweets, Bill Gates announced his desire to use the money at his disposal differently:
“In the future, I plan to donate almost all of my fortune to the foundation. I will go down and eventually disappear from the list of the richest people in the world. »
He takes the opportunity to draw up an observation on the challenges facing humanity today. He describes the Covid-19 pandemic as “one of the greatest setbacks in history” and the war in Ukraine as “a gigantic tragedy for the whole world”. He also points to climate change, the damage to which “is already worse than most models predicted”, as well as the decisions taken by the United States against abortion as “a huge step backwards for the equality of gender and women’s health. »
But Bill Gates says he remains optimistic and confident for the future. Bill and Melinda Gates, now divorced, together created the Gates Foundation in 2000 to help solve the big problems we face: reducing child mortality, improving food security, improving education, achieving equality of gender, eradicate disease, fight pandemics and “mitigate” (unable to stop) climate change.
He appeals to other great fortunes
To give themselves the means to achieve their ambitions, Bill and Melinda Gates plan to increase the foundation’s spending from six billion dollars a year today to nine billion dollars a year by 2026. An ambitious objective to which it will contribute Bill Gates by transferring $20 billion of his personal wealth.
As I look to the future, I plan to give virtually all of my wealth to the foundation. I will move down and eventually off the list of the world’s richest people.
—Bill Gates (@BillGates) July 13, 2022
He also thanks his friend Warren Buffet for his generosity. Indeed, the legendary investor would be at the origin of half of the resources of the foundation. Without naming them, Bill Gates also benefits from it, a foot call to other great world fortunes. We obviously think of Elon Musk, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, boss of Amazon and Blue Origin.
“I have an obligation to return my resources to society in the way that has the most impact in reducing suffering and improving lives. And I hope other people in positions of great wealth and privilege will also go down this path. »
Bill Gates