Bill Gates marked the 25th years of the Gates Foundation with an event celebrating its achievements so far at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Valerie Terranopva-Gates Archive
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates warned Thursday that cuts to foreign aid programs by the Trump administration were already leading to higher rates of HIV cases and more deaths of young children from preventable diseases. But he hopes he can convince President Trump and his administration not to drastically reduce the budget for these aid programs.
“The money is still in the [U.S. Agency for International Development] budget for this year. Some of it’s being spent and some of it’s not being spent,” Gates told Forbes in a video interview on Thursday afternoon. The outcome of the sudden end to some of the aid programs? “The majority of the lifesaving [programs] are cut off, and we’re seeing the HIV infections and deaths go up for the first time in this century because of that.”
Early Thursday, in an interview with CBS, Gates spelled out how there will be 2 million more deaths of children under age five if the aid program cuts are not reversed. A user of the social media site X shared the clip, captioning it “Bill Gates: Doge will cost 2 million lives.” Elon Musk replied to that post saying that Gates is “a huge liar.” Gates, when asked by Forbes about Musk’s comment, said “I just don’t think Elon has spent that much time with USAID. I mean, he was willing to characterize its employees in a negative way. But I’ve been with the USAID employees in Nigeria. I’ve been with USAID employees in the DRC. I’ve seen the work that was done.”
“It’s pretty objective who was right and who was wrong,” Gates went on to say. “I respectfully disagree.”
In a February post on X, Musk called USAID a “criminal organization and it has to die,” but did not cite any evidence of criminality.
Gates’ call with Forbes on Thursday happened just hours after he announced that he will be donating 99% of his fortune to his foundation in the years to come and shutting his charitable Gates Foundation in two decades’ time. Forbes estimates Gates’ fortune at $113 billion; the foundation currently has about $77 billion in assets. Over 20 years the foundation plans to give away about $200 billion. It’s on track to distribute $9 billion next year, and that amount could rise to $10 billion or more annually, depending on how the stock markets do, Gates said.
To part with 99% of his current fortune, Gates plans to donate “billions a year” to his foundation. “It won’t be equal [amounts] every year because it’ll somewhat depend on what’s going on with the markets,” he explained. “My will is very clear that when I die, all that money goes into the foundation and they would have to figure out what they do with assets.”
In recent years, Gates’ donations to his foundation have varied greatly. He made a $20 billion gift in 2022, followed by $177 million in 2023, the most recent filing available. Since 2020, Bill and Melinda Gates (who divorced in 2021) have donated $60 billion to the Gates Foundation, according to the foundation.
Bill Gates shared this slide at an event on May 8 announcing plans to sunset the Gates Foundation in two decades—and donate most of his fortune to the foundation over the coming years.
Courtesy of Gates Foundation
Despite having a fortune that exceeds $100 billion, Gates’ giving over the years has impacted his ranking among the world’s richest. From 1995 to 2017, Gates was the richest person in the world on Forbes annual World’s Billionaires list in all but five of those years (when he was No. 2 or No. 3 richest). Last year Gates dropped to No. 7 (with a fortune of $128 billion) and in April he ranked No. 13. As he gives away more of his fortune, his rank will almost undoubtedly continue to fall.
Looking ahead, his foundation plans to continue working to improve lives around the world, with a focus on global health and the goal that no mother, baby or child dies of preventable causes. Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman both spoke Thursday about continuing efforts to eradicate polio and reduce the impact of malaria–part of a larger foundation goal to reduce the spread of infectious disease. In a press conference, Suzman described the foundation’s work to come up with better bed nets and using new technological tools to make it so mosquitoes can’t carry malaria.
Bill Gates shared this chart to demonstrate some of the work that the Gates Foundation has helped to achieve—in partnership with governments and other philanthropists—since the foundation was launched in 2000.
Courtesy of The Gates Foundation
Gates noted Thursday that he is turning 70 this year and will be 90 in 2045. What if he dies before then? “What happens with the foundation is completely independent of how long I live. If I die tomorrow, it lasts 20 years. If I die 50 years from now, it lasts 20 years,” Gates told Forbes. Those running the foundation now will be tasked with seeing it through for the next two decades, he added. “I hope I’m around because I’m very involved hands-on in terms of the strategy reviews we do and the relationships we have all over the world. If I’m not, I’m confident that at least for that 20 year period, the incredible team we have and how they carry forward, that it will be according to what I would’ve wanted.”
