Bill Gates unloads on Elon Musk and increases humanitarian aid to $9 billion a year

As he celebrates the 25th anniversary of the foundation he co-founded with his ex-wife in 2000, Bill Gates announces his intention to close the organization by 2045 and donate almost his entire fortune by then.

Bill Gates said the world’s poorest would receive some $200 billion via his foundation as he pledged to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades, at a time when governments worldwide are slashing international aid reut.rs/3StcPn2

— Reuters (@reuters.com) 2025-05-08T12:49:47.882Z

In an interview with the New York Times, Bill Gates reveals that he has recently revised his plans to accelerate the donation of almost his entire fortune through the Gates Foundation. By accelerating the liquidation of his fortune, Bill Gates plans to add $3 billion a year to his humanitarian aid budget, bringing it to a total of $9 billion annually for the next 20 years.

He points out that this decision is motivated by the major budget cuts implemented by Elon Musk and Donald Trump since they recently came to power, particularly those targeting the US agency USAID, even though humanitarian aid had already been severely weakened in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The billionaire describes the massive cuts imposed on USAID as “stunning”, well beyond the expected 20%, with an estimate as high as 80%. He argues that these cuts affect programs of crucial global importance, and that the resulting damage risks dramatically undoing the progress made over the past 25 years in humanitarian aid and research, particularly in relation to child mortality.

The billionaire points out that, in his view, the massive humanitarian aid of the last 25 years has reduced the number of child deaths worldwide from 10 million to 5 million a year.

He estimates that this figure could have fallen to 4 million this year. However, with the drastic cuts imposed by the DOGE program, headed by Elon Musk in accordance with the wishes of Donald Trump and his administration, the number of deaths could now rise again to 6 million a year.

Bill Gates has some harsh words for Elon Musk, saying that while he might become a great philanthropist one day, for now he’s “the world’s richest man involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children”.

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