Billionaire Bill Gates slammed Elon Musk as he pledged to donate the vast majority of his fortune over the next years, saying the South African is "killing the world's poorest children" through his role in dismantling aid provided by the United States.
Speaking to the Financial Times, said the abrupt manner in which the Trump administration has cut funding for aid and medicine across the world can lead to the return of diseases such as HIV and polio. "The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one," he said.
"I'd love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money," Gates added.
The criticism comes on the same day in which Gates announced plans to accelerate the spending of most of his fortune over the next 20 years. He expects his foundation to spend over $200 billion, doubling the amount from the past 25 years. Once the period expires, the Gates Foundation will close its doors.
Gates said his decision seeks to maximize the impact of the investment and increase the changes of finding the way to eradicate polio and cure HIV. "We'll have a lot more money because we're spending down over the 20 years, as opposed to making an effort to be a perpetual foundation," Gates said. The billionaire added that the increase won't offset the hole left by the cuts to USAID, which had a budget of $44 billion for 2025.
The outlet recalled that Musk signed the Giving Pledge launched by Bill and Melinda Gates, now his ex wife, promising to donate at least half their wealth. However, quoting Musk's biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk later told Gates that philanthropy was mostly nonsense and commercial solutions to issues like climate change were more effective.
Gates is set to leave less than 1% of his wealth to his children. He said that he supports a strong estate tax to prevent "dynastic wealth" and that "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." According to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, Gates' fortune amounts to $168 billion on Thursday, meaning that 1% of his wealth would be around $1.68 billion.
© 2025 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
