Gates Pledges His Fortune To Save Lives, Calls Out Billionaire Musk For Cruel Cuts Affecting Poor Children

India-West News Desk

SEATTLE, WA – Bill Gates is giving away his money—and in doing so, hopes to save millions of lives.

During a time marked by widespread economic turmoil, mass layoffs, and deep cuts to social services in the US, Bill Gates’ decision to accelerate the giveaway of his fortune stands in stark contrast to the prevailing trend of growing inequality. As billionaires continue to amass wealth at unprecedented rates, Gates is moving in the opposite direction—committing to spend down nearly his entire fortune by 2045 to help the world’s most vulnerable.

While the Trump administration and other governments scale back support for the poor, and safety nets are being dismantled, Gates is doubling down on efforts to reduce child mortality, eradicate disease, and fight poverty, underscoring what he calls a moral imperative to act when others are stepping back.

The Microsoft co-founder announced a bold new timeline for his philanthropic mission: to give away nearly all of his estimated $108 billion fortune by 2045, through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation will shut its doors on December 31, 2045, after spending approximately $200 billion to tackle some of the world’s most urgent problems—diseases like polio and malaria, preventable deaths among women and children, and entrenched global poverty.

“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,” Gates wrote on his website. “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”

Since its founding, the Gates Foundation has already spent $100 billion, contributing to what experts describe as transformative gains in global health. It will now double that figure in the next two decades, with an annual budget projected to hit $9 billion by 2026.

But Gates emphasized that even this staggering amount will not be enough on its own. “Progress is not possible without government support,” he said, noting that international aid remains the backbone of global development efforts. In particular, he warned that philanthropic spending cannot replace the power—and responsibility—of wealthy governments.

“It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people,” Gates wrote, pointing to aid cuts not just from the U.S., but also from traditional donors like Britain and France.

That brings him to the second part of his announcement: a direct and unprecedented rebuke of Elon Musk.

Gates accused Musk—now the world’s richest man and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under President Donald Trump—of enabling devastating foreign aid cuts that are reversing decades of progress in global health.

“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times.

He was even more blunt in an interview with Reuters, warning that mortality rates are now set to rise for the first time in a generation. “The number of deaths will start going up for the first time … it’s going to be millions more deaths because of the resources,” Gates said. “I think governments will come back to caring about children surviving” in the long term, he added.

Gates and Musk were once aligned in their views on philanthropy, but their relationship has soured in recent years. While Gates has spent billions tackling global crises, Musk has pushed for aggressive domestic cost-cutting, including drastic reductions in the U.S. foreign aid budget through DOGE.

Despite the tension, Gates is pressing ahead with what may be one of the most ambitious philanthropic undertakings in history. The foundation, originally expected to wind down after the deaths of its founders, will now close within Gates’ own lifetime.

While the foundation has faced criticism for its immense influence and lack of transparency—especially in global health governance—its impact is undeniable. It has played a key role in campaigns to eliminate diseases, fund vaccine programs, and improve access to basic healthcare across the developing world.

Gates has also had recent conversations with President Trump, speaking twice since the president’s return to office in January, he confirmed to Reuters.

With this pledge, Gates says he is accelerating—not just his giving, but his sense of urgency.

“There is still time to change course,” he wrote. “But not much.”