Bill Gates Talks Charity Vows to Give Away 99% of His Fortune by 2045
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Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts, radio, news. Bill Gates, thank you so much for joining us. Big news today. The Gates Foundation will spend over $200 billion over the next 20 years. It'll close in 2045 and you'll give away virtually all of your wealth to save and improve lives around the world. Is that a consequence of Trump policies and Doge? No, this is a decision I've been thinking about for several years.

You know, we're celebrating our 25th anniversary. The results we've had from our giving, particularly in global health, have been far beyond what I expected, cutting childhood deaths from over 10 million a year down under 5 million. So it's doubling down on what's worked well, and that's despite the fact that in the near term things may go backwards because of these funding cuts.

The decision means you'll probably see the impact of your gifts in your lifetime. Was that a motivation for you? Well, I think the Gates Foundation's

got an incredible team of people and being able to give them as much resources as possible during this key period and actually finish off malaria. So nobody has to think about that. Finish off polio. So it's a done thing. You know, it's thrilling that we can make more progress in the next 25 years than even what we've done so far.

And so it's a vote of confidence. And, you know, I know that there'll be more rich people in the future who can take whatever we haven't finished and take that on. How are you addressing the pullback in U.S. aid and other government development aid?

Well, the foundation will be a strong voice in how impactful that generosity has been. The United States, starting with President Bush in the year 2000, supported HIV medicine so that people wouldn't die. And that's been a bipartisan thing. It's made a huge difference. The Congress, as it's doing the next budget,

We'll decide whether the U.S. supports polio eradication or vaccines for the children in the poorest countries. It's less than 1% of the U.S. budget. So I'm hoping that we can keep that money in place or only have modest reductions, not the gigantic cut that some people are proposing.

You had some pretty strong words for Elon Musk saying he's involved in the deaths of the world's poorest children. Do you think this withdrawal of government support is permanent?

Well, there's no doubt that the USAID payment cutoffs that Elon drove have resulted in a dramatic increase in childhood death and children that would have been protected from getting HIV from their mothers during birth, that money has been cut off. In fact,

They attacked a grant that was actually in Gaza, Mozambique, for being up in Gaza in the Middle East. But in fact, it was HIV prevention money that was cut off. And so we need to look at that.

how this money represents the moral leadership of the U.S. and the relationships we get. And it's not only to save lives, it's to stabilize these countries. It's to have health systems that will catch potential pandemics early and avoid them coming to the United States. So there's a lot of great reasons this less than 1% of the budget shouldn't be cut off. Have you had any conversation with any Trump officials about this?

I've had two meetings with President Trump, and the main focus of those conversations were the great work the U.S. has done on HIV and how we can do even better with that, drive innovations, including a HIV cure. I talked about the need for the U.S. to stay in polio, that they're a critical partner. And so, you know, I think when push comes to shove,

this money should be maintained, although the final word on that will come from the Congress. What has that dialogue look like from the other side? And have you met with Elon Musk? I haven't met with Elon about this. I mean,

In terms of USAID, I'm out in Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo and meeting the amazing people who did that work for USAID and understanding the impact that it has. So that's my hands-on focus is global health. Elon has done great private sector work, but I've never talked to him about what

the cuts that he drove on in USAID. Do you want to? Have you talked to him about anything else recently? Well, he's not actively engaged now, so the decisions will be people like Secretary Rubio, who was in Africa around 2012 and saw the amazing work that PEPFAR did there. So I hope he'll be a voice

for maintaining this money. In the U.S., you have people like Rotary International who've been in the polio eradication fight from the very beginning. And I think they'll support the U.S. stain because the U.S. is an absolutely necessary participant in order for us to finish that eradication. So a lot of voices will come in to this budget, including the global health

miracle that the U.S. has been part of. Given where we are, how are you now prioritizing programs or countries or diseases? Well, the Gates Foundation spends about an equal amount on discovering new tools like a TB vaccine or a way to help newborns

be able to breathe so they survive or avoiding mothers bleeding to death by using very cheap drugs, only a couple of dollars. So it's kind of mind blowing the innovation pipeline that we have, including what's coming where we use AI, not just for the discovery, but also to give medical advice or agricultural advice or help in education.

So we're doubling down by spending all the money in the next 20 years because of the impact that's possible. We're not able to match the money that the U.S. could cut here. You know, they're just they have more resources than a single individual. But if you look, there's also climate change. So is there a single topic that your foundation is most concerned about right now?

Well, our biggest area of funding is polio eradication, followed by HIV, malaria, nutrition. We basically follow the numbers. Where there's the most burden, that's where we go. Sadly, these diseases aren't market-driven. That is, the people who have them are so poor that...

With malaria, when we gave our first 30 million, we became the biggest funder of reducing malaria deaths. So it's really driven by this stuff that philanthropy and government aid budgets are absolutely critical to lifting these countries up, helping them become self-sufficient, and having strong health systems there to drive stability and growth.

The giving pledge is also nearing a milestone anniversary, but pledgers are not legally obligated actually to give anything. It's more of a good faith pact. So how do you measure its impact? Well, I would never want to take credit for anybody else's philanthropy. The fact that we've gotten over 240 people to join in to the commitment to give the majority of their wealth away, I do think it's

setting an expectation for everyone who's very rich to look at being very philanthropic. In that pledge, we have amazing givers like Michael Bloomberg, Chris Hahn, and many others. And we learn from each other. We share best practices. We talk about things that have not worked. And so we want to improve that.

the quality and quantity of philanthropy. And I see that happening all over the world. Mr. Gates I also want to ask you about clean energy and the green transition. China was probably already winning the race to develop low carbon economy and energy sources of the future with the U.S. new direction under Trump. Has America actually squandered whatever slim chance it had of catching up or being competitive in that space.

Well, climate change involves a lot of innovation. We have to make products that are clean that eventually cost less than the dirty way it's done today. So that includes, of course, making electricity. That is one area where I think this administration will be a stronger supporter of nuclear fission and fusion than what we've had before. I do worry that...

some of the key tax credits for new technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen and storage, that those could be eliminated. But when my group that drives climate innovation, Breakthrough Energy, went out to find the best companies,

Almost 90% of those are here in the United States. And they've gotten government support. Some of that may be canceled, so it could be tough for them. But U.S. innovation will play an incredible role in helping us avoid climate change.

Trump's administration is also discussing rescinding tax exempt status for nonprofits or foundations, particularly those focused on climate or social justice. What would be the consequences actually of that? Well, it's hard to speculate on what might happen. The tax code is created by Congress and you're actually allowed to get money to save children's lives. It's kind of an amazing thing, you know, as opposed to

buy a big boat, you can buy vaccines, you can buy bed nets. And that's a miracle of the economic freedom that the U.S. stands for. I was going to ask you, how do you balance continuing to do this work with the voids, whilst at the same time avoiding being targeted or pursued by the Trump administration for things that are now seen as politically unacceptable?

Well, I'm hopeful that health, even when you're helping women and you're helping people in Africa and you're helping people who've gotten HIV, I hope that's not a political thing. I hope that's sort of the golden rule that is part of all religion, that we should treat others like we'd like to be treated ourselves.

I'm hopeful that people will go out and see this work. Once you do, you can't help but stay involved in it. So this is about the U.S. value system, and we've been a leader, both our philanthropists and our government. I hate to see that go away.

Mr. Gates just one final question because you know there's a lot going on in the economy on tariffs and trade and are you know on the one hand do you think investors are deluding themselves and saying actually as long as we know what tariffs we're getting we'll be OK. And also 20 years ago you joined Warren Buffett in predicting the dollar's decline. Warren Buffett this year wondered about the dollar. What do you think about the dollar today. Well I'm not a macroeconomics expert. I do think we're

going to experience a lot of turmoil because of the uncertainty that we have now, including what's going on with tariffs. I think because of things like AI advances, that overall we will have economic growth. And

that we should make sure that even the poorest in the world are benefiting from that. Hiscox Small Business Insurance knows there is no business like your business. Across America, over 600,000 small businesses, from accountants and architects to photographers and yoga instructors, look to Hiscox Insurance for protection. Find flexible coverage that adapts to the needs of your small business with a fast, easy online quote at Hiscox.com. That's H-I-S-C-O-X.

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