When is the Bill Gates Foundation closing? Microsoft co-founder plans to give away $200B in the next 20 years before shuttering organization

On Wednesday, May 8, William H. Gates III, better known as Bill Gates, made an unexpected announcement regarding his namesake foundation. In a recent post on his personal blog, the billionaire stated his plans to close off the private philanthropic organization. The Microsoft co-founder pledged to give away virtually all of his wealth in the next 20 years.

According to the blog post, Bill Gates has set a deadline of December 31, 2045, to shutter his private foundation by donating his fortune via philanthropy. The 69-year-old Seattle native announced,

“I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned. I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will close its doors permanently.”

Before announcing his decision, Bill Gates cited a quote from Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay "The Gospel of Wealth": "The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” The former CEO of the tech giant proclaimed how he has “spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately.” Bill Gates asserted,

“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. There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”

The billionaire philanthropist admitted that the decision to shutter the Gates Foundation was always a part of the plan, but he reconsidered the deadline recently.

The foundation was originally planned to close decades after the deaths of Melinda and Bill Gates

The Microsoft co-founder and his former wife, Melinda, founded their eponymous philanthropic organization in 2000. William H. Gates III recently reflected upon a clause in the first chapter of the foundation that talked about its shutdown several decades after the ex-couple’s death. Announcing the change in the original plan, the businessman-philanthropist wrote,

“A few years ago, I began to rethink that approach [shuttering the foundation decades after their deaths]. More recently, with the input from our board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation’s goals on a shorter timeline, especially if we double down on key investments and provide more certainty to our partners.”

Bill Gates mentioned that the organization had donated more than $100 billion within the first 25 years of its being. He also acknowledged Warren Buffett for his contributions during the quarter-century existence of the organization.

Gates Foundation chairperson asserted his expectations to give away over $200 billion within the next 20 years. The billionaire currently has a net worth of $108B and has forecasted it to drop by 99% over the next two decades.

Bill mentioned that the $200B figure includes “the balance of the endowment” and his future contributions towards the Gates Foundation. He also wrote in a recent X post, highlighting the drop in his net worth,

“We have an opportunity to save more lives around the world than ever before—and I want to do even more to help. That's why I'm giving away virtually all of my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years.”

The former Microsoft boss’s announcement to give up his fortune isn’t the only thing making the headlines. Bill Gates recently criticized Tesla's chief and Trump’s senior advisor, Elon Musk, who also happens to be among the billionaires’ rankings, according to Bloomberg and Forbes.

The Breakthrough Energy founder accused the SpaceX CEO of “killing the world’s poorest children” by cutting USAID, per a conversation with the Financial Times.

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