Bill Gates Leaving His Fortune to Charity, Not His Kids
While being the child of Bill and Melinda Gates no doubt has its share of perks, financial security may not necessarily be one of them. Bill Gates has promised that he will leave his vast $58 billion fortune to the charity started by him and his wife, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and not to his offspring.
Gates -- who is officially stepping down as the chairman of Microsoft next Friday -- said of the decision that he and his wife made, "We want to give it back to society in the way that it will have the most positive impact."
The money will go to fund educational and health projects around the globe, which is certainly a much more positive use than buying a yacht for the kids. [Source: Daily Mail]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 13)
wako @ Jun 20th 2008 4:30PM
Im pretty sure Bill said this quite a few years ago....
jtannillo26 @ Jun 21st 2008 9:57PM
I am glad that he will not give the money to his kids. There is no doubt that bill gates lives a lavish lifestyle but there are billionaires with less than a third of what he has that live much more lavish lifestyles than he does. Why should his kids get a free ride? He sure didn't. He is doing exactly what he should do with his fortune. Just look at the Wal Mart billionaires. They get the free ride while the workers of the company that thier famous father founded treats thier employees like second class citizens. Sam Walton never would have let Wal Mart become what it has today. Why should bill give all that power to his kids just so they can be greedy and purchase a controling stake in some company so they can go in and make more money at the expense of the honest american worker?
harrietvs @ Jun 26th 2008 3:41PM
Sure shows how positive they are that they have raised their children to make their own way.. Congratulations to them as parents!
Thomas Green @ Jun 26th 2008 11:03PM
Gates should remember that a lot of his fortune in computers was predicated upon luck and not effort nor genius. With love and compassion there are many constructive ways to attempt security for your own offspring and what they will have to deal with being Gates' kids once he kicks them out of his so well-feathered nest.
AJ @ Jun 20th 2008 7:26PM
thats good. but it kinda sucks that his kids arent even getting a penny from the fortune
Jeneen @ Jun 21st 2008 3:35PM
AJ I am sure his children will not do without, I am sure they will have the best of everything as well as the best education money could buy. And what they do with what there parents try to give them, will ultimatly be up to them.
Jimbo @ Jun 21st 2008 8:24PM
Sounds like Richard got left out of mommy and daddy's will....
MirageMJ @ Jun 26th 2008 7:29PM
AJ, The brevity of this article sucks. I believe this plan was all disclosed years ago but I believe each of the kids were to receive $50 million. It's not like they were going to be left high and dry. This is what I recall anyway... Given the price of things now, the kids should at least get double that...
Earn your own way @ Jun 20th 2008 9:39PM
Its THEIR money, they can do whatever they want with it!
They don't HAVE to leave their kids ANYTHING nor should their kids be standing over their wallets waiting for them to die so they can empty it anyway!
Everyone has the potential to become RICH if they get an education, work hard and do things the right way. I'm sure his kids aren't hurting either. They are probably getting a top notch education and all the perks of being the children of rich parents.
They are getting a hell of a lot more of a chance in this world than most people ever DREAM of getting.
I can't stand people that EXPECT to get something from someone for free. Nobody is ENTITLED to a damn thing unless they WORK for it.
I've seen kids of rich parents slack off and mooch off their parents while biding their time waiting for them to kick the bucket so they can get everything their parents EARNED.......having done absolutely NOTHING at all with their lives except wait for their parents to croak.
It makes me SICK.
Why should Bill and Melinda Gates give all their money to their kids when they can leave their money to charities that help hundreds of thousands of people instead? Why should they give it to a few kids when there are sooooooooo many others that need it so much more?
Good for the Gates! Its their money and they are free to do as they PLEASE with it. More power to them!
(and I'm sure their kids have already gotten all the money they'll ever need in this lifetime anyway)
Shouldn't we ALL try to leave this world a better place than we found it?
We can't keep taking from this world without giving something back.
Youtellme4 @ Jun 21st 2008 3:14PM
I am sure their kids will always have a roof over their head, not go hungry and be well dressed and educated. The money that they are giving back has nothing to do with the money that they have earned during MS or made w/interest, stocks, bonds, etc.... read between the lines.
Tome Burt @ Jun 21st 2008 4:17PM
Bill, good grief man, your kids are your blood. if you have 58 BILLION (which i can't even imagne) i think you should leave them 100 Million each, unless you hate you kids. your charity will surley appreciate that, and be able to help people in the USA. i'm retired, i had to retire, i had a stroke, now i'm just sitting home because i have nothing but my retirement to get by on. Give me a couple million man, i'll apprecate that more than you'll believe, i'm 70 yrs old, had stomach cancer, i'm free of cancer now, but afraid it will come back. i'll accept a check ASAP, thank you so much.
Tome Burt
jdeerequeen @ Jun 22nd 2008 2:22AM
Well said
Jane @ Jun 21st 2008 5:26PM
I think that's overdoing it a bit. It's pretty difficult to just step out of school and get a good job for most people. I hope he means that while he's alive, he'll be generous with them and see that they're making it, and then leave his money to charity. It would be beyond cruel to let them grow up as the children of the richest man in the world, and then leave them entirely on their own unless they're really able to manage well enough on their own.
But rich people are weird. They are frequently extremely penny-pinching and cheap, leave poor tips - some even clip coupons. I know, I've seen them.
Jane @ Jun 21st 2008 5:26PM
While I totally agree that every capable person should do their utmost to ensure that they take care of themselves, not everyone can. And I do agree that the sight of children of the affluent to rich running around having fun and getting into expensive trouble while waiting for their trust fund to revert to their control makes me want to hurl.
However, it is not true that "anyone" can be rich if they get an education and work hard. For one thing, a lot of people just aren't very intelligent. Think about it. If 100 is the average I.Q. - and who do you know who only has an I.Q. of 100 - that means that half of the people have even less than that. The fact that you are on-line on a computer, know how to use the thing, and can write articulately is a pretty good indication that your I.Q. is well above 100, and that you've been able to take advantage of a decent education.
And there are a lot of people who survive their childhood - but badly injured, psychologically and physically. Children are battered, starved, neglected all over this country. They may be very intelligent, but if they are brought up in a family controlled by adults with mental illness, they may be unable to use their own intelligence for any benefit to themselves.
So remember there is a larger world out there. My guess, just a guess not based on any hard data, is that maybe about 1/3 of the people are pretty capable, functioning human beings who can take care of themselves. The rest fall somewhere below that, and need some kind of help. The problem is differentiating the genuinely impaired from the slackers, and that's a difficulty the world has always had. I expect most families have members close or farther, who constantly need extra help. I do think that charity should begin at home, but whereever it comes from it is needed - often desperately.
Rudy @ Jun 21st 2008 5:31PM
I don't believe that for one moment and for those of you that do. I have a cheap bridge to sell with plenty of land to go with it. Dickerson73 is right on target.
Donnie @ Jun 21st 2008 9:28PM
dude he may not leave the kids the fortune but you have to know they will have an infinite line of credit at most every bank in the world for the rest of their lives
DefPo3t @ Jun 21st 2008 12:40AM
when the gates' die world hunger/aids/cancer will be solved : ^ )
V Langs @ Jun 21st 2008 12:42AM
his kids aren't getting nothing at all.
he said he was leaving roughly half a billion dollars to them each. that's a hefty chunk, and honestly what would they do with the rest, it would just sit in the family for eternity.
so like yea "earn your way" i can see your rant. but also like the kids must have felt a little in the wash about this. i mean it's kinda like saying ur dad loves the homeless more then he does u.
but they shouldn't worry, making half a bill each isn't half bad, not to mention they are grown up and have plenty of what they need. and they've gotten the most they can outta their dad (contacts, resource-wise) good jobs, good connections, good salaries. there isn't a need for 58 billion. and i don't think the kids want that much either, it's a huge sum for nothing. 500 million is plenty for a personal account, and if you don't think it is something is wrong with u.
also, they won't really need his life insurance money, they both have 6 figure (maybe even 7 figure now) salaries.
marcaias @ Jun 21st 2008 10:29AM
> i mean it's kinda like saying ur dad loves the homeless more then he does u.
Isn't this—more or less—the ideal we're supposed to aspire to in a Western, Christian society? Perhaps replacing "more than" with "as much as".
Mike @ Jun 21st 2008 12:25PM
It's their choice. If it were me, I'd leave my kids at least a bil each, since I like my own children more than I like the poor... or the rich.