Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett Contribute $100 billion to the Gates Foundation – Billion-Dollar Commitments to Philanthropy

Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett have collectively contributed nearly $100 billion to the Gates Foundation, underscoring their deep commitment to philanthropy. The foundation’s records indicate that between its inception in 2000 and the end of 2023, Gates and French Gates donated $59.5 billion, while Buffett, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, contributed an additional $39.3 billion.

Despite his substantial donations, Gates remains one of the wealthiest individuals in the world, ranking seventh on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with an estimated net worth of $164 billion. He emphasized that his philanthropic efforts were far from over, stating that giving away the majority of his wealth was now his life’s primary focus and something he genuinely enjoyed.

As of this week, Gates stands two positions ahead of Buffett, who has a net worth of $148 billion, and three spots above Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO, whose fortune is valued at $144 billion. However, Gates’ wealth still pales in comparison to the three richest individuals globally—Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg—who hold fortunes of $414 billion, $255 billion, and $248 billion, respectively.

Buffett’s contributions to philanthropy are equally remarkable. Since 2006, he has donated nearly 57% of his Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares to the Gates Foundation and four other family-run foundations. While these donations were valued at approximately $56 billion at the time they were given, the same shares would be worth around $189 billion today.

Given that Buffett is 25 years older than Gates, the Microsoft co-founder is expected to have more time to distribute his fortune. In 2006, the trio of Gates, French Gates, and Buffett co-founded the Giving Pledge, an initiative encouraging billionaires to commit the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Gates has maintained that his generosity has not come at a personal cost, stating that his lifestyle has remained unchanged despite parting with billions. He has previously advocated for higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy, arguing that billionaires should possess only about a third of their current fortunes. However, in a recent discussion, Senator Bernie Sanders challenged him on his stance, questioning whether a billionaire truly needed such immense wealth, humorously asking if one billion dollars would be sufficient to cover basic expenses.

Before stepping down as a director at Microsoft in 2020, Gates held roughly 1.3% of the company’s shares, according to regulatory filings. Today, the bulk of his wealth is housed in Cascade Investment, a private holding company he established using Microsoft stock sales and dividends.

His recently published memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, offers deeper insights into his life, legacy, and the driving forces behind his mission to give back.

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