Bill Gates pledges his remaining fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will close in 20 years

Bill Gates says he will donate 99% of his tech fortune to the Gates Foundation. Today he estimates his wealth to be 108 billion dollars. It's one of the largest commitments in the history of U.S. philanthropy when adjusted for inflation. The foundation work has been way more impactful than I expected and a great joy to work with people there and our partners. We've decided that we'll take all the resources both in the foundation and what I have that will be given to the foundation and spend that over the next 20 years. Gates started the foundation in 2000 with his now ex-wife Melinda French Gates. Over the last 25 years they've funded vaccines, treatment for malnutrition and spent a lot of money trying to eradicate polio. The foundation has become a powerful actor in the field of global health but its influence has also drawn criticism. I spend the money I put into the foundation is me it's not you know 500 people you know writing reports and things like that. I picked childhood death you know is that a bad thing it's not an important cause that's people are you know can criticize it. I do think the Gates Foundation played a catalytic role putting together coalitions like the Gavi Vaccine Alliance building incentives that actually bring in the private sector at scale. The next 20 years could be more challenging for the foundation. Other major donors including the U.S. have cut funding for global health. The need of course is far greater than what we can do but we'll be showing that we're doing the most we can and give a lot of predictability to the field by having this you know we'll be here all of those 20 years but not thereafter.