Bill Gates has announced his plan to donate the majority of his wealth within the next 20 years. The Microsoft co-founder also intends to shut down his philanthropic organization, the Gates Foundation, earlier than originally scheduled.

Gates has pledged to give away 99% of his fortune—which currently exceeds USD 107 billion—to the Gates Foundation. One of the main reasons behind this decision is his desire not to be remembered simply as a rich man after his death.

“People will say many things about me after I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote, as quoted by Mashable on Friday (May 9, 2025).

“There are far too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold on to resources that could instead be used to help others,” he added.

Gates stated that his charitable foundation has already spent USD 100 billion on health and development initiatives. He hopes the Gates Foundation will be able to spend as much as USD 200 billion over the next two decades, depending on market conditions and inflation.

This tremendous amount of donation will focus on three primary missions of the Gates Foundation: ending preventable maternal and infant deaths, eradicating deadly infectious diseases, and lifting millions of people out of extreme poverty.

The 69-year-old philanthropist also announced that the Gates Foundation will be permanently closed on December 31, 2045. Initially, the foundation was scheduled to be wound down several decades after both Gates and his former wife, Melinda, passed away.

Gates’ commitment to donating his entire wealth is not something new. Alongside fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, he launched the Giving Pledge in 2010—an initiative that encourages the world’s wealthiest individuals to donate most of their fortunes to charitable causes.

To date, Gates has contributed approximately USD 60 billion to his foundation. Nevertheless, according to Bloomberg, he remains the fifth-richest person in the world with a net worth of USD 168 billion.