Bill Gates Net Worth 2022: Why Is the Billionaire Moving $20 Billion of His Wealth?

Microsoft founder Bill Gates will be having changes in his wealth allotment, with the billionaire moving $20 billion of his wealth into financing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

CNN Business reported that the foundation intends to increase its spending with the current changes experienced globally, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war.

Gates' foundation will be increasing its payouts by 50% over pre-pandemic levels. It would amount to $9 billion each year by 2026 as compared to its previous payouts of around $6 billion.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world's largest philanthropies and is mainly focused on improving global health, gender equality, and education, among others.

Gates wrote in a blog post that he will have to eventually move down off the list of the world's richest people, adding that he has "an obligation to return my resources to society" that will have a way to improve lives. He then called on other people in "positions of great wealth and privilege" to step up.

Gates Foundation Spending

Gates said in a blog GatesNotes that people on the front lines inspire him to do whatever he can while calling on the government, private sector, and non-profit sector to engage on issues such as the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war.

The Microsoft billionaire also cited the innovations of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Breakthrough Energy. One of those innovations includes preventing pandemics, proposing that it should be globally funded and that will be connected to the World Health Organization so that outbreaks can be stopped before they become pandemics. Other innovations in the pipeline are improving food security and climate adaptation, as well as improving women's access to health care and contraceptives.

Gates said that he is very proud of the foundation's role in the said areas, particularly climate mitigation, which he founded through Breakthrough Energy.

He also mentioned that half of the resources of the foundation to date have come from Warren Buffet's gift. In June, Buffet donated $3.1 billion.

Gates added that he will continue to invest money to address climate change.

Bill Gates Net Worth 2022

Forbes noted that Bill Gates has a real-time net worth of $122.4 billion as of July 13. The Microsoft founder turned his wealth into diversified holdings such as investments in zero-carbon energy.

He co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and has moved at least $5.7 billion worth of shares in public companies to Melinda. He then decided to step down from the company's board in March 2020, owning about one percent of the company's shares.

Gates has donated around $57 billion to the Gates Foundation, including the recently announced $20 billion gift.

Aside from a zero-carbon energy investment, he also dipped his funding in other companies, such as Canadian National Railway and AutoNation, which is one of the largest owners of farmland in the United States.

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Written by: Mary Webber

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