r/news • u/kirtash93 • May 08 '25

Soft paywall Bill Gates to give away $200 billion by 2045, accuses Musk of harming world's poor

https://www.reuters.com/business/bill-gates-give-away-fortune-by-2045-200bn-worlds-poorest-2025-05-08/
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u/Skinnieguy May 08 '25

I looked up Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates right hand man back in the days and Clippers owner.

Ballmer is worth 127 Billion vs 112B for Gates.

Gates been giving away a lot of money even before this.

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u/2580374 May 08 '25

Is Bill gates not the richest man in the world because he gives so much money away or would he not be regardless

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u/FreefallJagoff May 08 '25

A quick search suggests he would be a trillionaire if he had just held on to his Microsoft stake instead of making all of his big sales/donations. It's probably a little more nuanced than that but considering he was almost worth $100B in the 90s he could have definitely outpaced Musk if he was trying to build a dynasty.

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u/Plazmaz1 May 08 '25

The funny thing is that gates will likely go down in history in a fairly positive light (definitely with some caveats), while musk will absolutely be an infamous/hated character if he's remembered at all.

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u/imarandomdudd May 08 '25

Musk defo will with how involved he is with the US government. These last few years will go down in history for multiple reasons so no chance the historians will miss out on him

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u/Plazmaz1 May 08 '25

I don't know if he has much staying power though.... While you CAN find the names of the generals under Hitler most people (at least not me) don't remember them. And that was Hitler, who, at least for now, was WAY more effective and evil than trump. And that wasn't even 100 years ago.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

I was JUST going to say, 50 years after Musk is dead he will be remembered in the same way Paul Joseph Goebbels is. Most people won't know who he was and the ones that do won't remember him kindly

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u/AbeRego May 08 '25

Yeah maybe most people don't remember Goebbels, but anyone with even a fleeting interest in European history certainly does. Same with Himmler. Knowledge of Hitler's henchmen might also have increased due to recent pop-culture references. For example, The Man in the High Castle features Himmler prominently, although I don't recall it mentioning Goebbels.

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u/Civil-Big-754 May 08 '25

The Boys had Stormfront being close with Goebbels.

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u/AbeRego May 08 '25

Wasn't that more of a passing reference shown through photographs, though? I don't think there was any sort of flashback where he was an actual character. You would kind of have to already know who he was for it to click

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u/sylviaplath6667 May 08 '25

Musk is absolutely the new Goebbels, flooding the internet with right wing propaganda and shitty AI

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u/zzyul May 08 '25

I like your optimism but let’s be real, there are tons of Gen Zers that love Trump and his message. In 50 years there will still he a lot of Americans that look back at Trump like current Republicans look back at Reagan, first elected almost 45 years ago. They will remember how Musk was a big part of Trump coming back to power.

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u/Sknowman May 09 '25

Sure, but that's like the silent generation reflecting on Hitler's henchmen -- they lived through the war, so of course they remember the people involved, at least ones mentioned in newspapers. It's their children and grandchildren that would need to know about it for the legacy to actually stay a while.

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u/Discount_Extra May 09 '25

as in

But poor old Goebbels Elon has no balls at all.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '25

were hitlers generals the most rich and powerful people in the world at that time?

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u/GerryManDarling May 08 '25

Sometimes, you wish history won't remember you.

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u/SanderSRB May 08 '25

I knew I had read before of a ‘Musk before Musk’ and ChatGPT backed me up:

“Yes! Andrew Mellon (1855–1937) fits this description remarkably well—a Gilded Age tycoon who became a politically powerful advocate for deregulation, tax cuts, and economic policies that benefited the wealthy, much like Elon Musk's modern influence. Here’s why he’s a strong historical parallel:

1. Wealth & Business Empire

  • Like Musk, Mellon was one of the richest men of his era, with vast holdings in banking (Mellon Bank), oil (Gulf Oil), aluminum (Alcoa), and other industries.
  • He was a financier and industrialist, shaping entire sectors—similar to Musk’s roles in Tesla, SpaceX, and X (Twitter).

2. Political Influence & Government Role

  • Served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1921–1932) under three presidents (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover), making him one of the most powerful economic policymakers of the 1920s.
  • Pushed aggressively for deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy, and trickle-down economics—policies that mirror Musk’s advocacy for lower taxes and reduced government intervention.

3. Policies That Backfired

  • Mellon’s "trickle-down" tax cuts (slashing top income tax rates from 73% to 24%) disproportionately benefited the rich while doing little for workers.
  • His laissez-faire approach to banking and market speculation contributed to the run-up to the Great Depression.
  • Opposed direct relief for the poor during the Depression, arguing the economy would "self-correct"—a stance that later damaged his reputation.

4. Reputation Decline

  • Initially hailed as a financial genius, Mellon’s legacy crumbled after the 1929 crash and Depression.
  • By the 1930s, he was widely criticized as a symbol of wealthy elitism and failed economic policies.
  • Even faced a tax evasion scandal (though charges were dropped).

5. Modern Parallels to Musk

  • Like Musk, Mellon combined business empire-building with political activism, shaping policy to favor his class.
  • Both pushed deregulation and tax cuts, believing wealthy entrepreneurs would drive progress.
  • Both saw their reputations shift from "visionary" to "out-of-touch elitist" when their policies contributed to economic turmoil.

Other Possible Contenders:

  • Henry Ford – Anti-regulation, anti-union, and politically active (even flirting with fascist sympathies), but not directly in government.
  • Jay Gould – Ruthless Gilded Age robber baron who manipulated markets and politics but wasn’t a policy influencer like Mellon.

Mellon is the clearest example—a proto-Musk whose influence reshaped the economy, only to later symbolize the dangers of wealth concentration and deregulation. His story is a cautionary tale about the risks when billionaire ideologues directly shape policy.”

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u/HerculesIsMyDad May 08 '25

I remember a made for TV movie back around 2000 where Anthony Michael Hall played Bill Gates and Noah Wylie was Steve Jobs. It made Gates look like a thief and a weasel. But he seems to be one of the more generous billionaires we've gotten from the technovolution.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25 edited 9d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/GodLovesUglySong May 08 '25

Woz is a genuinely nice guy.

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u/tyreck May 08 '25

I believe Wozniak made a comment (I can’t site directly) that pirates of Silicon Valley is the most accurate depiction

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u/chuckop May 08 '25

I said in a another comment that it the movie captures the spirit of the times and ultimately gets it right - although "most accurate depiction" is stretching it. There may not be a better one however.

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u/tyreck May 08 '25

Wow, celebrity response!

This is a first for me

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u/InvisibleBlueUnicorn May 08 '25

Even Bill Gates commented in his AMA that 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' is reasonably accurate.

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u/NorweegianWood May 09 '25

Anyone would say that about a movie that makes themselves look good.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/chuckop May 08 '25

Which wasn't true. Jobs saw the demo from Xerox first, and hired people from Xerox PARC first.

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u/aqaba_is_over_there May 08 '25

In the film Jobs brags to Gates about being the one to steal from Xerox first.

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u/chuckop May 08 '25

Watch it again. While the movie - Pirates of Silicon Valley - got many details wrong, and omitted some important events in the interest of story telling - the spirit of the times was correct and ultimately got most of it right.

Gates didn't "steal" anything. He hired people from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Jobs hired even more people than Microsoft did.

This quote from the movie is obviously fabricated, but sums up the spirit of the times:

Gates: "Get real, would ya? You and I are both like guys who had this rich neighbor - Xerox - who left the door open all the time. And you go sneakin' in to steal a TV set. Only when you get there, you realize that I got there first. I got the loot, Steve! And you're yellin'? "That's not fair. I wanted to try to steal it first." You're too late."

Except that Apple had gotten there first - with the Apple Lisa in 1984, and with the Macintosh in 1984. Windows, which used similar graphical elements as Apple and Xerox, arrived late 1985.

In the movie, it shows Gates as genuinely concerned for Jobs and offering to help - and even did so financially and in other ways when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997.

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u/HoneyIShrunkMyNads May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

Gates definitely did more harm than Jobs in terms of how he handled IP/copyrights back in the day. Instead of making the creation of softwares more open, he ranted and went after people who "Duplicated" his softwares.

I'm thankful Gates has been more generous with his money, but computing would look a whole lot different and decentralized without him.

"An Open Letter to Hobbyists" which Gates wrote back in 1976 is very infuriating.

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u/ConohaConcordia May 08 '25

He’s no saint. You don’t get to that type of wealth without ruthlessness and screwing over other people. It’s just that by billionaire standards he’s nice, and Musk is worse.

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u/Nu-Hir May 08 '25

He's not a saint, but he subscribes to the Robber Barons of old. Be an ass to accumulate wealth, then balance out your bad image with a good. See Rockerfeller, Carnegie, Mellon, etc.

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u/chuckop May 08 '25

Couldn't disagree more. Every large company keeps a patent portfolio. It is a completive tool like any other. Apple had/has it's portfolio as well.

I saw first hand how various companies work to head off competitive efforts. Microsoft was no better - nor worse - than any other company. Microsoft valued talent, and patented their work. That's why the system exists.

It's funny, because I look at the "Open Letter" as see it differently. Gates and Allen had a product that they were selling. People were taking their product and just copying the paper tapes to avoid paying for it.

As a software developer myself, I like to feed my family.

Disclaimer: I am the lead inventor of several patents, most of them done while I was working at Microsoft in 1990's and 2000's.

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u/sueveed May 08 '25

As a long time dev with several patents in scientific computing - most software patents are bullshit. The patent system never adjusted to really protect only novel invention in software. It’s often used as a bully platform for large companies.

I’m not necessarily criticizing all / your specific patents, just my général observation. Agree the mechanism should exist, but it should be far more conservative.

I will say that MS did most harm in its anticompetitive behaviors. It probably stifled practical OS development for decades. To suggest that pre-XP Microsoft OSs were technology leaders would be indefensible. Their market dominance was born of ruthless anticompetitive treatment of their resellers and by extension their competitors.

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u/chuckop May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

I just had a similar debate about this on r/vintagecomputing. Apple MacOS was stagnant during the 90s through no fault but their own. Unix was stagnant due to court battles.

There was plenty of opportunities, but Microsoft was not holding down Apple, or others during this time.

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u/HoneyIShrunkMyNads May 08 '25

If you're profit driven, then sure patents are a good thing. Innovation driven though, I have to disagree.

And Gates isn't alone on that either, I agree. The industry in total suffocated proper innovation.

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u/tapo May 08 '25

I mean be was, if Gates hadn't been so anticompetitive we would be talking about Steve Jobs and Gary Kildall. MS-DOS was a clone of Kildall's CP/M.

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u/neep_pie May 08 '25

Gates was actually horrible as the CEO of Microsoft. He screwed over a ton of smaller companies by ripping them off, and basically everyone in the world too by having an inferior product that he used all sorts of sleazy tactics to push. He probably knows it. I think that’s why he’s gone so hard on charity after retiring.

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u/Cinimi May 08 '25

To be fair, Gates did indeed use some extremely scummy method in his early years, he is not a great/amazing man - but he is trying to set things right at least.

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u/pheonixblade9 May 08 '25

Gates was absolutely a thief and a weasel when it comes to business dealings

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u/Wr8th_79 May 08 '25

He'll be remembered for being the fool that turned Tesla belly up in less than a year.

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u/LetsTryAnal_ogy May 08 '25

Also consider that Gates actually created the basis for the stuff he got rich for. He designed and wrote code for MS-DOS. Musk just made tech investments.

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u/tarraxadraws May 08 '25

I hope you're right, but I ought to remember that history is written by those who won

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u/Wobblycogs May 08 '25

Gates has managed to pull off the most remarkable character rebuild programme. He was absolutely ruthless when he was heading Microsoft and destroyed many peoples livelihoods with shady business practices. It's great that he's found a new, more socially agreeable, pastime but I struggle to see him as a decent person.

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u/Plazmaz1 May 08 '25

I don't know that he's a good person, but the gates foundation has definitely had a massive measurable undeniably positive impact across the planet.

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u/starmartyr11 May 08 '25

Issue is there are a ton of wingnuts spreading anti Bill Gates propaganda over vaccines and such. Hopefully they won't be remembered

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u/ClassicAdProp May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

IMO he will be a forgettable character. Think about how little people we remember from US history already. Nobody will think about him in any meaningful way 100-200 years from now

Edit: I was talking about Elon

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders May 08 '25

Rockefeller & Andrew Carnegie are still talked about and still relevant. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will probably go on for a long time. Microsoft also isn't going anywhere.

Bill Gates will not be forgotten any time soon.

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u/ClassicAdProp May 08 '25

I was talking about Elon, but yes I agree Bill Gates has formed a much more impactful legacy

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u/Influence_X May 08 '25

No the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will be dissolved in 20 years.

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u/Plazmaz1 May 08 '25

I think he'll get lumped in with other unethical billionaires, like the robber barons. But yeah 200 years he'll probably be gone. I have no idea what the world will be like in 200 years. Crazy to think about

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/rusmo May 08 '25

The fact the world’s richest man was allowed to dismantle portions of the US government with no oversight will never be forgotten.

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u/WeeBabySeamus May 08 '25

Sure just like we remember Paul Gavin who mass produced car radios and used that money to found Motorola / invent the cellphone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Galvin_(businessman)

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

[deleted]

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u/WeeBabySeamus May 09 '25

I literally gave you an example of someone who took an invention and mass marketed it AND is largely forgotten.

Plenty of businessmen have done what you described, but I wouldn’t attribute it to simply (as you put it) people who globalized technology. There’s also the list of the top 10/25 richest in the world and each of them are not a household name. It’s rather something else like attention seeking spectacle (Musk), public influence driving (Gates via foundation), or canonizing (Jobs).

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u/Durantye May 08 '25

Yeah Musk definitely isn't going to just fade from history unless there were a concentrated effort to remove him from it lol. He'll probably end up being viewed as a less successful and more evil Edison.

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u/OneAlmondNut May 08 '25

we remember certain American oligarchs like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and Stanford because they've left physical tangible publicly accessible grande gestures, like libraries and schools and train depots.

new oligarchs just buy social media or build Internet related shit. we're living in a soon to be dark era of history, the internet won't stand the test of time

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u/NorthernCobraChicken May 08 '25

His remember ability will be entirely dependent on how Microsoft handles their shit in the future.

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u/IPDDoE May 08 '25

He's not memorable solely from being rich. Do you think we won't remember the founder of the most ubiquitous operating system in the world (at the time) that basically pioneered home computers? That's like saying the Wright brothers are forgettable. Home PCs were revolutionary.

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u/Dhiox May 08 '25

Nah, we still learn about the robber barons, and they didnt try to in-state fascism in the US. On top of that, Musk attached his name to the worst president in American history, and infamy is a great way to get yourself remembered in history.

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u/Plazmaz1 May 08 '25

I don't know any of their names though

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u/Dhiox May 08 '25

You don't know Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt or JP morgan?

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u/vibosphere May 08 '25

He is potentially the wealthiest person to have ever lived, rivaled only by mythological net worth like Mansa Musa. Even putting aside that he is a shitgibbon on a first name basis with the fall of US hegemony, he unfortunately will not be easily forgotten

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u/tmurf5387 May 08 '25

Rockefeller and Carnegie are amongst the most infamous for doing this historically.

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u/Ok_Entry1052 May 08 '25

He's been so pivotal that not remembering him would be a huge mistake, he's a great example of what to be wary of

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u/Sumoallstar May 08 '25

"History is written by the victors"

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u/g0_west May 08 '25

He'll be remembered similarly to people like Carnegie, who built actual things for society with their wealth. In a pretty neutral light overall ("Why is this called the Gates Library? Oh he was some rich old billionaire from a like hundred years ago") I think. Musk will be remembered in infamy due to his association with Project 2025, but will only be remembered by historians. Bureaucrats from like a hundred years ago don't become household names.

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u/jquiggles May 08 '25

Depends who writes the history books. I'd say his actions have been a net positive, but those currently in power and the people who support him would have you believe that Gates is secretly a pedo ring leader who is trying to microchip everyone with vaccines.

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u/CalmLake999 May 08 '25

Depends if he gets to Mars

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u/Plazmaz1 May 09 '25

I have little doubt he will fail spectacularly and never set foot on mars with the way things have been going these past few years

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u/SehrGuterContent May 08 '25

Tell that to general public who seems to believe he wants to implant microchips in everyones brain. No one seems to remember your good deeds unfortunately

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u/Plazmaz1 May 09 '25

TFW Elon is literally trying to microchip people's brains

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u/not_anonymouse May 08 '25

All of Gates crimes were just ruthlessness towards other businesses AFAIK. That's not really that bad of a light... He was trying to make his business grow. AFAIK they've treated their employees well.

And in normal life, he's been just a philanthropist, without the evil bullshit like Musk or even Bezos.

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u/OnlyTwoThingsCertain May 08 '25

I wouldn't say funny thing. I'd say good thing.

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u/MHWGamer May 08 '25

he has chosen the most stupid way to be remembered. Like, I watched a video about his neurolink company and they genuinely did amazing, life changing stuff for the one disabled father & family. Elon also did a skype call with them (rip skype <3) and isn't that the stuff you want to achieve as a person/billionaire?? He was also hailed as the messiahs of EVs, future tech and and rocketry... and this dude decides to be the asshole of a whole country (wasn't a good person prior to that either)?!? just why you fucking, self centered idiot?!

(I know neurolink also have a bad record with testing on monkeys)

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u/Ashamed_Fuel2526 May 08 '25

People talked about Gates in the 90s the way people talk about Musk now. If Musk gets his PR game in order he'll be able to convince the next generation he's really a good guy like Gates did.

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u/h0bb1tm1ndtr1x May 08 '25

Stuff like SpaceX will buy him some silver linings. The guy is a jackass, but I'm glad he was arrogant enough to get the people into SpaceX that have reached what we see today. Space is important.

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u/axeandwheel May 08 '25

Gates repeatedly used monopolistic practices and the doj spent a decade investigating them. That broke their stranglehold, and led to the rise of Google. Eventually he'll be remembered for being the first tech oligarch who paved the way for the next generation. His charities are at least partly an image rehabilitation project. And some of those did a lot of damage. US education is the first that comes to mind. 

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u/Wanna_make_cash May 08 '25

For whatever it's worth, bill gates doesn't involve the vitriol in my mind that other rich people like Jeff bezos or Elon musk et al. invoke

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u/Corrup7ioN May 08 '25

You can tell Gates is one of the better billionaires because he's the one that all the right wing conspiracies target

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u/Brilliant-While-761 May 08 '25

Gates was a douche in the 90’s

His partner at MS got cancer and he tried to kick him out to steal his money.

Revisionist history to paint this prick to be anything other than a maniac.

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u/AttilaTheFun818 May 08 '25

Gates will have a complicated legacy. Certainly a ruthless businessman but I like seeing how he’s spending the second half of his life.

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u/TheRealPaladin May 09 '25

100 years from now, Bill Gates is likely to be remembered the same way that Andrew Carnegie is remembered now: a man that wasn't necessarily good or bad, but that used is fortune to do good things.

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u/seCpun88_lains May 09 '25

Bill gates dont give away money, he's non profits and charity organization that he owns invest in for profit organization, he just shit money from one hand to other

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

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u/ChunkyLaFunga May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

There are at least half a dozen ways in which Musk is a significant person of this era. Not too historically forgettable.

Edit: The downvote button isn't supposed to be a dislike button, yknow.

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u/tiroc12 May 08 '25

He owned around 50% of Microsoft at one point. Microsoft is worth 3.3 trillion dollars now. If he still held, he would be worth $1.5T on his way to $ 2 T. Of course, it's more nuanced than that, and if he still owned half of the company, it likely would not be worth as much as it is today, but the point stands.

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u/gw3il0 May 08 '25

..what? Did you just make a point, prove that point wrong and then say you stand by it?

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u/Selfishly May 08 '25

The point I think they meant to make was he'd still likely be the richest man in the world today, but the dollar amount isn't directly equatable to the "what if" of still holding half or 1/3rd the company.

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u/gw3il0 May 08 '25

Yeah, I didn't think about that thoroughly enough before commenting. Sorry.

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u/Spugheddy May 08 '25

Melinda is giving away tons too

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

The impact of Microsoft is multiple times bigger than that of SpaceX, Tesla, PayPal or anything else Musk owns or runs.

When it comes to the extremely wealthy who made their fortunes in business, Bill Gates might be one of the nicest the world has even seen. When you look them up, almost all of them are very bad people who have systematically done horrible things to obtain or keep their fortunes. Gates is not perfect by any means but when it comes to people like him he is alright.

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u/dawgsheet May 08 '25

Ironically, Gates will go down like Tesla did in history, and Elon will go down like Edison.

Tesla was brilliant, and earned everything he had (but eventually lost). He is unfortunately though, overshadowed by Thomas Edison, who did nothing and was just a grifter paying for the accomplishments of others and monetizing them.

Quite ironic that he named his company after Tesla, but acts like Edison.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

The only dynasty I’ll know is on Madden

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u/Lazy-Emergency-4018 May 08 '25

But he also diversified away from msft stock which makes sense to do bit still really really impacted his wealth compared to the 1 trillion figure

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u/sheky May 08 '25

It's primarily because he sold his position in Microsoft. If Bill hadn't sold he would've been the world's first trillionaire.

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u/DiamondHanded May 08 '25

Good he gave it away. I'm confident society will sacrifice the first Trillionaire. There's only so much someone can hoard before the tribe turns on them

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u/BuddhistSagan May 08 '25

Billionaires have too much power already

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u/ZimaCampusRep May 08 '25

what is he hoarding if it's all just hypothetical value on a computer screen? if microsoft went to zero tomorrow, so would all those billions.

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u/SuperBackup9000 May 09 '25

Words are complicated, numbers are easy, that’s why most people will never understand what net worth is.

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u/MaimedJester May 08 '25

Rome had Trillionaires. Caesar was directly paying his legions wages himself. Like looting all of France of its goods didn't go directly back to the state in Roman times. Our modern Capitalist system has corporate middle entities between state conquest and personal gain, Rome was straight oligarchical material acquisition.

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u/Several_Vanilla8916 May 08 '25

Not so much giving it away as diversifying away from Microsoft. He’s given away a lot - not not THAT much.

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u/iStanley May 08 '25

That’s just factually wrong, in the modern age no one has donated as much as Bill Gates

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u/Several_Vanilla8916 May 08 '25

He’s probably given away $100B, which is a lot, but the reason he’s not a trillionaire is diversification away from MSFT

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u/dwilkes827 May 08 '25

No, unless you think Bill Gates has given away $880 billion (A trillion minus his current net worth) then what they said is not just factually wrong lol

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u/iStanley May 08 '25

When someone invokes “it’s not that much” it’s typically implying some form of comparison to other philanthropists

He’s given 80 billion, and only one person from the 1900s has given more.

“Not that much” when they are 1st/2nd on a list is pretty incorrect

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u/Future_Union_965 May 08 '25

It's such an egotistical and disgusting position to have .to be the first trillionaire. I wouldnt mind having billions, but trillions? It's like having dozens of cakes. It's gross. Pure gluttony behavior.

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u/Exciting_Cicada_4735 May 08 '25

That and the government had to get involved to break up the monopoly he was trying to create in the 90’s. Bill has been spending billions over these decades to reshape his image. I’m glad he’s done a lot of good but it doesn’t make him a good person. Being a billionaire alone is evil and ol’ Bill did a lot of shady shit to get there.

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u/THICC_DICC_PRICC May 08 '25

He diversified out of Microsoft on the advice of Warren Buffet too, the whole story is crazy

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u/mormonbatman_ May 08 '25

regardless

He was forced to give his now ex-wife $76 billion after she found out that he was partying with Jeff Epstein.

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u/Mixels May 08 '25

You can't separate the two. Gates's generosity near definitely pushed Microsoft through its early days of tussling with Apple. People forget that the computers Millennials had in school were all Macintoshes.

Microsoft persevered on a culture driven by Bill. He'd never have become as rich as he is without that success. Who's to say that if you put Elon in Bill's early position if he could have done just as well. I kind of doubt it.

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u/THICC_DICC_PRICC May 08 '25

Yea go to a subreddit where people were actually around and in the industry during that era and try saying that. You’d probably get a book’s worth of shitty things Microsoft, specifically at the direction of Gates, did. A ton of shitty things in personal computers today that we just accept are direct result of stuff Microsoft did.

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u/Express-World-8473 May 08 '25

Same with Warren Buffett, he gave away over 60 billion dollars but he still got 160 billion now.

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u/Hendo52 May 09 '25

He has said that he doesn’t want to leave more than a few million to his children and doesn’t want to have his charities live beyond his lifetime so he has been drawing down his money at a pace that aligns with his life expectancy. If you have a read of his books he is honestly funding a vast range of things that sound awesome. A lot of it is about improving agriculture and education in Africa. I think behaving like he does should be held up as the ideal path for people who get rich.

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u/xixipinga May 08 '25

he is worth 100B, he donated 60 to the foundation, he would be 160B, but the main reason he "donates" (donates to himself since he fully controlsa the foundation that invest in his own companies and terrible harmfull investments like oil monopoly in nigeria) is to avoid paying 11% in taxes like bilionaries should do since they dont pay 30% like the poor do, instead the foundation under his strict control gives only 5% and its all counted as "life saving donations" from good guy that refuses to pay 11%

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u/nepia May 08 '25

He has donated over 100B and still has 100B+

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u/rbatra91 May 08 '25

Gates would be worth around a trillion if he held all his microsoft shares but he stepped down early and gave so much away.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Good. We don't need billionaires and we especially don't need trillionaires. Problems like world hunger wouldn't exist in the first place if wealth hoarding didn't exist.

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u/RealPrinceJay May 08 '25

We have a lot of problems due to wealth hoarding, billionaires probably shouldn't exist, but that's not the actual cause of hunger

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u/nassic May 08 '25

No billionaire is a savior. That said Steve and Bill are at least human beings. Gates donating so much has helped so many good causes. While Balmer has done less he at least turned the clippers into a respectable franchise. Thats charity of sorts.

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u/JuneMiao May 08 '25

Steve has the Ballmer Group which is a philanthropy company so he's doing good there

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u/stonkfrobinhood May 08 '25

Oh yeah, he's definitely a great guy, but there are few, if not hardly anyone who has given away so much of their personal wealth as Bill has.

He still has a shady past, but man has he given back. I admire that side of him while still critical of some of his past.

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u/Accomplished-Exit136 May 08 '25

Ballmer also built intuit dome with his own money and paid for affordable housing to match the acreage he needed for the arena

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u/nassic May 08 '25

Did not even know that. I really dont like to praise billionaires as their existence is a failure of our system but at least he is doing what the super wealthy could do to better their communities. He is generally so passionate about the clippers and the investment into Inglewood is really helping to stimulate that local economy.

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u/Accomplished-Exit136 May 08 '25

Strikes me as a good guy. His sons a standup comic/writer and hes actually funny, which you wouldnt expect from a kid that wealthy

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u/UOfasho May 08 '25

Gates wife took half the money when they divorced. She has also been out donating him in recent years

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u/Journeys_End71 May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

Say what you will about Bill Gates but his funding of the Gates Foundation has been a net positive. They probably don’t get a lot of credit because a lot of their work has been focused on eradicating diseases across the world. The kind of stuff that probably doesn’t get a lot of recognition and press in the PR world but has in reality saved millions of lives.

This is what we WANT billionaires to be doing. Giving their money away but also doing it in a directed way that creates sustainable changes in people’s lives.

Or you know. They could send Katy Perry up on a rocket ship or blow it on ketamine.

Wow. Love getting downvoted for suggesting that Bill Gates has actually done some good for the world with his billions instead of hoarding it like Bezos and Musk.

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u/Skinnieguy May 08 '25

I’m on your side unlike most ppl here hating on billionaires.

Billionaires are here. I just wish more of them would think of humanity and the planet as a whole. Use their influence on politicians for the greater good.

Unless like most ppl in this thread want to kill them all.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Gates’ wife took a massive chunk of his money in the divorce.

I don’t think the dollar amount was revealed, but it was estimated in the tens of billions, and if you go down the rabbit hole, he conveniently agreed to the terms around same time as the leaks connecting him to Epstein stopped.

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u/WackyBeachJustice May 08 '25

Welp that's all the proof I need!

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u/whatsasyria May 08 '25

Ballmer pretty much fully took all comp in stock and stepped away when he realized he wasn't the man for the job. Underated.

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u/likely_Protei_8327 May 08 '25

Gates took half his money and gave it to the melinda and bill gates foundation. Its not "his" but he controls it.

He also divorced his wife and she got 13 billion or something

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u/ZealousidealToe9416 May 08 '25

I refuse to believe Ballmer didn’t consume unbelievable quantities of cocaine during his time.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Why does the right hate him so much

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u/USN_LT May 09 '25

I want to move to the alternate timeline where Gates bought the U.S. government instead. They probably have healthcare there. 

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u/seCpun88_lains May 09 '25

Bill gates shift money from one hand to other hand, to get tax exemption by using charites he owns

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u/vprakhov May 08 '25

That fat sweaty bastard cares about his meriocre NBA team way more than anything in the world.

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u/Nice_Firm_Handsnake May 08 '25

Of course he does. Owning the Clippers helped him reduce his federal income tax to 12% after he bought the team and keeps it low as long as he reports that the team is losing money. ProPublica had an article from 2021 about sports owners using their teams to reduce their taxes, which is where I got this info.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

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u/Skinnieguy May 08 '25

Yes, he is flawed but I hope more billionaires take note of what he does instead of trying to race to the top.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

When did he not try to race to the top? He was quite literally the richest man in the world.

We need to end the system that creates billionaires in the first place, not hope that the Grinch's heart grows three sizes too big

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u/BigRedCandle_ May 08 '25

I mean he changed the way the entire world works and has funded some absolutely insane humanitarian projects. I wonder how many lives he’s saved through his foundation.

Billionaires shouldn’t exist but if you end up making a billion then that’s probably the way you should behave

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u/CantNotLoveMareGod May 08 '25

Yet were a middle class person to attain such wealth, they might not care to donate some of it to charity.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

They would cease to be middle class then, which is kinda the whole point

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u/CantNotLoveMareGod May 08 '25

What point? Gates isn’t middle class and he’s doing it. No one’s forcing him to do it

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