Bill Gates announces donation of all wealth

World-renowned philanthropist Bill Gates announced Thursday that he will give away virtually all of his wealth to the Gates Foundation.

"There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned," Gates said. "I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world."

The foundation announced it would spend 200 billion US dollars by 2045 to improve people's lives using its current endowment, with the balance coming over time from Gates' personal fortune. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, it published the new commitment, which marks a major acceleration in the foundation's work and sets 2045 as the year to sunset its operations.

According to the announcement, the foundation's board of directors affirmed the accelerated timeline with a change to the foundation's charter, which had said the organization would sunset 20 years after Gates' death.

"A few years ago, I began to rethink that. More recently, with the input from our board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation's goals on a shorter timeline, especially if we double down on key investments and provide more certainty to our partners," said Gates.

According to the foundation's announcement, it will collaborate with its partners on three main objectives over the next two decades: eliminating preventable deaths of moms and babies, ensuring the next generation grows up free of deadly infectious diseases, and lifting millions of people out of poverty.

Gates said that during the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation, he and Warren Buffett together gave away more than 100 billion dollars.

"Over the next two decades, we will double our giving. The exact amount will depend on the markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend more than 200 billion dollars between now and 2045. This figure includes the balance of the endowment and my future contributions," Gates said.