Bill Gates has pledged to give all of his £30billion (SGD$63billion) fortune to charity – rather than leaving it for his children.
The founder of Microsoft said he wants to make a ‘positive contribution’ to the world.
Bill Gates will step down from his post next Friday 33 years after he founded Microsoft in 1975.
He has promised to transfer his money to the charity he has set up with his wife Melinda, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which funds health and education projects around the world. Gate’s charity, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is said to be the biggest philanthropic organisation in the world.
The 52-year-old will continue to work as non-executive chairman and will spend just a day a week at the business.
Speaking about the joint-decision he made regarding his fortune with his wife, he said:
“We’ve chosen not to pass it on to our children. We want to give it back to society in the way that it will have the most positive impact. I want to make a positive contribution to the world.”
His success with the computer giant has made him the richest man in the world for 13 years in the row according to Fortune magazine’s rich list.
When he founded the firm he said he wanted to put ‘a computer on every desk and in every home.’
Many people have said that the computer revolution would not have happened without him and more than 90 per cent of computers in the world run on Microsoft Windows.
He will be succeeded in his post by Steve Balmer, the co-chief executive since 2000.
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