Bill Gates announces 2045 closure of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

As the foundation marks its 25th anniversary, Bill Gates revealed that instead of operating indefinitely, the organization will ramp up its giving and fully dissolve by December 31, 2045.

"We're not trying to steward our money for some weird legacy thing," Gates said. "If we were a forever foundation, instead of spending $9 billion a year, we'd drop to $6 billion."

This accelerated timeline, Gates argues, enables a concentrated "bolus dose" of impact — massive funding in a short period to catalyze transformational change in global health and development.

Founded in 2000 by Gates and then-wife Melinda French Gates, the foundation has already invested over $100 billion and played a pivotal role in halving child mortality worldwide.

Gates Foundation headquarters (Photo: Facebook)

But progress is under threat. Gates warns that recent slashes to US foreign aid — especially under Donald Trump's renewed administration — could reverse those gains.

"On childhood deaths, which should have gone from five million to four million, we'll probably go from five million to six million," Gates said. "That's another million kids dying each year."

Innovation, inequality, and the race against time

Despite setbacks, Gates remains unwavering in his belief that new technology, particularly artificial intelligence, can close the gap between rich and poor.

"AI is essentially free intelligence," he said. "And in no sense does that mean it will naturally be made available to people in poor countries. That's why a big nonmarket actor like us is so important."

He outlined goals for the next two decades: drastically reducing maternal and child mortality, eliminating major infectious diseases, and lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty — particularly through agricultural investment and AI-driven solutions.

Still, Gates is clear-eyed about the challenges. Vaccine hesitancy is growing, international aid is shrinking, and conflicts continue to derail progress in parts of Africa.

"It's very dangerous to suggest that this work is played out," he emphasized. "I think it's objective to say to you that things will be better in the next 20 years."

Gates's gamble is that concentrated action now, powered by science and a belief in global equity, can reshape the world long before his foundation ever needs to exist again.

Earlier this year, on Microsoft's 50th anniversary, Gates also published the original Altair BASIC source code — the program that launched Microsoft's rise — calling it "the coolest code I've ever written."