Is Elon Musk the motivation? Melinda French on Bill Gates' $200 billion donation plan

By our Special Correspondent

Billionaire Bill Gates has revealed a bold plan to donate most of his fortune — over $200 billion — in the next 20 years and shut down the Gates Foundation by 2045. The aim is to fight deadly diseases like HIV and polio, and improve health and education for the world’s poorest. But the timing of the announcement has raised eyebrows. Gates strongly criticised Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, for shutting down the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which helped deliver aid to poor countries. “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told. His words suggest that Musk’s actions may have influenced the urgency behind this decision.