It’s sort of amazing how Bill Gates is now accepted as just a dorky dad-like figure who travels the world doing good work. He is that guy, obviously: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation literally spends billions of dollars around the world to improve living conditions, access to education and healthcare across the board. They eradicate disease and pull people out of poverty. It’s amazing. But I grew up in a time when Bill Gates was also seen as one of the most cutthroat businessmen in the world. There’s a reason why he’s a billionaire and that’s because he steamrolled anyone and everyone in his way. Anyway, Bill Gates was in London last week to do meetings with British politicians, including Theresa May. He ended up chatting a bit to the Daily Mirror about his life, how he’s raised his kids and how much he enjoys fast food.
How he & Melinda raised their kids, Jennifer, 20, Rory, 17, and Phoebe, 14: “We often set a time after which there is no screen time and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour. You’re always looking at how it can be used in a great way – homework and staying in touch with friends – and also where it has gotten to excess. We don’t have cellphones at the table when we are having a meal, we didn’t give our kids cellphones until they were 14 and they complained other kids got them earlier.”
He’s not showy: Wearing an £8 Casio watch and assuring me that he had a “very nice curry last night”, the 61-year-old adds: “I’m big on pretty mainstream American hamburgers, McDonald’s, Burger King.”
Vaccination programs: “We are hoping this will be the last year any child gets polio. Because of the UK’s investment in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, 1.6 million people who would have been paralysed by polio are living normal lives.”
He’s optimistic about the future: “In 1930, only three out of 10 people could read. Today, more than eight in 10 are literate. As recently as 1950, three-quarters of the world was still living in extreme poverty. Today, that number is less than 10%. In 1990, one in 10 children died before five, almost entirely of preventable causes. Today, that number is lower than one in 20. The truth is, investing in the health and wellbeing of people in a poor country pays dividends far beyond that country’s borders. The UK’s foreign aid investments are long-term investments in the health and security of British citizens here at home. It concerns me some world leaders are misinterpreting recent events as reasons to turn inward.”
He says his wife & kids are the key to his happiness: “Having money doesn’t give you all the answers.”
Having money doesn’t give you all the answers… but money will still give you a lot of answers, right? I mean… money would solve a lot of problems in my life, in your life, in most people’s lives. But I understand what he’s saying and it’s a nice sentiment. Mostly, I find it amusing that except for the billions of dollars and the general consensus that he and Melinda are the most significant humanitarians in modern history, he lives such a low-key life. A $10 watch and a love of Burger King? Come on, Bill Gates is just like us.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Melinda Gates is a genius. I am surprised and also not that they are still together.
SAME SAME, To me they seem to be such GOOD people!, genuinely Good, Like IDK cool Idk Warm IDK whatever But That Lady, Off the Top Is ACES!
I think Melinda is a good influence on Bill. Yes I do remember cutthroat Bill pre Melinda. He aggressively eliminated his competitors (Netscape, WordPerfect anyone?).
I completely understand his sentiment about money. It’s good to have but not all that. It can’t really buy you total happiness.
““We are hoping this will be the last year any child gets polio.”
well, tell that to the anti-vaxxers in the US.
just found out robert deniro is an anti-vaxxer.
robert deniro is cancelled.
Yep. So annoyed that some educated people in US are taking us back to polio and measles. Entitled schmucks.
I only hear this sentiment from super rich people. Of course money isnt the answer to everything but it solves most problems or at least makes it way easier to deal with them. With billions its a totally different situation, im just talking “regular” rich.
Also we should never forget the disgusting business tactics that Bill Gates used and the surveillance nightmare that Windows is.
And he’s trying to use his money to solve those problems.
I think it’s an interesting contrast. He went from being the most cutthroat businessman out there, to funneling his entire fortune into trying to make the world a better place.
He thinks this year will be the last year a child gets polio. That made me tear up a little bit.
I don’t know about his brutal past business practices but he’s certainly given plenty back.
Yeah, that jumped out to me too. He’s a billionaire primarily to his innovation and intelligence in creating an operating system that serves the needs of billions of people. Yes, Microsoft has had issues with monopolistic bundling. But when I think of Bill Gates, I don’t think “That guy became a billionaire because he’s an asshole!”
classy people dont show off unlike some cheap you know whos
and who isn’t a cut throat in business? you can’t be a success being a fluffy kitten.
that mindset fits perfectly into an unequal capitalistic society. if you cant be a success without explotation you shouldnt aspire to be a success.
Or is it just the reality of capitalism itself?
QueenB – What is the solution, communism, socialism, something else?
While I admire what he and his wife ares doing with their wealth, he was just as big a douche than Steve Jobs was back in the day. A few of the stories are that he loved to embarrass people in meetings and pitches.
The difference is that Bill genuinely believes in the power of charity and investing in others. Steve never donated a penny and actively discouraged others from doing so. I admire Steve as a business and designing genius but he was a rotten human being in many ways. I admire and respect Bill for being able to walk away from the CEO job and focus entirely on philanthropy. Yes, he has been ruthless in business and most huge fortunes are made like that. Not saying it’s admirable, it just is. But then he took the proceeds pot what he perceives as fair winnings in his business battles and does a lot for people who cannot hep themselves. I think he sees business rivals as a very different person than someone who needs his help. (maybe I’m not explaining this well, but I get it. I know very successful people who are the same way, ruthless in boardrooms but charitable and kind outside.)
I totally agree with what you are saying that he is invested in his philanthropic work, which is in the vein of other super successful businessmen like Guggenheim, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie etc.. Their foundation does some amazing work and i would never knock them for that. Its just I grew up in a time when he was known as a cut throat businessmen who had a bad rep. When i was studying computer science at Uni, he was considered a legend for screwing over IBM over DOS. I guess now that he achieved his dream of dominating the computer market he is pursing something more worthy to pour his drive into. He’s a very driven individual and the success of his vaccination programmes attests to that.
I didn’t know about Steve Jobs and his discouragement of charity – he’s an even bigger douche than i thought.
EDIT: Apologies for the typo’s in the original post. Was on my iPad, i have sausage fingers and then I couldn’t change them 🙁
I think the big changes came about with his wife. If he wasn’t married to her, I don’t think we’d be seeing Bill Gates, Global Humanitarian.
he’s so humble and down to earth … is what I would have said like ten years ago before I knew better.? I’m with queen b… I can’t admire your being rich and ignore how you got there. as for his philanthropy, I’m reminded of a quote about how some people start wars and murder people in the morning, donate money to alleviate the suffering they have caused in the afternoon, and attend galas honouring their contributions at night…something to that effect
+1 to everything you said!
It’s too bad that trump isn’t one of those eight in ten literate people.
I find him similar to Arianna Huffington – both bulldozed everyone on their way to the top and now preach about money not being that important. One is telling everyone to sleep more instead of trying to make more money, the other shares on love of mainstream food Yet, try to take that cash out of their hands and see what happens, haha! Self made millionaires are so cute
He seems to be releasing billions of dollars from his hands, all for the benefit of others.
Plus, he and Warren Buffett have convinced other billionaires to dedicate the bulk of their fortunes to philanthropy, rather than all to their heirs. Not trump, though.
He’s nothing like us and he should accept that. His life is unfamiliar to me to in every way imaginable. Don’t try and be relatable w “I eating at mcdons and Burger King” I wouldn’t eat at either if I knew I could afford better tastier or healthier food or eat at either establishment once in a blue moon.
Bill visits/vacations where I live occasionally. He eats one of the cheapest maybe greasiest eat out places in town, its where he eats usually. Very nice guy and always leaves a big tip. He wears the typical hat, somewhat disguises himself but you would never in million years look at him and think Billionaire! He dresses like a put together older college kid. They seem to be very down to earth couple.
What people seem to forget is that Bill is a self made millionaire. His family may be comfortable but he did not grow up wealthy thus he loves what the common man loves.
Successful businessmen are successful for a reason. They are ruthless. I’m not going to knock him or Jobs for that. They created what we take for granted now.
It’s what they do with the money afterwards that counts. His kids aren’t like the Hiltons. He’s channeling his money for the greater good instead of keeping it to himself. That earns points in my book.
I do find the macro numbers viewpoint helpful, when trying to stay positive through the cheeto-tastrophe. It’s heartening to hear that so many more of the world’s children are surviving and will become literate. It seems that he and Melinda are sincerely trying to be good individual citizens. Now if only he could get Microsoft to be a good corporate citizen–from anti-trust violations to profits stowed offshore to avoid taxes, they’re just behaving like all the other corporate guys. Not helpful.
Having lived in Microsoft’s (not to mention Amazon, Starbucks, Costco, and so many others) backyard most of my life, I sometimes forget that the person in line behind me at the grocery store could quite possibly be worth millions and you would never know it to look at them. The truly mega-rich like Gates and others are in their own category around here, but for the rest there is really nothing remarkable about how they go about their daily lives – until you catch them backing their Ferrari out the garage on a sunny day.
That’s not to say that trying to live a middle class life in the midst of millionaires and billionaires doesn’t have it’s own problems, but they have done a lot to energize the community. Most believe in giving back.
his charity is phony.,its just a way for him to invest tax free. he has in fact invested in big pharma. the vaccines for malaria and polio that he so graciously foists on vulnerable third world populations are a big mess that make things worse, and that makes money for the companies he invests in as people get sick. that’s my last two cents
Links, please?
Whackos genuinely believe Bill Gates is spearheading global depopulation through vaccines. Meanwhile seven billion and counting…
It should tell you a lot that the absolute only site I could find making that connection has been blocked from both Facebook and Google because they are verifiably “alternative facts”. Rule of thumb: if the site you’re frequenting has to ask you to sign a petition because they’re being blocked everywhere, that’s a sign that they’re totally bogus and you should find a new source.
I could give you some actual facts and science, but I don’t think that’s what you particularly want to hear.
Um ok. Your handle says it all.
He seems so insincere. Trying to appeal to the Everyman with his “I’m just like you” act eating crappy fast food that’s bad for our health. I don’t believe his “aw shucks” act for a second.
It’s funny, he released a commercial that I saw on YouTube where he essentially blamed the world population for climate change instead of the big corporations who are actually causing it.
The commercial was eventually taken down because many felt he was arguing for population control. Who is he to make such a determination? The very rich are very dangerous.
purple pranker is factually correct about the shenanigans of bill gates and warren buffet w the pharmaceutical industry.
If you are interested to find this information out, you can do so. Why should we put together a bibliography, when you are not going to read it? Or are here lying about what you know? Why don’t you prove to us what impact (evidence based evaluations) bill gates is having on any of the health outcomes that have claim to have an impact on. The gates are just lying.
By the way, UNICEF, including the Stop Polio Program, is underfunded. As are UNFPA, UNHCR and all the humanitarian programs. MSF and PIH, health aid agency, are unfunded. MSF and PIH are flagship, world renowned health/humanitarian agencies. Bill Gates/Warren Buffet are not funding them, nor are the bilateral countries, control by political whores of Bill Gates/warren buffets of the world.
Wake the fuck up people! Just go to a health organization and you can see factually that they are severely unfunded. In the US, the American people do not even have an universal health care system bc the gates/buffets are not paying taxes. IT IS VERY CLEAR!!!
I used to harsh on him for not doing charity work until the anti-monopoly case went to court, but found out later I was wrong. He was a longtime funder of an abused women’s shelter in Seattle, but he funded it on the specific condition he not be identified. My friend worked as the administrator there and she only found out he was the funder when he showed up at their Christmas party.