Over the summer, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced he will leave his day-to-day involvement with the world’s largest software company in July 2008. He plans to devote more of his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As Gates was plotting a new path for his life, his friend, investor Warren Buffett, announced he would give $31 billion to the Gates Foundation, a move that will eventually double the organization’s assets to more than $60 billion. And it will increase its annual giving to about $3 billion.
Gates sat down at his company’s Mountain View, Calif., campus last week to talk about his new life, philanthropic philosophy and global competition. An edited version of the interview:
Q: What problems do you feel need to be addressed on a global scale?
A: Well, 12 million children a year die who shouldn’t die, so we might start with that one. That’s the biggest priority at our foundation: the way that human life is not treated equitably between rich countries and poor countries.
In fact, there are 24 infectious diseases that, if we could come up with the right interventions, you can eliminate the vast majority of the difference.
Q: Do you see parallels with your work as a global philanthropist and your work with Microsoft? Or are they completely different worlds?
A: They’re identical in a lot of ways. It’s picking smart people who want to dedicate themselves to the problem, taking a long-term approach, being willing to have some failures and come back around and learn from those things. We’ve been able to galvanize a lot of activity very quickly.
Q: Certainly, the software market is very competitive. Would you say trying to battle these diseases takes a competitive nature, as well?
A: It takes persistence. It’s not a competition in that people didn’t focus on these things at all. When I gave $50 million to malaria, I doubled the amount of private money going into malaria. And yet that kills a million people a year.
Q: What would you like your legacy to be?
A: Nothing will ever equal the chance to be involved in the creation of this model of empowerment that the personal computer connected to the Internet, software on all devices, has created.
People have a really hard time appreciating what it was like before we had that. So I don’t think anything will equal that, even being part of these medicines.
Q: On an emotional level, do you anticipate what you will feel the day you walk away from the day-to-day involvement at Microsoft?
A: I’m sure that I’ll miss it a lot, because I love working with all the incredible people at Microsoft. I’m not thinking that much about what it will be like because I’m still full time for quite some time and very engaged.
Q: In your role as Microsoft chairman, who do you view as your greatest competitor?
A: Google by a lot of criteria is probably at the top of the list. They’re in this honeymoon phase of, Google can do anything at all times. If it was rumored they were doing pizza, you’d think it was going to be zero calories and free.
Q: Do you think the rise of China and India as tech powerhouses threatens Silicon Valley and the United States in terms of future innovation?
A: Absolutely. And should that mean that Silicon Valley renews its strength, which is incredibly unique, with great universities, and great atmosphere for large companies and startup companies and the way the collaborations take place between those? Yeah. China will go from hardly being in this game at all to being a major player. That’s a great thing for everybody. Likewise with India.
