NEW YORK, USA – In a recent interview with The New York Times, Melinda French Gates shared her candid views on a new generation of billionaires whom she believes are not living up to the standards of true philanthropy.
The former wife of Bill Gates, who recently made headlines by stepping away from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated nearly $80 billion since its inception in 2000, spoke frankly about the philanthropic efforts of prominent figures such as Tesla CEO and X Corp. owner Elon Musk, Twitter founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and PayPal co-founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
“The people you just named have not been very philanthropic yet,” French Gates stated during the interview published online on Sunday, July 28, 2024.
“They use their voice and they use their megaphones, but I would not call those men philanthropists.”
The interviewer noted that French Gates and her ex-husband, Bill, are often grouped with Warren Buffet as part of a cohort of billionaire activists with a more “traditional approach to philanthropy.”
When asked if Musk, Dorsey, Ackman, and Thiel were viewed differently because “they haven’t signed the Giving Pledge,” French Gates responded, “Some have signed the pledge, and I’m not saying that’s the way they have to do it. But go look at their record of actually giving money to society. It’s not big,” she added with a laugh.
“So you put Bill and me and Warren in a class of philanthropists doing things in a certain way, but I don’t think you can then say, ‘OK, well, let’s compare to this group over here who are nonphilanthropists.’ Those are nonphilanthropists, in my opinion.”
French Gates also addressed her recent shift towards more public political engagement.
In June, she endorsed President Joe Biden, and following his withdrawal from the presidential race, she publicly supported Vice President Kamala Harris.
This was a significant move for French Gates, who felt compelled to speak out after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which stated that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion, thereby transferring the power to regulate abortion to elected officials.
“After the Dobbs decision, I knew I had to speak out in favour of women’s rights, and if there was a candidate who is against women’s rights and says terrible things about women, there is no way I could vote for that person,” French Gates explained.
“And I felt that that decision, because of all the downstream repercussions it has for maternal health, for Black women, for deserts where women can’t even go now to get good maternal care in the United States—all the downstream effects that are coming and will continue to come from that decision are so severe, I thought, you know, if I really believe in women in our country and women’s rights, I need to speak up.
“Because women are the ones that are going to make or break this election. And women in battleground states speaking up for what they want, for their rights and for our democracy. That’s why I felt it was so important. But yes, it was not a decision I came to easily.”
In response to her endorsement of Biden, Musk posted on X that her support “[m]ight be the downfall of Western civilization.”
French Gates dismissed his reaction as “silly.”
