Billionaire philanthropists Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates have made public their separate plans to donate their wealth, almost seven months after announcing their divorce.
Mr Gates, 66, who is the fourth-wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $135 billion, behind Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, said he will continue to focus his philanthropy on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s work.
“The foundation is my top philanthropic priority, even as my giving in other areas has grown over the years – primarily in mitigation of climate change and tackling Alzheimer’s disease,” Mr Gates said in his updated Giving Pledge, which is a commitment by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to giving back.
The divorced couple initially wrote a letter in 2010 for the Giving Pledge. On Tuesday, the pledge’s website was updated to include their new separate letters.
“I’m proud of all we have achieved so far, from supporting the vaccination of more than 800 million children to helping schools keep more kids on the track to graduation,” the Microsoft co-founder wrote in his letter dated November 30.
“The foundation’s mission has grown over time, but it remains focused on expanding opportunity for the world’s poorest people and improving education in the United States,” he added.
Mr Gates and Ms French Gates founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. Since then, it has become one of the most influential non-profit organisations in the world that spends $5bn annually on fighting poverty, disease and inequality around the world.
The foundation says it has spent $54.8bn since its inception. Last year, the foundation pledged about $250 million to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic, with some of the funds channelled to the distribution of life-saving doses of Covid-19 vaccines to parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
“When we first opened our doors back in 2000, it was built around the simple idea that all lives have equal value,” Mr Gates said in his updated letter.
The foundation was created to address deeply unfair inequities around the globe, he added.
In Ms Gates’s new Giving Pledge letter, she talks about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she helped found, but also her newer philanthropic arm Pivotal Ventures, which was created in 2015 to advance social progress in the US.
“As part of this pledge, I commit to doing more than writing cheques,” Ms Gates, 57, wrote. “I also commit my time, energy and efforts to the work of fighting poverty and advancing equality – for women and girls and other marginalised groups – in the United States and around the world. My giving will continue to focus on the people for whom the barriers to equality are highest.”
Ms Gates has a net worth of $11.7bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
As part of this pledge, I commit to doing more than writing checks
Melinda French Gates,
philanthropist
“While I’d always aspired to give back to my community, I never anticipated that I would be able to give away billions of dollars,” she added.
The Microsoft founder’s wife filed for divorce on May 3, after 27 years of marriage.
The Gates began dating in 1987 and wed on January 1, 1994, in Hawaii. The couple have three children.
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
MATCH INFO
Who: UAE v USA
What: first T20 international
When: Friday, 2pm
Where: ICC Academy in Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Simran
Director Hansal Mehta
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Soham Shah, Esha Tiwari Pandey
Three stars
