In a dramatic escalation of tensions between two of the world’s most prominent billionaires, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has launched a scathing attack on tech mogul Elon Musk, accusing him of “killing the world’s poorest children” by championing drastic cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget.
Gates, speaking in an explosive interview with the Financial Times on Thursday, condemned Musk’s role in slashing the budget of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—a move that Gates claims has crippled global health and humanitarian efforts.
> “The image of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates declared, in what may be one of the sharpest public rebukes ever exchanged between the billionaires.
Musk, who currently heads the newly established Department of Government Efficiency under President Donald Trump’s administration, has led aggressive cost-cutting initiatives across several federal agencies. Among the hardest hit: USAID, once a cornerstone of America’s global outreach and a lifeline for millions of vulnerable children.
According to Gates, the cuts have “decimated” USAID’s ability to deliver critical support—ranging from childhood vaccinations to emergency food supplies—leaving countless lives in jeopardy.
The blistering critique came as Gates unveiled a bold new philanthropic commitment: to give away nearly all of his personal wealth within the next two decades and officially sunset the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by 2045. The foundation, founded in 2000 and joined by legendary investor Warren Buffett, has already disbursed a staggering $100 billion in global health, education, and development initiatives—with another $100 billion pledged before its closure.
> “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote in a heartfelt post on his website.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”
Beyond Musk, Gates also sounded the alarm on a worrying global trend: waning commitments to foreign aid from wealthy nations. He cited sharp declines in aid budgets from the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, warning that philanthropic funding alone cannot replace the reach and power of government-backed development programs.
As an example, he pointed to the fight to eradicate polio—a decades-long battle that is now on the brink of collapse without continued U.S. support.
> “Polio would not be eradicated,” Gates said bluntly, underscoring the critical role governments play in global health infrastructure.
Despite frequent criticism about his foundation’s outsized influence and its controversial role during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates remains adamant that billionaires must step up.
> “I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world’s poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving,” he said. “It is such a profoundly impactful way to give back to society.”
Once allies in the philanthropic space, Gates and Musk have grown increasingly estranged—drifting apart over climate, artificial intelligence, and now, foreign aid. The latest rift reveals the sharp ideological fault lines dividing the ultra-wealthy, with the world’s most vulnerable caught in the crossfire.
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