Bill Gates says Elon Musk is killing the world’s poorest children

Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates recently accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of ‘killing world’s poorest children’. In an interview to Financial Times, Microsoft founder critised Elon Musk for killing the poor children by sharing down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Gates also highlighted that Elon Musk’s decision to cut down foreign aid funding could lead to increase in the cases of measles, HIV, and polio and more.“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates told the Financial Times.In February 2025, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effectively shut down USAID, calling it “a criminal organisation” and stating it was “time for it to die”. Gates argued that the abrupt cuts have left life-saving food and medicines expiring in warehouses, depriving vulnerable communities of essential aid.In the interview, Bill Gates also alleged that Elon Musk has cancelled grants to hospital in Gaza Province Mozambique, which prevented transmission of HIV. “I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money,” said Gates.Bill Gates also announced his plans to spend nearly all his money in the next 20 years as the Gates Foundation will close in 2045. Gates mentioned that the foundation will allocate $200 billion towards global health, development and education. “We’ll have a lot more money because we’re spending down over the 20 years, as opposed to making an effort to be a perpetual foundation,” said Gates. “The foundation will continue to spend the bulk of its budget, which will rise to about $10bn a year, on global health, with vaccines, maternal and child health continuing to be a focus. But Gates said that private philanthropy could not make up the shortfall from the cuts to USAID, whose budget was $44bn last year,” mentions the report.