'Will leave only 1% of my wealth to my children': Bill Gates

'It’s not a dynasty, I’m not asking them to run Microsoft. I want to give them a chance to have their own earnings and success,' the Microsoft founder said on an Indian podcast channel.

Bill Gates recently announced that he will leave behind only 1 per cent of his total wealth to his children. This shocking revelation stems from his desire to ensure that his kids find their own success rather than merely inherit his wealth.

Despite only receiving a seemingly measly 1 per cent of their father's large fortune, his three children, Rory Gates, Jennifer Gates Nassar, and Phoebe Gates, will still amass considerable wealth. The Microsoft founder's net worth amounts to $155 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. A single percent of that amounts to $1.55 billion. This, combined with their existing assets, puts his children among the top 1 per cent of the world's wealthiest.

"In my case my kids got a great upbringing and education but less than 1 per cent of the total wealth because I decided it wouldn’t be a favour to them. It’s not a dynasty, I’m not asking them to run Microsoft. I want to give them a chance to have their own earnings and success," Bill Gates told Raj Shamani on his podcast, Figuring Out.

He also told Shamani that he wished for his children to become "significant" on their own and not become overshadowed by the "incredible luck and good fortune" of Bill Gates.

He emphasised his ideals further by stating, "You don’t want your kids to ever be confused about your support for them and your love for them. So I do think explaining early on your philosophy that you’re going to treat them all equally and that you’re gonna give them incredible opportunities, but that the highest calling for these resources is to go back to the neediest through the foundation."

These recent statements have a similar tone to his previous plans when he stated that he would only give his children $10 million each and will encourage them to become successful on their own rather than have their wealth handed to them on a silver platter. 

The idea of letting children find their own way instead of building dynastic wealth is not unique to Bill Gates. Late Apple founder Steve Jobs' wife, Laurene Powell Jobs has also stated that she will not be passing down the wealth inherited from Steve Jobs to their children. She elaborated that Jobs was never interested in building a generational legacy of wealth, instead focussing on effectively using it to "lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way".

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also expressed similar desires, pledging to donate the majority of his wealth to charity rather than leaving it to his children.