August 12, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Sunday Times of London touched off a wave of press coverage with its August 1 story on the philanthropic intentions of Microsoft Corporation founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda. Under the headline “Gates to give away 65-billion-pound fortune,” the article stated that Mr. Gates’s father, William H. Gates, Sr., had told the paper “that in the next three months” the William H. Gates Foundation “will announce a number of newly funded programmes which will go a long way towards its ultimate aim of becoming the largest private charity on earth.”
The article was quickly picked up by many newspapers and broadcasters around the world who reported that Mr. Gates was on the verge of giving away his vast fortune.
But that interpretation, said foundation officials, is incorrect.
“It is true that in the past Bill and Melinda have said that they intend to give away the majority of their wealth,” said foundation spokesman Trevor Neilson. “It is also true that in the next few months — like in the past few months — there will be major announcements about grants given from the foundation. However, it is not true that one of these announcements will be that Bill and Melinda plan to give all of their money away during that period of time.”
The Times article is available at http://www.the-times.co.uk.
