*

Billionaire Microsoft ( MSFT ) co-founder speeds up donation plan

*

Gates says foundation will spend around $200 billion by

2045

*

Urges governments, wealthy people to help world's poor

(Updates headline, adds Gates comments on Musk, paragraphs 2-3)

By Jennifer Rigby

LONDON, May 8 (Reuters) - Bill Gates pledged on Thursday

to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two

decades and said the world's poorest would receive some $200

billion via his foundation at a time when governments worldwide

are slashing international aid.

He also hit out at Elon Musk, the world's richest man and a

key figure in President Donald Trump's administration, accusing

him of "killing the world's poorest children" with huge cuts to

the United States aid budget.

"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's

poorest children is not a pretty one," Gates told the Financial

Times. The Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency has led

to the decimation of the US Agency for International Development

(USAID), which has previously provided billions in funding for

everything from vaccines for children to emergency food

assistance.

Gates and Musk once agreed over the role of the wealthy in

giving away money, but have since clashed several times.

Gates said he was speeding up plans to divest his

fortune and close the Gates Foundation on December 31, 2045.

"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," the

69-year-old billionaire Microsoft ( MSFT ) co-founder and philanthropist

wrote in a 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."

In an implicit rebuke to Trump's slashing of aid since

returning to office in January, Gates' statement said he wanted

to help stop newborn babies, children and mothers dying of

preventable causes, end diseases like polio, malaria and

measles, and reduce poverty.

"It's unclear whether the world's richest countries will

continue to stand up for its poorest people," Gates added,

noting cuts from major donors including Britain and France

alongside the United States, the world's biggest donor.

Gates said that despite the foundation's deep pockets,

progress would not be possible without government support.

He praised the response to aid cuts in Africa, where some

governments have reallocated budgets, but said that as an

example polio would not be eradicated without U.S. funding.

Gates made the announcement on the foundation's 25th

anniversary. He set up the organization with his then-wife

Melinda French Gates in 2000, and they were later joined by

investor Warren Buffett.

"I have come a long way since I was just a kid starting a

software company with my friend from middle school," he said.

FOUNDATION HAS GIVEN $100 BLN

Since inception, the foundation has given away $100 billion,

helping to save millions of lives and backing initiatives like

the vaccine group Gavi and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,

Tuberculosis and Malaria.

It will close after it spends around 99% of his personal

fortune, Gates said. The founders originally expected the

foundation to wrap up in the decades after their deaths.

Gates, who is valued at around $108 billion today, expects

the foundation to spend around $200 billion by 2045, with the

final figure dependent on markets and inflation.

The foundation is already a huge player in global health,

with an annual budget that will reach $9 billion by 2026.

It has faced criticism for its outsize power and influence

in the field without the requisite accountability, including at

the World Health Organization.

Gates himself was also subject to conspiracy theories,

particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gates has spoken to Trump several times in recent months on

the importance of continued investment in global health.

"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, because it is such a

profoundly impactful way to give back to society," Gates wrote.