’Go look at their records’: Melinda French Gates criticises Elon Musk, other ‘new billionaires’ for lack of philanthropy

Melinda French Gates criticised the new generation of ‘super wealthy’ billionaires, such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and PayPal founder Peter Thiel, for using their voices as ‘megaphones' and not contributing enough to society.

In a podcast with the New York Times, Melinda French Gates said that the new generation of billionaires, such as Tesla’s Elon Musk, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and Peter Thiel, are not doing enough.

“Well, the people you just named have not been very philanthropic yet. They use their voice and they use their megaphones, but I would not call those men philanthropists,” she said.

“Go look at their records of actually giving money to society. It is not big. Those are non-philanthropic, in my opinion,” she added.

She said that the philanthropic activities of Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett cannot be compared to those of the new generation of ‘super wealthy’.

“We have some wealthy people who choose to give the money back and some who don’t,” she said.

The former Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co-chair also criticized Elon Musk's comments on her political activism and called it “silly.”

Elon Musk criticized Gates' endorsement of Joe Biden for the US Presidential Elections in 2024 and called it the downfall of Western civilization.

Melinda Gates's Political Views

On her political views, she said that she cannot support somebody who has said terrible things about women.

“I knew I had to speak out in favour of women's rights, and if there was a candidate who is against women's rights and says terrible things about women, there is no way I could vote for that person,” Melinda French Gates said.

She also questioned the advice given by tech CEOs on subjects in which they are not experts.

“I've just watched over the years tech leaders interviewed about their parenting style. A male who has spent, you know, 60 hours at his company that week, and I'm sure he's a fantastic CEO and has done a great job. But then they get asked about parenting, and they spew all this stuff, and you think, something doesn't add up here,” she said.

In May, Melinda French Gates stepped down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation while remaining committed to “people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.”