Bill Gates to close foundation (and give away all his money) by 2045

Bill Gates is giving away all his wealth, and he's doing it faster than originally planned.

" I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world," the billionaire Microsoft founder said in a post on his blog.

According to Gates' plan, his net worth should drop 99 percent over the next two decades, from the $108 billion he owns now, to "virtually" zero.

Gates also said that the Gates Foundation will "permanently" close its doors on Dec. 31, 2045 — a change of plans, given that the organization was originally supposed to shut down several decades after Gates and his ex-wide Melinda were dead.

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Gates said that he now believes that the foundation's goals can be reached on a shorter timeline, with plans to give away more than $200 billion to charity between now and 2045. As for where that money will go, the foundation's main goals will be to end preventable deaths of mothers and babies, eradicate deadly infectious diseases, as well as lift "millions" of people out of poverty.

The Gates Foundation, started by Bill and Melinda in 2000, has given away more than $100 billion for charitable causes so far.

Bill Gates' pledge to give away all his wealth isn't new. Together with billionaire Warren Buffett and Melinda Gates, Bill announced the Giving Pledge campaign in 2010, urging wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. And even though Gates has already donated around $60 billion of his fortune to the Foundation, he remained a very wealthy man (according to Bloomberg data, he's the fifth richest person in the world, with a total net worth of $168 billion, though he claims he owns $108 billion), partly due to his investments appreciating in value over time. Now, he's going to donate much more rapidly.

"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. There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people," he wrote.