Bill Gates billions will go to a surprising heir

While being a billionaire may sound like the ultimate solution to all of life's problems, it does come with a slate of its own issues to deal with.

One is how to manage such an enormous amount of income, which is what financial advisors are for. While your average person likely only has one financial advisor, it's not unusual for a billionaire to have a team of them.

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Another issue is public scrutiny about your income and what you do with it. The world's top billionaires — Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Warren Buffett — have all been closely eyed about how they spend.

Billionaires who do not choose to contribute to philanthropic causes, such as Elon Musk, can also face heavy criticism. Musk, who has been openly skeptical of charity in the past, has been especially targeted since he's the world's richest man.

On the other extreme is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is famous for his philanthropic acts. He and his then-wife, Melinda Gates, launched the Gates Foundation in 2000 and plowed $20 billion of Microsoft (MSFT) stock into it with the aim of reducing poverty all around the world.

A few weeks ago, Gates announced that he intends to give away “virtually all” of his wealth, which is worth an estimated $107 billion. When he made the announcement, Gates quoted Scottish philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, highlighting the quote “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”

“I have spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately,” Gates wrote. “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.”

But Gates didn't specify where he intended that wealth to go — until now.

The Microsoft founder has revealed more specific plans about the future of his wealth.

Image source: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Bill Gates makes a bold new promise

Gates made an appearance at Nelson Mandela Hall at the African Union on June 2. During an address, he announced that the majority of the Gates Foundation's $200 billion spent over the next two decades will have a specific benefactor.

“I recently made a commitment that my wealth will be given away over the next 20 years,” Gates said. “The majority of that funding will be spent on helping you address challenges here in Africa.”

“By unleashing human potential through health and education, every country in Africa should be on a path to prosperity – and that path is an exciting thing to be part of,” Gates said.

Gates also explained that one of his objectives was to prioritize primary healthcare in Africa, saying it has the greatest impact on health and well-being.

The Gates Foundation has a long history of working in Africa. It opened its first office in Africa in 2012 and has since spread out to South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal, all the while with a focus on saving lives.

“I’ve always been inspired by the hard work of Africans even in places with very limited resources,” Gates said, adding, “The kind of field work to get solutions out, even in the most rural areas, has been incredible.”

Gates also spoke about AI in his address and how it could potentially bring even more aid to Africa, saying he was “seeing young people in Africa embracing this, and thinking about how it applies to the problems that they want to solve.”