Bill Gates privately said he donated $50 million to a pro-Harris super PAC, report says
Bill Gates made a donation to a pro-Harris super-PAC, three people briefed on the matter told The New York Times.
Bill Gates has privately said he donated about $50 million to a pro-Harris super-PAC, The New York Times reported, citing multiple sources.
The billionaire Microsoft founder, who has not publicly endorsed either candidate for president, made the donation to Future Forward’s nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, three people briefed on the matter told the newspaper.
Future Forward USA Action does not disclose its donors, meaning any contributions would not be made public.
Two of the sources said that Gates has talked about his donation with Mike Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, among others, per the Times.
In a statement to the Times, Gates didn’t confirm or deny the donations.
He said that “this election is different,” adding that he supports candidates who show a “clear” commitment to improving healthcare, reducing poverty, and fighting climate change in the US and worldwide.
The Gates Foundation didn’t immediately respond to a B-17 request for comment, made outside working hours.
Gates has previously said that he chooses not to make large political donations.
“There are times it might feel tempting to do so, and there are other people who choose to do so, but I just don’t want to grab that gigantic megaphone,” he said at a New York Times Dealbook conference in 2019.
After Harris announced her candidacy in July, Gates told France 24 it was “great” to have “somebody who’s younger, who can think about things like AI.”
The views of America’s billionaires on the election have been the subject of intense speculation and reporting.
Former President Donald Trump claimed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called him to say, “There’s no way I can vote for a Democrat in this election.” A Meta spokesperson denied this and said that Zuckerberg would not be endorsing anyone, nor revealing how he would vote.
Earlier this month, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon also had to deny he was endorsing the former president after Trump posted a photo on Truth Social with a caption saying he had.
These billionaires’ guarded stances are in stark contrast with Elon Musk, who has said he is “all in” supporting a Trump victory.
Elon Musk’s super PAC, America PAC, has spent more than $100 million on the election, most of which went toward supporting former President Donald Trump and opposing Harris.
The latest available ad-revenue data from X, the social media company Musk bought in 2022, shows America PAC has spent $201,021 on advertising on X since July.
Last Sunday, Musk also said in an X post that he planned to give away $1 million a day to a different swing-state voter who has signed his petition to support free speech and the right to bear arms.
