Five Takeaways From Bill Gates’s Interview With The Wall Street Journal
The billionaire philanthropist speaks about his early years, geopolitics, past mistakes and how he isn’t always checking his phone
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has spent the past quarter of a century focused on philanthropy and investing in startups. Recently, he sat down for a wide-ranging interview with Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker.
The billionaire discussed his childhood and why he thinks he likely would have been diagnosed with being on the autism spectrum if he were a kid today. He also weighed in on President Trump’s reform task force led by fellow billionaire Elon Musk, U.S.-China relations and his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Gates recently had a three-hour dinner with Trump, saying he was “impressed” by the commander in chief’s interest in global issues. He has a memoir due out next month titled “Source Code: My Beginnings,” which covers his childhood through the beginning of Microsoft.
Here are the takeaways from the interview:
As a child, he showed signs of being on the autism spectrum.
Reflecting on his childhood, Gates said he showed signs of being on the autism spectrum that weren’t associated with the disorder at the time but probably would be today. “I didn’t behave in a standard way,” he said.
Gates was able to concentrate deeply on math and science, which “became a strength,” he said.
His parents, however, worried about him fitting in. They handled the situation well, he said, by sending him to a therapist and the school where he met Paul Allen, his Microsoft co-founder.
He doesn’t want DOGE to go overboard.
Gates said he supports Trump’s mandate to reduce federal expenditures through a new Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.
“I’m among the people who think the deficit needs to be brought down because otherwise it will create a financial problem for us,” he said. “Given the numbers that they have tossed around, they’ll have to look at everything including pension, defense, healthcare.”
But Gates doesn’t want to see Musk, who is in charge of the new entity, completely getting rid of certain programs. Some should stay because they provide long-term benefits, he said, including medicines that enable millions of people to live with HIV.
“If you cut those off, not only would they die when we have a cure on its way, but the negative feelings you’d have say, in Africa, would be worse than never having done the thing at all,” he said. “I hope the value system still includes the half a percent that saves all those lives.”
He thinks the U.S. and China need a more even-keeled relationship.
Asked about the current direction of relations between the two superpowers, Gates said, “It’d be great if we had more win-win elements.” Getting along is important for dealing with global issues ranging from the Earth’s climate to deadly diseases, he said.
Gates added that there is a 10% to 15% chance of a natural pandemic occurring in the next four years. “It’d be nice to think we’re actually more ready for that than we were last time. But so far we’re not,” he said.
Spending time with Epstein was ‘foolish.’
The Journal previously reported on Gates’s ties to Epstein, including that the latter threatened Gates over an affair he had. The two met a few times, Gates has said, to discuss philanthropy. He now realizes he had been played by Epstein.
“In retrospect, I was foolish to spend any time with him, and he sort of got time with various people by spending time with other people,” said Gates. “I thought it would help me with global health, philanthropy. In fact, it failed to do that, and it was just a huge mistake.”
Asked if he has since become more wary of making connections with people, Gates said: “Definitely. I mean, are you kidding?”
He is still close to Microsoft, including its CEO.
Gates stays connected to the tech behemoth through what he called a “very close relationship” with Chief Executive Satya Nadella. “I love doing product reviews, and he brings me in to do that,” Gates said. “It’s maybe 15% of my time. It helps me stay up-to-date.”
Despite living in the mobile age, Gates described himself as “not a big phone user.”
“My daughter, my youngest, gives me a hard time because she expects if I get a text, within three or four minutes I should be aware of it,” he said.