Gates says philanthropy not related to Microsoft (LEADS)

By Mohammed Shafeeq, Indo-Asian News Service

Hyderabad, Nov 14 (IANS) Visiting IT czar Bill Gates has said his philanthropic activities are in no way connected to the operations of his company Microsoft.

"The (Bill and Melinda Gates) Foundation is something for which myself and my wife personally provided resources. It is completely independent," Gates said at a brief interaction with the media here Thursday morning.

He was answering a question on whether his philanthropic activities were aimed at restoring the sheen that Microsoft lost due to anti-trust proceedings against it.

"Microsoft has enabled us to do this but there is no connection between the activities of the foundation and the software activity," said Gates shortly after launching the second phase of a children's vaccine programme funded by the foundation in Andhra Pradesh.

"It was our commitment 10 years ago that whatever wealth we earn we will give back to the society," said the world's richest man.

Gates, who arrived here Wednesday night on a daylong visit, revealed that the urgency of health issues forced him to start the foundation early.

"This what something I wanted to do in my 60s, but the urgency of health issues made me start this activity at a younger age," said 46-year-old Gates.

He said the foundation has committed at least $1.2 billion worldwide to support the prevention and control of infectious diseases by either strengthening existing immunisation programmes or by developing new vaccines.

--Indo-Asian News Service