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☆ Factbox: Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway at a glance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

[1/2] Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett walks through the exhibit hall as shareholders gather to hear from the billionaire investor at Berkshire Hathaway Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 4, 2019. REUTERS/Scott Morgan/File PhotoMay 4 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people are descending on Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual shareholder weekend for billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N). Susan Buffett and Howard Buffett are Berkshire directors. His Berkshire stock will go to philanthropy after he dies. (Interview with CNBC, April 12, 2023)Abel on Berkshire managers' relationship with him: "It's not the same as working for Warren.

Its peak sales forecast is of more than $2 billion annually together from the maternal vaccine and an RSV shot for older adults. The case highlights how equitable global access will require better advance planning by drugmakers, governments and health organizations, health officials say. "They could have tried sooner," said Erin Sparrow, WHO's technical officer for the RSV vaccine, referring to Pfizer. Pfizer has yet to take a number of steps needed to make the vaccine available in developing countries, according to global health officials and the company. She still expects it to be several years before the RSV vaccine is launched in lower-income countries.

☆ Bill Gates shared his first photo with his first grandchild: 'I can't wait to watch you discover the world'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

New grandfather Bill Gates shared his first photo with his grandchild on Instagram. His daughter Jennifer, who he had with ex-wife Melinda French Gates, welcomed her child in March. Gates became a grandfather in March when his daughter with ex-wife Melinda French Gates, Jennifer Gates, gave birth to her first child with equestrian Nayel Nassar. "There is nothing quite like holding your first grandchild," French Gates wrote on her Instagram post with a smiling emoji surrounded by hearts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Bill Gates says pausing the development of AI systems will not 'solve' challenges ahead, days after Musk and others cautioned about 'risks to society' from the tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill Gates said he didn't think a halt on advanced AI development for six months is practical. His comments came a week after an open letter called for a six-month pause on advanced AI development. Gates, however, isn't the only high-profile voice cautioning about pausing AI development. Last week, billionaire investor Bill Ackman warned that shutting down AI development for six months would allow bad actors six more months to catch up to current technology. Bill Gates did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation outside regular business hours.

LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - Calls to pause the development of artificial intelligence will not “solve the challenges” ahead, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told Reuters, his first public comments since an open letter sparked a debate about the future of the technology. The technologist-turned-philanthropist said it would be better to focus on how best to use the developments in AI, as it was hard to understand how a pause could work globally. “I don’t think asking one particular group to pause solves the challenges,” Gates said on Monday. While currently focused full-time on the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates has been a bullish supporter of AI and described it as revolutionary as the Internet or mobile phones. He also said in the interview the details of any pause would be complicated to enforce.

☆ Fact Check-Video shows an aphid, not a genetically modified mosquito ‘released by Bill Gates’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A video circulating online shows a small sap-sucking insect called an aphid, not a genetically modified mosquito with a number stamped on it released by philanthropist Bill Gates, as online posts claim. Bill Gates was very vocal about releasing millions of GMO [genetically modified organism] mosquitos into the public.”Another example can be seen (here). However, the video shows a small insect called an aphid, not a GMO mosquito. A representative for the Gates Foundation said the claim that the video showed a genetically modified mosquito with a number or barcode stamped on it released by the Gates Foundation was false. The video shows an aphid, not a mosquito with a number stamped on it and released by Bill Gates.

☆ Hong Kong government announces measures to lure wealthy family offices
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, March 24 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's government announced a series of measures on Friday to attract wealthy family offices to set up in the financial hub as authorities try to restore business confidence and investor allure after three years of severe COVID-19 rules. "The policy statement demonstrates our determination to develop Hong Kong into a leading global family office hub," Paul Chan, the city's financial secretary said. Chan said this would help bolster Hong Kong's financial sector as well as areas including technology, green, arts and culture and philanthropy. City leader John Lee said last year that he had set a target of attracting 200 large family offices to set up in Hong Kong by 2025. Hong Kong's push to attract wealthy families comes as many wealthy individuals and companies shifted to rival financial hubs such as Singapore after Beijing's imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.

☆ Fact Check-Video of Australian news interview featuring Bill Gates edited using AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The version of the clip with altered dialogue being shared was created using deepfake technology, which manipulates audio and visuals to make it appear that an individual is saying something (here). There are signs of several techniques used to create the fake video, according to Dominic Lees, an associate professor of filmmaking at the University of Reading. “Voice cloning has been used to create the fake voices of Gates and his interviewer…The fake audio has been applied to a re-edited version of the interview,” Lees told Reuters. So, this analysis suggests the video is likely to be manipulated.”A spokesperson for ABC News told Reuters, “The video is clearly fake. The video shared on social media has been manipulated using deepfake technology and does not show an authentic interaction between ABC News journalist Sarah Ferguson and Bill Gates.

☆ Bill Gates says 'we need a fire department for pandemics' as he worries we're unprepared for the next one
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill Gates wrote a New York Times op-ed Sunday warning about future pandemics. He supported the WHO's global health emergency corps, calling it a "fire department for pandemics." "We can't afford to get caught flat-footed again," Gates wrote. But he added he was "optimistic" about the global health emergency corps – a network of health leaders around the world designed to promote collaboration between different countries. "The Global Health Emergency Corps will represent massive progress toward a pandemic-free future," Gates wrote in the Times.

☆ Vaccine-derived poliovirus detected in Burundi, Congo
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JOHANNESBURG/LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Health officials in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have detected cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus, the World Health Organization and Global Polio Eradication Initiative said. Five other samples from environmental surveillance of waste water confirmed the presence of circulating poliovirus type 2 in Burundi, the WHO added in a statement. Circulating poliovirus type 2 is different to wild poliovirus, with infections occurring when a weakened strain of poliovirus contained in the oral polio vaccine circulates among under-immunized populations for long periods. The detections are significant as they are the first linked with the use of a new vaccine, the novel oral poliomyelitis vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), which was developed specifically to reduce this risk. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said in a statement that circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was found in six children in the DRC's eastern Tanganyika and South Kivu provinces.

LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) - The founder of collapsed private equity company Abraaj Group on Wednesday lost a bid to challenge his extradition from London to the United States to face fraud charges. Judge Jonathan Swift on Wednesday refused Naqvi permission to bring a judicial review against the 2021 approval of his extradition to the United States. Naqvi also suffers from severe depression and there is a “real risk” of suicide if he is extradited, Fitzgerald argued. The judge also said that Naqvi’s suicide risk could be adequately managed if he was held in prison. Naqvi’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Bill Gates is officially a grandfather after his daughter, Jennifer, announces the birth of her first child
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Gates is now a grandfather. His oldest child, 26-year-old Jennifer Gates, just announced she's welcomed a baby into her family. Jennifer Gates announced her pregnancy in November; she shares the child with her husband, Egyptian equestrian Nayel Nassar. The eldest of his three children, 26-year-old Jennifer Gates, announced over the weekend that she has given birth to her first child. Bill Gates has said the news that he would become a grandparent has changed his views on life and his philanthropy through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

☆ Bill Gates, who's 'not a big beer drinker,' just bought a $902 million stake in Heineken
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Gates bought a $902 million stake in Dutch brewery Heineken's parent company. The billionaire bought a $392 million stake in one of Mexico's largest brewers, Femsa, in 2007. He bought 6.65 million shares of the beer company directly, per the filing, and another 4.18 million shares through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Long before his Reddit post and the health study, Gates bought a $392 million stake in one of Mexico's largest brewers, Femsa, in 2007.

☆ Bill Gates buys Heineken stake, despite saying he's 'not a big beer drinker'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Microsoft founder Bill Gates reacts during a visit with Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the Imperial College University, in London, Britain, February 15, 2023. Justin Tallis//Pool via REUTERSAMSTERDAM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Bill Gates has bought 3.76% stake in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV (HEIO.AS), although the billionaire founder of Microsoft has previously said he was "not a big beer drinker." Heineken Holding owns a controlling stake in brewer Heineken NV (HEIN.AS). A separate filing also dated Feb. 17 showed FEMSA sold all 18 million shares it held in Heineken Holding. Gates purchased 10.8 million shares, worth 883 million euros ($939.87 million) at current market prices, triggering a disclosure requirement under Dutch stock market rules.

Bill Gates, the cofounder of Microsoft, is thought to have a net worth of about $106 billion. Gates' own father was a high-powered attorney who became a name partner at the law firm K&L Gates. He's cultivated his brand of philanthropy with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, his endeavor with Melinda French Gates, now his ex-wife. (Brock Adams, who went on to become the transportation secretary in the Carter administration, is said to have introduced Gates' parents.) Bill Gates' mother, Mary Gates, came from a line of successful bankers and sat on the boards of important financial and social institutions including the nonprofit United Way.

☆ Bill Gates: Nuclear waste is not a reason avoid nuclear energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Nuclear waste is not a reason to avoid using nuclear energy, according to Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist who more recently founded a next-generation nuclear energy startup, TerraPower. One common criticism of nuclear power is that nuclear reactors generate waste that stays radioactive for thousands of years. "The waste problems should not be a reason to not do nuclear," Gates said in an interview with the German business publication, Handelsblatt, published on Thursday. The volume of nuclear waste is very small, especially when compared to the energy generated, Gates said. But after a boom of nuclear power reactor construction in the 1970's and 1980's, the construction of new nuclear power generation came to a virtual standstill.

☆ Bill and Melinda Gates: Here's a look inside their 27-year marriage, from meeting at work, to spending $45 billion on philanthropy, to their 2021 divorce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Áine Cain | Allana Akhtar | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, announced he and his wife, Melinda, divorced in 2021. The two ran the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which had an endowment of $49.8 billion in 2019. "After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," Bill Gates said in a tweet. Bill and Melinda Gates had been married since 1994, raised three kids, were worth $130.5 billion, and ran a namesake philanthropic enterprise boasting a $49.8 billion endowment. Here's a look at the marriage between Bill and Melinda:

☆ Bill Gates says he isn't a hypocrite for using a private jet
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill Gates was asked whether his private jet makes him a "hypocrite" while funding climate innovation. Gates disagreed, saying he pays for carbon offsets and his jet helps further his climate fundraising. Gates was asked in an interview with the BBC in Kenya what his response would be to someone who would call him a hypocrite for being a "climate change campaigner" while also flying "around the world in a private jet." On Reddit, the Microsoft cofounder has said his private jet is his "guilty pleasure" and his "big splurge." "That is too difficult," Gates told Bloomberg's Zero podcast.

☆ Bill Gates said he'd rather fund vaccines to 'save lives' than go to Mars, but he thinks someday Elon Musk will be a 'great philanthropist'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bill Gates told the BBC he does not think traveling to Mars is a good use of money. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit founded by Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French-Gates, has put billions of dollars towards researching, developing, and delivering vaccines to the world's poorest countries. Last year, Musk made a $5.7 billion charitable donation in Tesla shares to the Musk Foundation, which he launched with his brother, Kimball Musk, in 2002. Gates and Musk have publicly disagreed in the past, including on COVID-19, how to address climate change, and space travel. Musk and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Bill Gates says he was surprised at being targeted by COVID-19 conspiracy theorists and 'people were looking for a boogeyman'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Gates told the BBC he was surprised by some COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He said he thinks people were "looking for a boogeyman" around vaccines. Several COVID-19 conspiracy theories have surrounded Gates in recent years. Gates has also joked that he was more often the target of conspiracy theories than Anthony Fauci, former chief medical advisor to the president of the United States, because he's more known internationally. Representatives for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did not reply to Insider's request for comment made outside normal working hours.

☆ Bill Gates says he shouldn’t have had dinners with Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Microsoft founder Bill Gates said he “shouldn’t have had dinners” with Jeffrey Epstein during an interview with Australia’s ABC 7 .30. But Gates had told CNN he only had dinners with him for potential philanthropic opportunities. Presenter Sarah Ferguson grilled Gates, asking if he “regrets the relationship he maintained” with Epstein, going against his ex-wife Melinda Gates’ advice. “You’re going way back in time,” Gates said, adding he’s said this “over the hundredth time.”“I shouldn’t have had dinners with him,” Gates responded. “It’s a time of reflection, and at this point, I need to go forward,” Gates told CNN in 2021.

☆ Fact Check-Bill Gates did not claim he visited Epstein’s Caribbean island
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Allegations that Bill Gates visited late American financier Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island, Little Saint James, have been debunked in the past. Reuters reporting about litigation regarding Epstein's island is viewable (here )When asked about Gates having visited the island or admitting he did so, a spokesperson for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters that neither claim is true. Reuters found no evidence of Gates claiming, “he doesn’t know why he visited” Little Saint James. Reuters found no public record of Bill Gates saying he “doesn’t know why” he visited Epstein’s island multiple times. A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said he made no such claim and that he did not visit Epstein’s island.

☆ Fact Check-Bill Gates did not pull out of the 2023 WEF summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Posts on Twitter read: “EXCLUSIVE: Bill Gates has also pulled out of the WEF23 meeting in Davos, wonder why?” (here) and (here). Reuters found no evidence that Gates was scheduled to participate at the WEF’s 2023 conference (here). When asked whether Gates pulled out of the conference, a spokesperson for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation told Reuters the claim was false. “Bill was never confirmed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2023,” the spokesperson added in an emailed statement. Bill Gates was never confirmed to be part of the 2023 conference of the World Economic Forum, a spokesperson for his foundation said.

☆ Fact Check-Bill Gates turned off replies on his Twitter page in July 2020
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

One Twitter user said: “Elon Musk EXPOSED Bill Gates in the latest twitter files so hard that he has now turned off comments on his Twitter” (here). However, Reuters Fact Check found that Gates disabled tweet replies in July 2020. The last apparent tweet by Gates allowing replies from other Twitter users appears to be on July 2, 2020 (here). A spokesperson for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said allegations that he disabled Twitter replies in response to Musk’s actions are false. Bill Gates’ Twitter account has disabled tweet replies since July 2020, years before the “Twitter Files” were released.

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