Bill Gates a warmer person now – Aquino

MANILA, Philippines – The world’s second richest man has become a warmer person.

This was how President Benigno Aquino III described Bill Gates, a self-made billionaire and founder of IT giant Microsoft, after the two had a chance encounter at the recently concluded World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland.

In a press briefing with Filipino journalists, Aquino shared the “very brief,” almost 3-minute-long chat that Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang took a picture of and posted on their social media accounts.

Aquino said that he just finished a meeting with WEF founder Klaus Schwab on January 25 and bumped into Gates in the hallway. Gates was meeting with Schwab next.

Aquino said he thanked Gates for his “statement in support of our efforts with the Responsible Parenthood Bill.”

“He seemed a lot warmer this time around [than] when I first met him sometime, I think, in 1999 or thereabouts,” Aquino noted.

Aquino first met the American billionaire during a visit to Seattle over a decade ago. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is based in Seattle.

After that brief encounter in Davos, Aquino said he was later informed that Gates is not as actively involved in  Microsoft’s operations as before and has been focused on philanthropic work.

In 2006, Gates started to transition out of his day-to-day role with Microsoft and devoted his time working with the foundation, which has become the largest private foundation in the world with an endowment of about US$36 billion. It focuses on healthcare, poverty, and IT access.

Forbes estimated that Gates is the second-richest man worth $65 billion after he gave away over $28 billion to the foundation. – Rappler.com