Bill Gates credits billionaire Warren Buffett with influencing his philanthropy

Bill Gates told Fortune in an exclusive interview that he credits billionaire Warren Buffett with influencing his philanthropy.

Transcript

00:00You know, I'm extremely lucky that my ownership of Microsoft became incredibly valuable.

00:07And my parents had incredible values of volunteering in the community and giving of their resources.

00:16You know, both of my parents were always okay, you know, to whom much is given, much is expected.

00:23In fact, my mom said that when Melinda and I got married,

00:26that was one of the opportunities or challenges we'd have was to give the money back.

00:34You know, and so once you decide what your own consumption will be

00:37and what an appropriate level for your kids is, you know, the balance is there for philanthropy.

00:44Warren Buffett had a cover story in Fortune before I even met him that said,

00:51hey, think carefully about how much you give to your kids because it can actually,

00:55if you give too much, it can be a problem.

00:57And so Melinda and I, over the years, you know, came to a view on a mouth that's generous by some measures,

01:05but percentage-wise quite modest.

01:07Even before we got married, we were talking about, okay, this would be important.

01:13And we really picked health in poor countries and education,

01:19starting with the United States, as our primary priorities.