Bill Gates’ philanthropic efforts have helped save over 5.8 Million lives

Jason LeBel It's a foundation, as legally defined by the US laws (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_%26_Melinda_Gates_Foundation). Pretty much all foundations would invest their money instead of letting tit rot in banks, that doesn't make it a company.

Luke Jon Gibson You can find this information pretty easily. The large pharma companies aren't pocketing big checks from Bill Gates whatsoever. This isn't some phony "money transfer" scam or something else sinister like you're implying. Much of the money goes directly to the projects and people that have a high likelihood of success, and where existing "free market" solutions (such as pharma companies waiting around for big checks) have failed. Google "gates foundation" and read a bit more yourself. Or, even better, get involved. :-)

Luke Jon Gibson Just as in the comment below, the pharmaceutical companies aren't the ones making money. They were more than happy to be part of this philanthropic cause led by Bill Gates. As is mentioned in the article, he persuaded the companies to bring back the Polio vaccine. Now he as been encouraging them to come up with Malaria vaccine. The companies know that they cannot make a lot of money from people who will be the main users of these vaccines, but one thing is sure they will be improving their brand value. This might generate them money in the future, but they aren't actually making money at the moment. And this deed of them should be applauded.

Lamichhane AayamLuke Jon Gibson no deed done by those with vast resources at their fingertips need applauded. i applaud the poor and middle-class people that donate even when they don't have enough to put food on their table. I am not inspired, nor impressed, by those who clearly should be giving back significantly, without being prodded or looking for the bigger sale through "good samaritan PR." A bit pessimistic, yes, but I don't relate to pharma companies or philanthropists. Off of whose backs did these people become richer?

Grant Miller Steve Jobs was never a hero. He actually STOPPED ALL philanthropic donations when he was reinstated as Apple's CEO.

Grace Yu-An ChangGrant Miller Bill Gates didn't do much philanthropy when he was Microsoft's CEO either -- he was too busy. I have no doubt Steve Jobs would have done the same if he lived long enough.

sffun Gates actually asked Jobs about becoming part of the giving pledge, to which Jobs told him not a chance. Jobs did wonderful things for technology, but as far as being a philanthropist... not so much

sffunGrace Yu-An ChangGrant Miller

sffunGrace Yu-An ChangGrant Miller I am sure you know this because you have actually researched into it?

Actually while he was still CEO of MicroSoft (and imagine how busy would it be to run a billion-dollar company), his father would drop a box of charity applicants that request more than $ 1M funding on his door almost everyday, and Bill would go over each and every one of them, leaving comments and/or approvals on the proposals for his father to pick up in the morning.

You don't do that to evade taxes, and you don't do that to make yourselves look good. He clearly believes in this and guess what? If you *really* want to do something, there's no such a thing as "too busy".

Grace Yu-An Chang yeah , i was being sarcastic beacause everyone called him a hero and a great man in history when he died