How Bill Gates And Bono finally got it all together (after Bill really didn’t want to know!)
A story in the December 2 issue of Forbes sets how billionaire Bill Gates and U2’s Bono finally got their act together to make the biggest splash ever in the world of charity - after Gates repeatedly snubbed the pop star.
Bill Gates and Bono: "Partners in crime."
Asked by Forbes if the first time he had a chance to meet Bono, he didn’t really want to because he "thought it would be a waste of time," Gates replies frankly:“Yeah, we have a mutual friend, Paul Allen, and Paul said to me several times, 'You know, Bono is really serious about poverty and the stuff you’re working on; you should talk to him.'And I have to admit, I did not make it a priority. And then there was a Davos [meeting] that was in New York after 9/11, so Bono, Bill Clinton and I met, and I was kind of amazed that he actually knew what he was talking about and had a real commitment to making things happen. It was phenomenal. Ever since then we’ve been big partners in crime."
Bono told Forbes, "It’s an interesting story about not judging your friends. I said to Paul Allen, 'Would you help me get to Bill Gates? Because we really need to professionalize our operation, and we need funding, and I know that he’s interested in the same things that we are, and Melinda, too.' Paul’s a kind of shy guy, but he usually answers my e-mails, and he stopped answering them. Actually, I got a little cross with Paul, and I said, 'Well, that’s not very nice.' This is the one thing I’ve ever asked him to do.
"I had no idea, of course, that he’d been asking Bill, but Bill was actually like,'No, I don’t want to meet him! It’s Sonny Bono, or whatever.'
"I went up to see Bill and Melinda, and I said, 'Look, we have an organization, and we’ve got very, very smart people. Brilliant people. But we need to professionalize.' President Bush had taken over the White House. Our rather relaxed attire going into Bill Clinton’s White House we felt was no longer appropriate, and we really needed to be more formal.
"So we got a million dollars from Bill [Gates]. And then he later told the New York Times or somebody that that was the best million dollars he ever spent. That’s a great compliment, coming from Bill Gates, and it makes funding a lot easier."
Bono recalls being in a ghetto outside of Accra. “There were no latrines for, whatever it was, 80,000 people living there. And years later, after fighting for debt cancelation and having this money well spent by the Ghanaian government, I saw the latrines! I was like, “Wow, I have to use these!”