Teasing in the Bill Gates household doesn’t unfold as it does in many homes around the US. Case in point, Bill’s kids routinely tease the Microsoft co-founder with – what else? – Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars’s top 40 hit, Billionaire.
“The Billionaire song is what my kids tease me with,” Gates said in a widely circulated interview with the Daily Mail this weekend. “They sing it to me. It’s funny.”
To Gates’s credit, it doesn’t sound like he’s going to spoil his children with billionaire wealth when the time comes, with rumours pointing to $US10 mil each.
He won’t specify what they will get, but the reports that they’ll receive ‘only’ $US10 million each can’t be far off, because he concedes, ‘It will be a minuscule portion of my wealth. It will mean they have to find their own way. ‘They will be given an unbelievable education and that will all be paid for. And certainly anything related to health issues we will take care of. But in terms of their income, they will have to pick a job they like and go to work. They are normal kids now. They do chores, they get pocket money.’
One thing they will never be given is an iPod: “They have the Windows equivalent. They have a Zune music player, which is a great Windows portable player. They are not deprived children.”
But that’s just the first few paragraphs! Kudos are in order to the Daily Mail, which has managed to get the oft-media shy Gates to open up about everything from his family (above), to his role at Microsoft now and in the future (spoiler: he’s not coming back), to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (his future). Read, read! [Daily Mail]