A lot of it is the billionaire = evil heuristic. If you try to steelman the argument, it’s essentially that anyone who actually becomes a billionaire, given the way the incentives work in capitalism, probably did a lot of questionable things to get into such a position (at the very least, massively exploiting the surplus labour of their workers, if you think that’s a thing), while also choosing not to give away enough to stop being a billionaire (like Chuck Feeney or Yvon Chouinard did, though admittedly late in life), when there are lots of starving children in the world that they could easily save right now (at least in theory).
For Bill Gates in particular, he probably also still has his reputation as a founder and former CEO of Microsoft, which was, at least back in the 1990s, known in popular culture as an “evil” company that maintained a monopoly with unsavoury tactics and by buying out competitors, etc. Back then, he was seen as the face of greedy American tech giant capitalism, before other players like Amazon or Google even existed. To a lot of people then, his philanthropy is seen not as true altruism, but more something akin to trying to redeem himself in the eyes of the public and ensure his legacy is well-regarded.
Personally, I’m not that cynical, but a lot of people are, so you get the hate.
A lot of it is the billionaire = evil heuristic. If you try to steelman the argument, it’s essentially that anyone who actually becomes a billionaire, given the way the incentives work in capitalism, probably did a lot of questionable things to get into such a position (at the very least, massively exploiting the surplus labour of their workers, if you think that’s a thing), while also choosing not to give away enough to stop being a billionaire (like Chuck Feeney or Yvon Chouinard did, though admittedly late in life), when there are lots of starving children in the world that they could easily save right now (at least in theory).
For Bill Gates in particular, he probably also still has his reputation as a founder and former CEO of Microsoft, which was, at least back in the 1990s, known in popular culture as an “evil” company that maintained a monopoly with unsavoury tactics and by buying out competitors, etc. Back then, he was seen as the face of greedy American tech giant capitalism, before other players like Amazon or Google even existed. To a lot of people then, his philanthropy is seen not as true altruism, but more something akin to trying to redeem himself in the eyes of the public and ensure his legacy is well-regarded.
Personally, I’m not that cynical, but a lot of people are, so you get the hate.