The story of Bill Gates and the “richest in the world” newspaper vendor: a hoax that moves internationally · Maldita.es – Journalism so they don’t miss it

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An alleged story is circulating on social networks that is attributed to the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, in which Gates would assure that there is a person in the world, a newspaper vendor who helped him when he needed it, richer than him. But it’s a hoax: This story is spread in different languages, it does not have any attributed source or data that allows to determine if it is real and from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation they assure that the story is “false”.

The same story moves in different languages

“Someone asked the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, Is there anyone in the world richer than you?’ Bill Gates replied: ‘Yes, there is a person who is richer than me’”. With these words, an alleged story of the founder of Microsoft is spread on social networks and different portals, in which he would assure that a newspaper vendor who helped him would be the richest person in the world “because he did not wait to get rich to help no one”.

The supposed story tells how a newsstand would have given Gates a newspaper on two different occasions before he became famous. The story continues with a meeting between Bill Gates and this newsagent after achieving fame to pay off his debt, something that the seller rejects.

“I helped you when I was a poor newsboy and now you are trying to help me when you became the richest man in the world How can your help match mine?”the story concludes.

But this story is not real, but it is a hoax. The profiles that spread it do not provide any data or details that can determine when Bill Gates mentioned these words, and the Google searches they do not show the source of these statements. Since cursed.es We have contacted the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has assured us that “this claim is false”.

This alleged story has been circulating since at least 2020, and moves in different languages. Since cursed.es we have been able to observe how it spreads in SpanishEnglish, Italian, French, GermanRussian, Chinese or Hindi.

In short, this story being spread attributed to Bill Gates according to which Gates would allegedly claim that the richest man in the world is a newsboy it’s a hoax. It is disseminated in several languages, it does not provide any information about its origin and from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation they assure cursed.es that “this statement is false”.