Gates, Bloomberg pool riches to fight smoking

Microsoft founder Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are pooling their piles of money and pouring $375 million into a global effort to cut smoking.

The billionaire philanthropists, who have a combined worth of more than $70 billion, said Wednesday that the money from their foundations will go toward efforts in developing countries where tobacco use is highest. There are more than 1 billion smokers worldwide.

The $250 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies and $125 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will support projects that raise tobacco taxes, help smokers quit, ban tobacco advertising and protect nonsmokers from exposure to smoke. It will also aid efforts to track tobacco use and better understand tobacco control strategies.

"Together we can make a clear, measurable difference - not just for ourselves and our generation but for the generations that come after us," Bloomberg said.

Bloomberg and Gates made the announcement together at a news conference in Manhattan - an appearance that Gates noted was his first public event since ending his full-time tenure at Microsoft Corp. to spend more time at his foundation. He also hinted it might be just the first of "many things" he and Bloomberg will do together.

The Gates foundation has until now focused most of its world health dollars on fighting malaria, AIDS and other diseases. The anti-tobacco campaign represents a new direction for the Seattle-based organization, which since 2006 has also been charged with giving away billions from investor Warren Buffett.

Because of strings the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. founder attached to the money, the world's largest charitable foundation is now broadening its reach, most notably into agriculture development.

Bloomberg, a former smoker who quit about 30 years ago, has made anti-smoking one of his crusades as a public official. In his first term he banned smoking in bars and restaurants and his health department has an aggressive, ongoing campaign to help New Yorkers kick the habit.

The former CEO, who built his fortune from the financial information company he founded in the 1980s, planted the first seed of this campaign in 2006 when he announced he was putting $125 million toward combating tobacco use worldwide.

That money has gone toward tobacco-fighting campaigns in countries including China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Bangladesh. In most cases, the Bloomberg foundation has funded local non-governmental organizations to do the work on the ground.

When Bloomberg announced the gift in 2006, he said at the time that he believed smoking was a public health cause that was largely ignored by philanthropists. He said he hoped publicizing the issue would bring in more attention from other major foundations.

Gates said Wednesday that $24 million of his gift will go directly toward Bloomberg's efforts that are already under way.

The remaining money will be used by his foundation to begin its own anti-tobacco work, including a focus on preventing tobacco use from increasing in Africa.

"The epidemic in Africa is not well advanced, and that means that we can catch it at an early stage," Gates said.

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Associated Press writer Donna Blankinship contributed to this story from Seattle.