Gates Foundation Expands Malaria Net Program to Former Microsoft Employees

“There are no mosquitoes in Redmond,” a spokesperson acknowledged. “But nets are what we have.”

REDMOND, Wash. The Gates Foundation, which has handed out millions of bed nets across the developing world, said Tuesday it will extend the program to a group it had long overlooked: the roughly 20,000 people Microsoft has laid off since the start of 2025.

"There are no mosquitoes in Redmond," a foundation spokesperson acknowledged. "But nets are what we have."

Each former employee will receive one insecticide-treated net, a pamphlet on clean drinking water, and a note explaining that the company that let them go, which Bill Gates co-founded, falls outside the foundation's program area.

"It's a nice net," said Dave, 44, a former Excel engineer. "I was kind of hoping for a job. Or a reference."

The foundation has said it will spend nearly all of its money by 2045 helping the most vulnerable people on earth. Former Microsoft employees have asked whether they count. A review is under way.

Applications are being accepted through Outlook.

By Brad Sebastian