Tag: billionaires

Bill Gates- and George Soros-Backed Organization Buys Out COVID-19 Testing Company

A consortium backed by George Soros and Bill Gates has joined a buyout of Mologic, a COVID-19 testing company.

The Soros Economic Development Fund, an arm of Soros’ Open Society Foundations, confirmed in a July 19 statement that it has partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Soros–Gates collaboration is part of the Global Access Health initiative, which will invest “at least” $41.1 million in the project, according to the statement.

“The group has financed the acquisition of Mologic Ltd, a world-leading innovator in the development of lateral flow and rapid diagnostic technologies including tests that can help combat tropical diseases such as dengue, bilharzia, and river blindness, as well as for COVID-19,” the statement reads, noting that the purchase is an attempt to “expand access to affordable state-of-the-art medical technology through decentralized research, development, and manufacturing” in developing countries.

Founded about two decades ago by the father-and-son team of Mark and Paul Davis, Mologic previously worked with Gates’s foundation, establishing the Advanced Rapid Diagnostics in 2016. Paul Davis is also known for creating the Clearblue pregnancy test in 1988, which, according to the company, is the first application of lateral flow technology.

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Sudden death of bitcoin billionaire Mircea Popescu leaves behind controversial crypto legacy

One of the world’s biggest individual bitcoin holders, Mircea Popescu, has reportedly died in Costa Rica at the age of 41, leading to uncertainty over the $1 billion in cryptocurrency he leaves behind.

The billionaire drowned at Playa Hermosa de Garabito, Puntarenas, in Costa Rica, according to a Spanish-language publication, Teletica.com, which described the deceased as a “41-year-old foreigner.”

Popescu, a Romanian entrepreneur and blogger, launched bitcoin securities exchange MPEx in 2012,  and was something of an evangelist for cryptocurrency.

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More pandemic profiteers: COVID-19 vaccines have minted at least NINE new pharma billionaires – and their combined wealth is enough to buy shots for 780 MILLION people in low-income nations

The development and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has minted at least nine new billionaires in the pharma industry, whose new combined wealth is enough to buy shots for a staggering 780 million people in low-income nations. 

Nine executives from Moderna, BioNTech, ROVI and CanSino Biologics have hugely profited from the pandemic that has so far killed 3.4 million people worldwide, as their individual wealth soared past the billion-dollar mark over the last year.

The rich list was compiled by the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a campaign group that includes Oxfam, UNAIDS, Global Justice Now and Amnesty International, using the Forbes Rich List. 

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