Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) co-founder and former CEO Bill Gates’s net worth has recently moved back above $162 billion. It was less than that for much of the year, probably because Microsoft’s stock increased, although less than rivals, which include Amazon. So far this year, Gates’ net worth has risen by $21 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.
Gates made virtually all his money on Microsoft’s shares. He held about a third of Microsoft’s shares just after it was founded in 1975. He has donated over half his holdings to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s third-largest charitable foundation. Their initial donation was $38 billion in 2018.
According to some estimates, Gates’s Microsoft stake is down to 2% of the company’s total common stock. That is less than half of what his former lieutenant, Steve Ballmer, owns. Gates is the sixth richest person in the world. Ballmer ranks Number 8 with a net worth of $145 billion.
Gates has diversified his holdings, so Microsoft is one of many reasons for his wealth. According to Forbes, some of it is in public companies, which include Republic Services (NYSE: RSG) and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE). He also owns Cascade Investments, which handles his private company investments and holds some of his stock in public companies.
Bill Gates was at or near the top of the Forbes Billionaire list from 1995 to 2017. Since then, he has been passed by other tech entrepreneurs, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. With his net worth of $162 billion, he probably does not care.
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