Portrait of Bill Gates

Rank #19

Bill Gates

Net worth $103.0B

Microsoft · United States

Born
Oct 28, 1955
Age
70
Source
Microsoft
Residence
Medina, Washington
Citizenship
United States
Marital status
Divorced
Children
3
Education
Drop Out, Harvard University

Net worth over time

Biography

  • Bill Gates helped usher in huge changes in personal technology with software firm Microsoft; now he's focused on giving away his massive fortune.
  • Gates, a computer enthusiast from a young age, dropped out of Harvard to cofound Microsoft with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975, hoping to capitalize on the spread of personal computers.
  • After Gates donated Microsoft shares worth billions to the trust that funds the Gates Foundation in 2022, his Microsoft stake is now less than 1%, Forbes estimates.
  • In 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates each announced they were ending their marriage after 27 years. He is now the sole chairman of the charitable Gates Foundation.
  • Gates, who's donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation, announced in May 2025 that the foundation will shut down in 20 years.
  • Gates has spent nearly two decades and more than $1 billion supporting a nuclear power company,Terrapower, that is aiming to complete its first reactor by 2030.
  • Gates took a break from classes his senior year in high school to do programming with his friend Paul Allen at a power plant in North Bonneville, Washington.

Financial assets

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