Bill Gates Net Worth (2024) (Founder of Microsoft)

What is Bill Gates’ net worth?

Net Worth:	$113 Billion
Age:	67
Born:	October 28, 1955
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	Founder of Microsoft
Last Updated:	March 8, 2023

Bill Gates’ net worth is estimated to be $113 Billion in real-time. Although Jeff Bezos is definitely not showing any signs of slowing down; Gates has crossed the $100 billion mark.

Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft and is the second richest man in the world. Gates co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, and it’s since then become the largest PC software company in the world.

Bill Gates – Key Facts

He was born as William Henry Gates III on October 28th, 1955.
He started programming when he was in his teens.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen started their own computer software company called Microsoft in 1975 after dropping out of Harvard.
In 1977, Microsoft opened its first international office in Japan.
In 1985, the first retail version of Microsoft Windows was released.
Gates became a billionaire in 1987.
In 1994, Bill Gates and Melinda French got married.
In 2008, Gates stepped from his position as a CEO so that he could focus on doing work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he founded with his wife.

Early Life

Bill Gates, or actually William Henry Gates III, was born on the 28th of October 1955 in Seattle, Washington. He is the son of William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates.

The Gates family highly encouraged competition; it didn’t matter what it was, there was always a reward for winning, and there was always a penalty for losing.

When he was 13 years old, Bill joined the Lakeside School; and when he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers’ Club at the school used proceeds to purchase a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school’s students.

Gates took an interest in programming the GE system in BASIC and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. It was on that machine that he programmed his first software program on – a game of tic-tac-toe that allowed the players to compete against the computer.

The Computer Center Corporation (CCC), eventually banned Gates for the summer, after it caught him and three friends exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.

The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club as a way to earn some money. At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC’s software in exchange for computer time. This was when Gates began to study coding. It was also during this time that he also coded the school’s class scheduling system. Initially, he did it together with Kent Evans, but unfortunately, he was killed in a mountain climbing accident at the end of their junior year, so Allen stepped in.

Allen and Gates founded their first company, Traf-O-Data, during their senior year. They made traffic counters on the Intel 8008 processor.

In 1973, he was accepted into Harvard. During his university journey, he developed the BASIC programming language for the world’s first PC – the MITS Affair.

However, Gates dropped out just a few years later without finishing his degree so that he and Paul Allen could focus on founding Microsoft.

Career

Gates’ career started a little bit sneakily, as he contacted MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems) saying that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for them – in reality, however, they didn’t even start coding it. They just wanted to spark their interest.

Once the demo date was settled, Gates and others developed an Altair emulator that ran on a microcomputer and then the basic interpreter. The presentation ended up being a success, and the interpreter was distributed as Altair BASIC. Their partnership was named “Micro-Soft.”

In 1976, they dropped the hyphen and became just Microsoft, trademarking the name. In the same year, they became independent from MITS.

In 1985, Gates and Allen launched the first retail version of Microsoft Windows.

When Bill and Paul Allen started Microsoft, they had a vision to place a computer within every home. And at the time, that vision seemed way too ridiculous.

The company became really successful from the start, and just two years after its founding, Bill Gates and Paul Allen opened their first international office, located in Japan. They also relocated from Albuquerque to Washington.

Despite the fact that the vision he had seemed impossible to achieve at the time, today has actually become a reality in many parts of the world, and personal technology is an integral part of society.

His dedication to the company’s success is definitely something to admire – for the first few years since the company started, Gates personally reviewed every single line of code that they shipped, and if the needed arose, he also rewrote it.

Bill is passionate about Microsoft’s work and will always be involved with the company, including his present role as a member of the board and technology advisor. However, he left his position as Microsoft CEO in 2008. He continued to be Microsoft’s Chairman until 2020.

These days Bill focuses most of his time on the work he and his wife are doing through their Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve global health, medical research, education, and gender equality.

People are often surprised to hear him say that this work has a lot in common with his work at Microsoft.

In both cases, he gets to bring together smart people and collaborate with them to solve big, tough problems.

As of 2023, Bill Gates’ net worth is $113 Billion.

Personal Life

Gates married Melinda French, now Melinda Gates, in 1994 on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai. She was a Microsoft employee working in the product development division. She and Gates met at one of the dinners organized by the company, and soon enough, Gates asked her out.

Melinda continued to work for Microsoft until 1996, eventually rising to the position of the General Manager of Information Products.

The couple has three children together – Phoebe Adele, Rory John, and Jennifer Katharine. In 2021, they announced their separation after nearly three decades together.

Despite being divorced, they continue to be co-chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was founded after he and his wife combined three family foundations in 2000. At the time, it was the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world.

In 2010, together with his wife and investor Warren Buffett, Gates signed a document they called the Giving Pledge, in which they promised to give at least half of their wealth to charity over time.

Highlights

Here are some of the main highlights of Bill Gates’ career:

Enrolled at Lakeside School, where he first used a computer (1967)
Began programming with Paul Allen in the computer center (1968)
Entered Harvard University (1973)
Founded Microsoft with Paul Allen (1975)
Created the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2002)
Bill helped launch TerraPower, aiming to provide the world with a more affordable, secure, and environmentally friendly form of nuclear energy (2006)
Bill Launched a $5.5 Billion effort to eliminate Polio by 2018 (2013)

Bill Gates – Net Worth Over the Years

1986 – $350 million
1987 – $1.25 billion
1990 – $2.5 billion
1995 – $15 billion
1997 – $40 billion
1999 – $100 billion
2000 – $63 billion
2008 – $58 billion
2009 – $40 billion
2013 – $67 billion
2014 – $76 billion
2015 – $79.2 billion
2016 – $75 billion
2017 – $86 billion
2018 – $90 billion
2019 – $96.5 billion
2020 – $98 billion
2021 – $124 billion
2022 – $129 billion

How Does Bill Gates Spend His Money?

With all that money available to him, you might be wondering, “How does billionaire Bill Gates spend his wealth?” While he agreed to give all his wealth (or at least half of it away) by signing Giving Pledge, there are some things that the Microsoft co-founder splurged on.

Bill Gates owns a pretty impressive compound in Medina, close to Lake Washington. Gates purchased it in 1998 for $2 million, and as of today, the property is worth more than $120 million. Some of the amenities that you can find there include a 60 square foot swimming pool with an underwater music system, a 2500 square foot gym, and a 1,000 square foot dining room.

He also has a property in California – the 228-acre Rancho Paseana, which includes things like a racetrack and five barns.

He also reportedly owns a private jet – the Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, worth about $40 million.

His fortune is managed by Cascade Investment, a holding company that was created using the proceeds from Microsoft stock sales and dividends. Gates used it to make numerous investments, including partial ownership of Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, or the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco (with several other un-named buyers). According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates also owns almost half of the Four Seasons Holdings’ hotel chain.

The company owns stakes in a number of publicly traded companies, such as the Canadian National Railway.

Finally, Gates launched a $1 billion investment fund called “Breakthrough energy” with several other people.

Favorite Bill Gates Quotes

“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” – Bill Gates

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” – Bill Gates

“It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates

“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.” – Bill Gates

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates

“Life is not fair; get used to it.” – Bill Gates

View our larger collection of the best Bill Gates Quotes!

Success Lessons From Bill Gates

Now you know all about Bill Gates’ net worth, and how he achieved success; here are 3 success lessons you can learn from Bill Gates:

1. Be Ready to Take Risks

Gates highly encourages taking risks, and believes that’s the only way you’ll get to live the life you want to and become successful.

Don’t be afraid to take risks.

2. Accept Failures & Move On

You’re going to experience failure. That’s a natural part of trying anything new. However, the best thing to do when you experience failure, is to accept it, learn from it, and move on.

3. Be Proud of Who You Are

The lesson here is to stop comparing yourself to everybody else. Don’t be afraid to be unique, and to be proud of yourself and the qualities you possess.

View our larger collection of success lessons from Bill Gates!

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Bill Gates worth?

Bill Gates’ net worth is estimated to be $113 Billion.

How old is Bill Gates?

Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955, and is currently 67 years old.

How tall is Bill Gates?

Bill Gates’ height is 1.78 m, which is equal to 5 ft 10 in.

How did Bill Gates become rich?

Bill Gates’s net worth mainly comes from being the co-founder of Microsoft and Microsoft shares.

Is Bill Gates the richest person in the world?

No. Currently, there are a few other people that have an estimated net worth higher than Bill Gates – for example, Amazon founder – Jeff Bezos. However, he was the richest person in the world on several occasions (often uninterrupted), mainly between the years 1997 and 2008.

Is Bill Gates married?

At the moment, Bill Gates is not married. He is actually divorced, as in 2021, he and his now ex-wife Melinda Gates announced that they will be separating after almost three decades together. Despite the divorce, they are still co-chairing the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

How does Bill Gates spend his free time?

There are a few things the Microsoft co-founder likes to indulge in during his free time, including playing and watching tennis. He’s also an avid reader and has quite an extensive book collection.

Summary

Bill Gates is now the world’s second richest person after Bezos knocked him off the top spot. In 2023, Bill Gates’ net worth is estimated to be an incredible $113 Billion.