United StatesCo-founded it
Bill Gates
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and chairs the Gates Foundation; most of his fortune sits in Cascade Investment, a holding company built from Microsoft stock sales and dividends.
- Forbes estimate
- $118B
- Forbes, 15 Oct 2026
- Forbes rank
- No. 17
- 15 Oct 2026
- Stake in Microsoft
- 1%
- Net worth, Bloomberg
- $119B
- Bloomberg, 16 Oct 2026
- Born
- 28 Oct 1955
- Seattle, Washington, United States
- Education
- Left university without a degree
- Harvard University, left without a degree (honorary degree in 2007)
- Giving Pledge
- Signed in 2010
Where the fortune sits
Cascade Investment, built from Microsoft stock sales and dividends
Microsoft
software and cloud, founded 1975
Bloomberg: 'about 1% of Microsoft'; Forbes estimates less than 1% after his 2022 gift of shares to the Gates Foundation Trust
Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimate; not disclosed in Microsoft proxy statements since he left the board in 2020, 16 Oct 2026
Co-founder; technology advisor to the CEO
Other holdings
Cascade Investment
Holding company that Bloomberg says holds most of his fortune
Breakthrough Energy
Founder; climate technology
Gates Ventures
His private office
Where Bill stands among 73
Everyone on the site, grouped by their answer. Bill Gates is outlined.
How the fortune started
Founded it
Founded it 42
Inherited and grew it 12
Built it up 8
Inherited it 6
Through marriage 5
Industry
Technology
Technology 24
Finance 10
Several industries 9
Metals and mining 6
Retail 4
Fashion and beauty 4
Media 3
Food and drink 3
Shipping 3
Crypto 2
Oil, gas and chemicals 2
Healthcare 1
Casinos and resorts 1
Property and sports 1
Giving Pledge
Signed
Signed 11
Not a signer 61
Not stated 1
Education
Left university without a degree
Left university without a degree 6
Bachelor's degree 27
Graduate degree 24
No university 5
Not stated 11
Role today
Founder, no executive role
Founder, no executive role 8
Runs the company 32
Chair, board or owner 25
No role 4
Retired 4
The person
- Born
- 28 Oct 1955Seattle, Washington, United States
- Citizenship
- United States
- Lives in
- Medina, Washington, United States
- Education
- Left university without a degreeHarvard University, left without a degree (honorary degree in 2007)
- Parents
- Father William H. Gates Sr. was an attorney and civic leader; mother Mary Gates was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chair of United Way International
What they give
- Giving Pledge
- Signed in 2010Co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett
- Foundation
- Gates FoundationFormerly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; renamed in 2025. He is trustee of the Gates Foundation Trust
- Lifetime giving
- $63.9BGates Foundation, 31 Dec 2025. Joint total given by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates to the foundation from inception through 2025; no Gates-only figure is published
Role and record
- Role now
- Founder, no executive roleChair of the Gates Foundation; technology advisor to Microsoft's CEO
- Successor
- Steve Ballmer succeeded him as Microsoft CEO in 2000; Satya Nadella is now chairman and CEO
- Public office
- None found
- Legal record
- 2004, US District Court for D.C. (DOJ case at the FTC's request)A consent final judgment in a case over a Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification violation ordered him to pay $800,000 in civil penalties, without trial or adjudication of facts or law.
