Bezos vs Gates

Amazon against Microsoft.

The differences

Forbes puts Jeff Bezos about $263B ahead of Bill Gates.Forbes figures from 9 Oct 2026 and 15 Oct 2026.
Both started the company their money comes from.
Bill Gates is about 9 years older than Jeff Bezos.
Bill Gates has signed the Giving Pledge; Jeff Bezos has not.

Put someone else on either side

Bezos

Gates

Net worth, Forbes: $381BForbes, 9 Oct 2026; $118BForbes, 15 Oct 2026
Net worth, Bloomberg: $361BBloomberg, 17 Oct 2026; $119BBloomberg, 16 Oct 2026
Forbes rank: No. 2Real-Time list, 9 Oct 2026; No. 17Real-Time list, 15 Oct 2026
Billionaire since: 1998Debuted on the Forbes 400 in 1998 with $1.6 billion; 1987Forbes first listed him as a billionaire in 1987

How it started: Founded itFounded Amazon in 1994; Co-founded itCo-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975
Main source: Amazon stockForbes lists Amazon as the source of wealth; Cascade Investment, built from Microsoft stock sales and dividendsBloomberg: 'The majority of Bill Gates' fortune is derived from Cascade Investment'
Companies: Amazon, Blue OriginAmazon: Founder and executive chair (since July 2021); Blue Origin: Founder and owner; MicrosoftMicrosoft: Co-founder; technology advisor to the CEO
Biggest stake: Blue Origin93% owned; Microsoft1% owned

Born: 12 Jan 1964Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States; 28 Oct 1955Seattle, Washington, United States
Country: United StatesLives in Miami, Florida, United States; United StatesLives in Medina, Washington, United States
Education: Bachelor's degreePrinceton University, electrical engineering and computer science, 1986; Left university without a degreeHarvard University, left without a degree (honorary degree in 2007)
Parents: His parents were 17 and 18 when he was born; early on he worked on his maternal grandparents' ranch in Cotulla, Texas; 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

Giving Pledge: Not a signer; Signed in 2010Co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett
Foundation: Bezos Earth FundAlso the Bezos Day One Fund; he committed $10 billion to the Earth Fund in 2020 for this decade; Gates FoundationFormerly the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; renamed in 2025. He is trustee of the Gates Foundation Trust
Lifetime giving: $2.4BForbes, 15 Sep 2026. Granted through the Bezos Earth Fund only (the fund's own site shows the same $2.4 billion); no total across all his giving is cited; $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 now: Runs the companyExecutive chair of Amazon; co-CEO of Project Prometheus; Founder, no executive roleChair of the Gates Foundation; technology advisor to Microsoft's CEO
Successor: Andy Jassy, Amazon president and CEO since July 2021No Bezos family member is named in an Amazon executive role; Steve Ballmer succeeded him as Microsoft CEO in 2000; Satya Nadella is now chairman and CEONo Gates family member is named in a Microsoft executive role in the cited sources
Public office: None found; None found
Legal record: None found; 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.