Bill Gates’s net worth is estimated at $115 billion as of 2026, making him the world’s third-richest person according to Forbes. He earned it by co-founding Microsoft in 1975 with childhood friend Paul Allen, taking the company public in 1986, and reinvesting the proceeds through his private holding company Cascade Investment LLC. In May 2025, Gates pledged to give away virtually his entire fortune through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next 20 years.
| Full Name | William Henry Gates III |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | October 28, 1955 |
| Age | 70 years old (2026) |
| Birthplace | Seattle, Washington, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Profession | Microsoft Co-Founder, Philanthropist, Author |
| Net Worth | $115 Billion (2026) |
| Spouse | Melinda French Gates (m. 1994, div. 2021) |
| Children | Jennifer, Rory, Phoebe Gates |
| Known For | Co-founding Microsoft, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
Walk Through the Article
How Does Bill Gates Make Money?
| Income Source | Estimated Amount | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Stake (residual) | $25-30B | Cumulative | Roughly 1.3% of Microsoft shares retained after decades of selling/donating; Gates was Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder for years |
| Cascade Investment LLC | $60-65B | Cumulative | Gates’ private investment vehicle; holds Canadian National Railway, Republic Services, Deere & Co, Berkshire Hathaway and dozens of other public companies plus real estate |
| Berkshire Hathaway shares | $5-7B | Cumulative | Gates has held BRK.B shares for decades through both Cascade and the Foundation Trust |
| Real Estate Holdings | $200M+ | Cumulative | The 66,000 sq ft Xanadu 2.0 estate in Medina, Washington; multiple ranch properties; he is reportedly America’s largest private farmland owner |
| Speaking, Royalties, Investments | $500K-2M/year | Annual (personal) | Book royalties (How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Source Code), speaking fees, board honoraria |
| Estimated Total Net Worth | $115 Billion (2026, per Forbes Real-Time Billionaires) | ||
Note: Gates announced in May 2025 that he intends to give away virtually his entire fortune through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next 20 years. The Foundation has already distributed over $77 billion since its founding in 2000.
Early Life and Education
William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates Sr., a prominent corporate lawyer, and Mary Maxwell Gates, who served on the boards of First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way of America. Gates has an older sister, Kristi, and a younger sister, Libby.
At 13, Gates enrolled at Lakeside School, an exclusive Seattle preparatory school. There, in 1968, the Mothers’ Club used proceeds from a rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR computer connected to a GE time-sharing system. Gates and his fellow students — including future Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen — became obsessed with the machine, often skipping math class to write code.
By his senior year, Gates was already exempt from math classes so he could focus on programming. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT and enrolled at Harvard College in 1973, where he studied math and computer science alongside future Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. In 1975, after reading about the MITS Altair 8800 in a magazine, Gates dropped out of Harvard at age 19 to co-found Microsoft with Paul Allen.
The Microsoft Rise to the World’s Largest Personal Fortune
Microsoft’s first contract was writing a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800. The breakthrough came in 1980 when Gates negotiated a deal to license MS-DOS to IBM for the IBM PC — critically, retaining the right to license the same operating system to other manufacturers. As the IBM PC clone market exploded throughout the 1980s, Microsoft collected royalties on virtually every PC sold.
Microsoft launched Windows 1.0 in 1985 and went public on March 13, 1986, at $21 per share. The stock soared, and by 1987, the 31-year-old Gates was the world’s youngest self-made billionaire on paper. By 1995, with Windows 95 selling 40 million copies in its first year, Gates topped the Forbes 400 list — a position he held for 13 of the next 18 years.
Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in January 2000 to become Chief Software Architect. He left day-to-day work in 2008, resigned as Chairman in February 2014 to become Technology Advisor, and stepped off the Microsoft board entirely on March 13, 2020. He still holds approximately 1.3% of Microsoft shares — worth roughly $25-30 billion at 2026 prices.
Cascade Investment: The Quiet $60 Billion Holding Company
Most of Gates’s current wealth is held outside Microsoft. In 1995, he founded Cascade Investment LLC, a private holding company managed by Michael Larson out of Kirkland, Washington. Cascade is one of the most successful family-office investment vehicles in modern American history — and one of the most discreet.
Cascade’s largest disclosed holdings include Canadian National Railway, Deere & Company, Republic Services, Ecolab and Berkshire Hathaway shares. Through Cascade and the Gates Frederick Family Trust, Gates has also become the largest private farmland owner in the United States, with reported holdings of 269,000+ acres across 18 states by 2021.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Gates founded what would become the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 1994 (initially the William H. Gates Foundation, then expanded in 2000). It is the world’s largest private charitable foundation, with an endowment that has fluctuated between $50 billion and $70 billion. It has distributed over $77 billion since inception, focused on global health (eradicating malaria, polio, HIV), agricultural development, and U.S. education reform.
In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, a public commitment by billionaires to give away the majority of their wealth. As of 2026, more than 240 billionaires from 30+ countries have signed it.
Personal Life
Gates married Melinda French, a Microsoft product manager he met in 1987, on January 1, 1994, in a private ceremony in Hawaii. The couple had three children: Jennifer (b. 1996), Rory (b. 1999) and Phoebe (b. 2002). After 27 years of marriage, Bill and Melinda announced their divorce in May 2021. They continue to co-chair the Foundation.
Gates lives in Xanadu 2.0, a 66,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Medina, Washington, with a six-figure annual property tax bill. He is famously frugal in some respects — flying coach for years before Microsoft’s IPO, washing his own dishes at home — and extravagant in others, having paid $30 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester at a 1994 auction.
Net Worth Over Time
Bill Gates first appeared on Forbes Billionaires in 1987 at age 31 with a $1.25B fortune. He topped the Forbes 400 in 1992 with $6.3B. His peak wealth came in 1999 at the height of the dot-com bubble: roughly $100B (~$185B in 2026 dollars). After two decades of charitable giving exceeding $50 billion personally, plus a major asset transfer to Melinda French Gates in 2021, his net worth in 2026 stands at $115B — having grown despite his ongoing donations, thanks to Cascade’s investment performance.
Little-Known Facts
- Gates scored 1590/1600 on the SAT.
- He was arrested twice in the 1970s — both times for traffic violations in New Mexico. His mugshot from a 1977 stop sign violation went viral decades later.
- Gates has read 50+ books a year for most of his adult life, posting annual “summer reading list” recommendations on his blog Gates Notes.
- His 1995 book The Road Ahead correctly predicted online shopping, smart homes and personalized news — and incorrectly bet the Internet would be a sideshow to a proprietary Microsoft Network.
- Gates was Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder until Steve Ballmer overtook him following Gates’s accelerated donations to the Foundation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bill Gates’s Net Worth
What is Bill Gates’s net worth in 2026?
Bill Gates’s net worth in 2026 is estimated at $115 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires. This makes him the third-richest person in the world after Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. The figure has remained roughly stable despite Gates’s ongoing donations because Cascade Investment LLC’s portfolio gains have offset his charitable outflows.
How did Bill Gates make his money?
Gates made his initial fortune by co-founding Microsoft in 1975 and licensing MS-DOS, Windows, and Office software to virtually every personal computer manufacturer. After Microsoft’s 1986 IPO, he reinvested the proceeds through his private holding company Cascade Investment, which now holds the majority of his wealth across rail, agriculture, waste management, and Berkshire Hathaway shares.
Is Bill Gates still the richest person in the world?
No. Bill Gates was the world’s richest person for most of 1995-2017, but in 2026 he ranks third behind Elon Musk (~$200B) and Jeff Bezos. He has fallen from the top spot partly because of his charitable giving — over $50 billion personally donated to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — and partly because of the post-2017 Tesla and Amazon stock surges.
How much does Bill Gates give to charity?
Gates has donated more than $50 billion of his personal wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2000. The Foundation itself has distributed over $77 billion in grants. In May 2025, Gates announced his intention to give away virtually his entire fortune over the following 20 years, accelerating the Foundation’s spending to roughly $9 billion per year.
Who manages Bill Gates’s investments?
Cascade Investment LLC, founded in 1995, manages most of Gates’s personal wealth. It is run by Michael Larson out of Kirkland, Washington. Larson has been Cascade’s only chief investment officer in its history and is credited with diversifying Gates’s wealth out of Microsoft stock and into the rail, agriculture and waste-management holdings that now form the bulk of his fortune.
Does Bill Gates still own Microsoft?
Gates retains roughly 1.3% of Microsoft’s outstanding shares, worth approximately $25-30 billion at 2026 prices. He sold or donated the vast majority of his holdings over decades — at peak in the 1990s he owned more than 25% of the company. He stepped down as CEO in 2000, as Chairman in 2014, and left the board in March 2020.
Where does Bill Gates live?
Gates lives in Xanadu 2.0, a 66,000-square-foot estate on Lake Washington in Medina, Washington. The property includes a 60-foot swimming pool, a 1,000-square-foot dining room, a private library housing the Codex Leicester (purchased for $30 million in 1994), and is valued at over $200 million.
Who are Bill Gates’s children?
Gates has three children with ex-wife Melinda French Gates: Jennifer Katharine Gates (b. 1996, an equestrian and physician), Rory John Gates (b. 1999, a tech executive and Duke graduate), and Phoebe Adele Gates (b. 2002, a fashion and tech entrepreneur). Gates has publicly said his children will each receive approximately $10 million as inheritance, with the rest going to charity.
How old is Bill Gates?
Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. He turned 70 years old in October 2025.
What is Bill Gates’s current focus in 2026?
Gates spends the majority of his time on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s work in global health, climate change, and U.S. education. He has authored two books on climate change (How to Avoid a Climate Disaster) and AI/work (Source Code), and is an active investor in Breakthrough Energy Ventures, his climate-focused venture capital firm.
Also Read:
- Warren Buffett Net Worth 2026 — Bill Gates’s longtime friend and Giving Pledge co-founder, worth $135B
- Elon Musk Net Worth 2026 — The current world’s richest person at ~$200B
- Jeff Bezos Net Worth 2026 — Amazon’s founder and the world’s second-richest person
