Bill Gates
Source of wealth: Microsoft
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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.
Perspective on their fortune
Gold
Everyday luxury
A Bill Gates's fortune is equivalent to 691 of gold, but this may be difficult to value, as we don't usually have a handful of gold bars in our piggy bank.
A standard gold ring typically weighs between 4 and 7 grams. Let's say this one weighs 5 grams. It's usually 18k gold.
Based on today's gold price (not taking into account the jeweler's fee, shipping, or anything else), that gold ring would be worth $556.3
Bill Gates could buy 184,381,428 gold rings. That's a lot of fingers and a lot of gifts!!
And if the number of rings is difficult to visualize, all these rings would need 33 trucks to transport them, But we can be almost certain that Bill Gates will have enough left over to pay for the gas for those trucks.
Health
The price of life
Let's compare Bill Gates's fortune with the healthcare spending of a huge country
Bill Gates could fund the entire healthcare system of DR Congo with a population of over 105,800,000 of inhabitants for approximately 46.2 years.
But even if we compare their fortune to that of a rich country
At the other extreme, Bill Gates could cover the health expenditure of Luxembourg, considered the world's most heavily invested health system, for 20.4 years
Education
Buying the future
Lowest education spending
Bill Gates could assume the entire cost of the education system of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with more than 243,000,000 inhabitants for 30.2 years.
Highest education spending
But not only could he assume the cost of a poor country, Luxembourg is considered the country with the highest per capita investment in education in the world, Bill Gates could pay for it in full for 41.0 years.
Research
The monopoly of progress
Lowest research spending
Bill Gates could fully fund the state research budget of Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world with more than 260,000,000 of inhabitants, for 172.7 years.
Highest research spending
But even if we compare the total wealth of Bill Gates with Israel, the country that currently invests the most per capita in research in the world, it could assume the total cost of the system for 3.9 years.
Financial Assets
Monthly wealth history
Fortune comparison
Historical data not available for comparison