On May 3, 2021, Bill and then-wife Melinda Gates announced that they were breaking up after 27 years of marriage. TMZreported at the time that the longtime loves didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, which meant Bill’s bottom line could take a big post-split hit. Just four months later, their divorce was reportedly a done deal, with Melinda seemingly surpassing the $38 or so billion that MacKenzie Bezos received from ex-husband Jeff in her own 2019 settlement—which had been, up until that point, the largest divorce settlement ever recorded. No matter what, it’s safe to say that Bill and Melinda Gates will both be more than financially secure after the dust settles. Here’s what we know about exactly how much Bill and Melinda Gates are worth.
How much is Bill Gates’ net worth?
As of March 2022, Gates’ net worth is estimated to be $133.8 billion, making him the fourth richest person in the world.
How much is Melinda Gates worth?
In an August 2021 story on the details of the Gates divorce, TMZ wrote, “There was no prenup [and] Bill’s net worth is estimated at more than $130 billion, so the divorce settlement could leave Melinda over $65 billion” But wait, there’s more! TMZ also noted that “Melinda’s been cashing in on the split for months… Bill lined her pockets with nearly $2 billion in stocks the day she filed divorce docs, and the following day, he hooked her up with 25 million shares of Mexican Coca-Cola.” Forbes also reported in the weeks after their divorce bombshell that “Bill’s investment vehicle, Cascade Investment, transferred $851 million worth of shares of farm equipment maker Deere & Co. to Melinda on Thursday, May 13, according to SEC filings.” With all of those wealth transfers, Forbes estimated at the time that “Melinda French Gates is now worth $3.3 billion” and that “Bill remains the fourth-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $126.1 billion after the latest stock transfer.”
Did Bill and Melinda Gates have a prenup?
Multiple outlets have reported that Bill and Melinda Gates did not sign a prenuptial agreement before tying the knot in 1994—which could make their divorce extremely messy, but by all appearances, it’s actually been relatively cut and dry. “Neither party will get spousal support,” TMZ has reported. “They have no minor children so there are no child custody or child support issues."
Will Bill Gates’ kids inherit his wealth?
Gates revealed to The Daily Mail in 2011 that each of his three children will inherit just $10 million each. That’s roughly one percent of the computing pioneer’s fortune.
Is Bill Gates the richest man in the world?
Nope, and he hasn’t been for a while. On Forbes’ 2021 World’s Billionaires List, Bezos was ranked #1 with a fortune of $177 billion, followed by Tesla founder Elon Musk, whose worth was estimated at $151 billion. Coming in third was French investor Bernard Arnault with $150 billion, followed by Gates at No. 4 with an estimated net worth of $124 billion (which, as of March 2022, had increased to $133.8 billion, but still put him at fourth on the list of world’s richest people). As of April 2022, Musk had overtaken Bezos to take the title of richest man in the world.
How did Bill Gates make his money?
Gates co-founded Microsoft with his childhood best friend, Paul Allen, in 1975, and since its inception has served as CEO, chairman and chief software architect of the company. Their MS-DOS platform became the operating system for IBM computers in 1980. When Microsoft went public, Gates’ shares alone were worth $350 million, making him one of the wealthiest men in America. The release of Microsoft Office in 1990 only further grew Gates’ big bucks, and when Windows 95 launched in 1995, Gates was, for a time, the richest man on Earth; his fortune hit the $100 billion mark in 1999.
What’s in Bill Gates’ investment portfolio?
Despite not having many shares of Microsoft, Gates has a ton of shares in other companies through his Cascade Investments group. According to Investopedia, these include Berkshire Hathaway, Coca-Cola, AutoNation, Deere & Co., Four Seasons hotels (in Houston, Atlanta and Mexico), Strategic Hotels and Resorts and the Canadian National Railway. Gates also has shares in advertising company Branded Entertainment Network and has invested in ResearchGate (a social network for scientists and, you guessed it, researchers). Gates also serves as chair of nuclear reactor design company TerraPower.
What’s in Bill Gates’ real estate portfolio?
Gates dubbed his most famous home, the one near Seattle, as “Xanadu 2.o.” The 11,500 square foot mansion has a 17 foot-by-60 foot pool, a 2,500-square foot home gym, (complete with men’s and women’s locker rooms), a trampoline room, a theater, a library (complete with secret entrances in the bookcases, one of which leads to a bar), six kitchens, 18.75 bathrooms, a reception hall, sports courts, putting green, outdoor spa, guest house, a conference room and an elevator… to name just a few of the amenities. In 2013, Gates purchased a home in Wellington, West Palm Beach, Fla., for $8.7 million. The property reportedly has barn space for 20 horses, as well as jumping grounds for equestrian sports and training. Three years later, he purchased more property on the same street for $13.5 million, owning five of six properties on the block, then another $21 million on yet another horse farm in the area. Gates’ daughter, Jennifer, is an equestrian.
Does Bill Gates have his own island?
Yep! Gates owns a private island in Belize called Grand Bogue Caye.
Does Bill Gates have an art collection?
Gates owns some serious art. In 1994, he purchased the Codex Leicester, one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, at an auction for $30.8 million. He said of the purchase, “I feel very lucky that I own a notebook. In fact, I remember going home one night and telling my wife Melinda that I was going to buy a notebook; she didn’t think that was a very big deal. I said, ‘No, this is a pretty special notebook, this is the Codex Leicester, one of the Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.” He added, “I personally have always been amazed by him because he personally worked out science on his own, and he understood things that no other scientist of that time did. And his work is amazing. He would work by drawing things and writing down his ideas. So he built these notebooks about how light worked, how water worked, how weapons would work. Of course, he designed all sorts of flying machines, like helicopters, way before you could actually build something like that. So every one of these notebooks are amazing documents–they’re kind of his rough-draft notes of texts that he eventually wanted to put together.” Gates also owns works by Andrew Wyeth, William Merritt Chase, George Bellow, Winslow Homer and Frederick Childe Hassam. His collection is worth over $100 million.
Does Bill Gates have his own private jet?
Gates is a member of NetJets, a private jet company, and is speculated to own at least one private jet of his own. On the ground, Gates is a fan of Porsche’s whips. He purchased his first, a Porsche 911, in 1979, later selling it at auction for $80,000. He has since purchased a Porsche 930, a Porsche 964 and a Porsche 959, as well as an electric Porsche Taycan, a Ferrari 348 and a Jaguar XJ6. For his day-to-day travels, however, Gates has said he drives himself around in a “normal Mercedes” (ah, the one percent) or a mini-van.
How much does Bill Gates give to charity?
Gates and pal Warren Buffettcreated The Giving Pledge, which urges billionaires to spend the majority of their wealth on philanthropy. He and Melinda formed their eponymous Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent more than $40 billion fighting global poverty and diseases like malaria and polio around the world. He wrote in an annual letter in 2018, “If we think it’s unfair that we have so much wealth, why don’t we give it all to the government? The answer is that we think there’s always going to be a unique role for foundations. They’re able to take a global view to find the greatest needs, take a long-term approach to solving problems, and manage high-risk projects that governments can’t take on and corporations won’t. If a government tries an idea that fails, someone wasn’t doing their job. Whereas if we don’t try some ideas that fail, we’re not doing our jobs.” Next, find out Kevin Hart’s net worth and how the hard-working entertainer got so crazy rich.
