Entrepreneurs

Bill Gates Net Worth

Published

1 month ago

Jun 10, 2025

Net Worth:	$108 Billion
Age:	69
Born:	October 28, 1955
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Country of Origin:	United States of America
Source of Wealth:	Founder of Microsoft
Last Updated:	Jul 21, 2025

Bill Gates is an American entrepreneur, computer programmer, and founder of Microsoft with an estimated net worth of $108 Billion.

Gates’ shares in the company made him one of the wealthiest individuals in the world and, for an extended period, the richest person globally. He co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, and it has since become the world’s largest PC software company.

Quick Facts

He was born as William Henry Gates III on October 28th, 1955.
He began programming in his teens.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft, a computer software company, in 1975 after dropping out of Harvard.
In 1977, Microsoft opened its first international office in Japan.
In 1985, the first retail version of Microsoft Windows was released.
Gates became a billionaire in 1987.
In 1994, Bill Gates and Melinda French got married.
In 2008, Gates resigned as CEO to focus on his work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he co-founded with his wife.

Table of Contents

Net Worth History

Year	Net Worth
2009	$40 Billion
2010	$53 Billion
2011	$56 Billion
2012	$61 Billion
2013	$67 Billion
2014	$76 Billion
2015	$79.2 Billion
2016	$75 Billion
2017	$86 Billion
2018	$90 Billion
2019	$96.5 Billion
2020	$98 Billion
2021	$124 Billion
2022	$129 Billion
2023	$104 Billion
2024	$124.8 Billion

Bill Gates held the title of the world’s richest man for an incredible long time, thanks to his stake in Microsoft. Back in 2009, he was worth an estimated $40 billion, and this figure increased drastically throughout the first half of the 2010s, reaching $79.2 billion in 2015. What’s interesting about Gates’ case is that he has long been committed to giving away most of his wealth to philanthropic endeavors. Once owning as much as 45% of Microsoft, Gates regularly sold shares of the company to fund these causes, reducing his overall stake in the company to roughly 1.34%.

Over the last decade, Microsoft has experienced exponential growth, with its market capitalization increasing from approximately $400 billion to $3.55 trillion. Thus, had Gates held onto a much larger quantity of his shares, he would likely still be the wealthiest man in the world today. Despite this, Bill Gates’ net worth has consistently increased in the past several years, crossing the $100 billion milestone in 2021. By 2022, he was estimated to be worth $129 billion. As of 2025, his net worth currently sits at $108 Billion, placing him 13th on Forbes’ list of the world’s richest billionaires. This is his lowest position on the list in almost twenty-five years.

Before Wealth & Fame

Bill Gates was born on the 28th of October 1955 in Seattle, Washington. He is the son of William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. The Gates family highly encouraged competition. It didn’t matter what it was; there was always a reward for winning and a penalty for losing.

When Bill was 13, he joined Lakeside School. When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers’ Club at the school used the proceeds to purchase a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school’s students.

Gates became interested in programming the GE system in BASIC and was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. It was on that machine that he programmed his first software program—a game of tic-tac-toe that allowed the players to compete against the computer.

The Computer Center Corporation (CCC) eventually banned Gates for the summer after it caught him and three friends exploiting bugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.

The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club to earn some money. At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC’s software in exchange for computer time. This was when Gates began to study coding. It was also during this time that he coded the school’s class scheduling system. Initially, he did it together with Kent Evans, but unfortunately, he was killed in a mountain climbing accident at the end of their junior year, so Allen stepped in.

During their senior year, Allen and Gates founded their first company, Traf-O-Data. They made traffic counters on the Intel 8008 processor.

In 1973, he was accepted into Harvard. During his university journey, he developed the BASIC programming language for the world’s first PC – the MITS Altair. However, Gates dropped out just a few years later without finishing his degree so that he and Paul Allen could focus on founding Microsoft.

Microsoft

Gates’ career started a little bit sneakily. He contacted MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), saying that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for them. In reality, however, they didn’t even start coding it. They just wanted to spark their interest.

Once the demo date was settled, Gates and others developed an Altair emulator that ran on a microcomputer and was the primary interpreter. The presentation was successful, and the interpreter was distributed as Altair BASIC. Their partnership was named “Micro-Soft.”

In 1976, they dropped the hyphen and became just Microsoft, trademarking the name. That same year, they became independent from MITS.

In 1985, Gates and Allen launched the first retail version of Microsoft Windows. When Bill and Paul Allen started Microsoft, they had a vision of putting a computer in every home. At the time, that vision seemed way too ridiculous. The company achieved great success from the outset. Just two years after its founding, Bill Gates and Paul Allen opened their first international office in Japan. They also relocated from Albuquerque to Washington.

Although his vision seemed impossible to achieve at the time, it has become a reality in many parts of the world today, and personal technology is an integral part of society. His dedication to the company’s success is something to admire—for the first few years, Gates personally reviewed every single line of code that they shipped, and if necessary, he also rewrote it.

Bill is passionate about Microsoft’s work and will continue to be involved with the company, including his current role as a member of the board and technology advisor. However, he left his position as CEO of Microsoft in 2008. He continued to be Microsoft’s Chairman until 2020.

These days, Bill focuses most of his time on his and his ex-wife’s work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve global health, medical research, education, and gender equality. People are often surprised to hear him say that this work has many similarities with his work at Microsoft. In both cases, he brings together intelligent people and collaborates with them to solve big, challenging problems.

Personal Life

Gates married Melinda French, now Melinda Gates, in 1994 on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai. She was a Microsoft employee working in the product development division. She and Gates met at one of the company’s dinners, and soon enough, Gates asked her out.

Melinda continued to work for Microsoft until 1996, eventually becoming the General Manager of Information Products.

The couple has three children: Phoebe Adele, Rory John, and Jennifer Katharine. In 2021, they announced their separation after nearly thirty years together.

Despite being divorced, they continue to be co-chairs of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which was founded in 2000 after he and his wife combined three family foundations. At the time, it was the world’s largest transparently operated charitable foundation.

In 2010, Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, signed a document they called the Giving Pledge, in which they promised to give at least half of their wealth to charity over time.

Highlights

Here are some of the main highlights of Bill Gates’ career:

Enrolled at Lakeside School, where he first used a computer (1967)
Began programming with Paul Allen in the computer center (1968)
Entered Harvard University (1973)
Founded Microsoft with Paul Allen (1975)
Created the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2002)
Bill helped launch TerraPower, aiming to provide the world with a more affordable, secure, and environmentally friendly form of nuclear energy (2006)
Bill Launched a $5.5 billion effort to eliminate Polio by 2018 (2013)

How Does Bill Gates Spend His Money?

With all that money available to him, you might wonder, “How does billionaire Bill Gates spend his wealth?” While he agreed to give all his wealth (or at least half of it away) by signing the Giving Pledge, there are some things that the Microsoft co-founder splurged on.

Bill Gates owns an impressive compound in Medina, close to Lake Washington. Gates purchased it in 1998 for $2 million; as of today, the property is worth more than $120 million. Some amenities you can find there include a 60-square-foot swimming pool with an underwater music system, a 2,500-square-foot gym, and a 1,000-square-foot dining room. He also has a property in California, the 228-acre Rancho Paseana, which includes a racetrack and five barns.

Gates reportedly owns a private jet, the Bombardier BD-700 Global Express, worth approximately $40 million.

His fortune is managed by Cascade Investment, a holding company created using the proceeds from Microsoft stock sales and dividends. Gates used it to make numerous investments, including partial ownership of the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco (with several other unnamed buyers). According to The Wall Street Journal, Gates owns nearly half of Four Seasons Holdings’ hotel chain.

The company owns stakes in several publicly traded companies, such as the Canadian National Railway. Finally, Gates launched a $1 billion investment fund called “Breakthrough Energy” with several others.

How did Bill Gates become rich?

Bill Gates’s net worth mainly comes from being the co-founder of Microsoft and Microsoft shares.

Is Bill Gates the wealthiest person in the world?

No. Currently, there are a few other people who have an estimated net worth higher than Bill Gates – for example, Amazon founder – Jeff Bezos. However, he was the wealthiest person in the world on several occasions (often uninterrupted), mainly between 1997 and 2008.

Is Bill Gates married?

Bill Gates is not currently married. He is divorced; in 2021, he and his now-ex-wife, Melinda Gates, announced that they would be separating after almost three decades together. Despite their divorce, they continue to co-chair the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

How does Bill Gates spend his free time?

The Microsoft co-founder enjoys spending his free time playing and watching tennis. He’s also an avid reader and has quite an extensive book collection.

Entrepreneurs

Teresa Heinz Kerry Net Worth

Published

6 days ago

Jul 15, 2025

Dan Western

Net Worth:	$750 Million
Age:	86
Born:	October 5, 1938
Gender:	Female
Height:	1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
Country of Origin:	Mozambique
Source of Wealth:	Entrepreneur
Last Updated:	Jul 20, 2025

Table of Contents

Introduction

Teresa Heinz Kerry is a well-established businesswoman and philanthropist with an estimated net worth of $750 Million.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Following the death of her first husband, Senator John Heinz, in 1991, Kerry filed a lawsuit for wrongful death against the owners of two aircraft involved in a mid-air collision. The plane her husband was travelling in collided with a Bell 412 helicopter, killing everyone who was on board both the aeroplane and the helicopter. Following their investigation of the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the pilots of both aircraft were at fault due to errors in judgment.

In 1997, Kerry successfully sued both the owners of the helicopter and the plane, Piper Aerostar, and the lawsuit was settled for $15 million in Kerry’s favor. $3 million was given directly to Kerry in her role as co-executor of the Heinz estate, and the remaining $12 million was split between Kerry and her two sons.

Chinese Investment Firm Controversy

Although not strictly a legal issue, Kerry found herself in the spotlight in 2021 when government filings revealed that she had an interest in Chinese investment firms. This was an issue as her husband, John Kerry, was the U.S. climate envoy at the time and regularly negotiated with China on climate cooperation. The former U.S. chief ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, stated that it could create legal and ethical issues as Chinese officials could hold the investments hostage.

According to the Office of Government Ethics, Kerry has an interest of at least $1 million in Teng Yue Partners. This hedge fund specialises in Chinese equity investments, though the assets were held in trust and not managed by Kerry or her husband. Despite the speculation, there’s no public record showing that Kerry was asked to sell her investments, and John Kerry continued his work as the U.S. climate envoy.

Philanthropy

Although Kerry chose not to take a leadership role at Heinz, she did take the lead in the family’s philanthropic activities. She oversees the Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, two of the largest private charitable foundations, whose annual grants total more than $90 million. The Heinz philanthropic donations support a range of diverse initiatives, with a focus on environmental conservation, women’s issues, health, education, and community development.

Alliance for Health homes

With environmental issues at the heart of Kerry’s philanthropic endeavors, she has launched several green initiatives, including the Alliance to End Childhood Lead Poisoning in 1990. It later changed its name to the Alliance for Healthy Homes, with the sole aim of preventing lead poisoning in children throughout the United States.

In 1993, Kerry co-founded Second Nature with her husband, U.S. Senator John Kerry, environmental scientist Dr. Anthony D. Cortese, and Bruce Droste, an environmental educator. Second Nature is a nonprofit dedicated to making sustainability a core part of campus life, collaborating with U.S. colleges to integrate sustainability into research, teaching, and campus operations.

Women’s Retirement Initiative

In addition to focusing on the environment, Kerry has founded charities that support the financial security of women’s futures. In 1997, Kerry launched the Women’s Retirement Initiative. The following year, she founded the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), which has since become a leading advocate for policies that benefit older women facing financial insecurity.

Kerry has acknowledged the roots of the Heinz company, which was founded in Pittsburgh, and has gifted the city numerous grants through Heinz Endowments. Heinz has helped to improve many aspects of the city, including parks and concert halls. For example, in 2021, they donated over $30 million to support community projects, including Bike Share Pittsburgh, which received $750,000 to purchase electric bikes. $1.75 million was allocated to the historic New Granada Theater in the Hill District, allowing it to be renovated and restored.

Kerry’s philanthropic endeavors have not gone unnoticed. In 2003, she received the Albert Schweitzer Gold Medal for Humanitarianism. In 2007, the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy was awarded to her on behalf of the Heinz family, recognizing her impact on the institutions and initiatives she had helped establish.

Real Estate

Kerry is the proud owner of a six-floor, $7 million townhouse in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood. She and her husband also own a $5 million ski retreat in Idaho, a $4 million estate in Pennsylvania near their home base in Pittsburgh, and a $5 million home in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood.

Highlights

Here are some of the best highlights of Teresa Heinz Kerry’s career:

The widow of former U.S. Senator John Heinz
Heinz is Chair of the Heinz Endowments

Entrepreneurs

Masayoshi Son Net Worth

Published

2 weeks ago

Jul 10, 2025

Dan Western

Net Worth:	$28.2 Billion
Age:	67
Born:	August 11, 1957
Gender:	Male
Height:	Unknown
Country of Origin:	Japan
Source of Wealth:	Entrepreneur
Last Updated:	Jul 20, 2025

Introduction

Masayoshi Son is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist with an estimated net worth of $28.2 Billion.

Net Worth History

Year	Net Worth
2016	$11.7 Billion
2017	$21.2 Billion
2018	$22.7 Billion
2019	$21.6 Billion
2020	$16.6 Billion
2021	$45.4 Billion
2022	$21.3 Billion
2023	$22.4 Billion
2024	$32.7 Billion
2025	$29.4 Billion

Masayoshi Son’s net worth is heavily tied to his 29.7% stake in SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate that centers around technology investments. Back in 2016, Son’s fortune was estimated to be approximately $11.7 billion. Between 2017 and 2019, the amount typically ranged between $21.2 billion and $22.7 billion, before declining to $16.6 billion in 2020.

Son experienced a sharp increase in his wealth in 2021, which was one of the best-performing years for SoftBank’s Vision Fund. Midway through the year, Vision Funds 1 & 2 reached a combined value of $154 billion, with the company recording $45.9 billion in annual profits. It was the most profitable year in SoftBank’s history, leading to Masayoshi’s net worth increasing to an estimated $45.4 billion.

This was a somewhat inflated sense of wealth, as the estimate was revised to roughly $21.3 billion the following year. In recent years, SoftBank has invested billions in AI projects, including Stargate, OpenAI, MGX, and Oracle. Masayoshi’s net worth shot up again to $32.7 billion in 2024. However, as of this year, he is worth approximately $28.2 Billion.

SoftBank Compensation

Year	Total Earnings (JPY)	USD
2019	608,000,000	$4,600,000
2020	635,000,000	$4,800,000
2021	647,000,000	$4,900,000
2022	574,000,000	$4,300,000
2023	1,281,000,000	$9,600,000
Totals	3,745,000,000	$28,200,000

Although Masayoshi’s wealth is predominantly held through his stake in SoftBank, he also earns several million dollars annually as the company’s CEO. The above data regarding Masayoshi Son’s annual compensation comes directly from SoftBank’s official ESG disclosures. For the last several years, his annual salary has remained at ¥120 million, equivalent to approximately $808,000 USD.

However, his additional earnings, and the biggest contributor to his yearly compensation, come from various performance bonuses and stock options. From 2019 to 2022, his total annual compensation ranged between $4.3 million and $4.9 million. His highest recorded year was 2023, when he received ¥1.28 billion in compensation, equivalent to approximately $9.6 million.

Between 2019 and 2023, based on the ESG disclosures, Masayoshi Son earned a total compensation of $28.2 million from SoftBank.

Entrepreneurs

Alexis Ohanian Net Worth

Published

2 weeks ago

Jul 10, 2025

Dan Western

Net Worth:	$100 Million
Age:	42
Born:	April 24, 1983
Gender:	Male
Height:	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Country of Origin:	Canada
Source of Wealth:	Entrepreneur
Last Updated:	Jul 20, 2025

Table of Contents

Introduction

Alexis Ohanian is an American Internet entrepreneur and investor with an estimated net worth of $100 Million.

Over several decades, Ohanian has created numerous successful companies in tech, investing, and sports. In 2005, he co-founded Reddit with his University of Virginia roommate, Steve Huffman, and the two pitched the idea to venture capital firm Y Combinator. They were fortunate to secure $12,000 in seed funding from the VC firm, which enabled them to launch Reddit. Within 12 months, Reddit was sold to Condé Nast for a reported $10-$20 million. Ohanian stayed with Reddit until 2009, returning briefly in 2015 as their Executive Chairman until his resignation in 2020.

Initialized Capital

Inspired by his own startup journey, Ohanian teamed up in 2011 with Harjeet Taggar and Garry Tan of Y Combinator and launched Initialized Capital, a venture capital firm. Ohanian and his co-founders wanted to support software and tech founders at the seed stage of their businesses with mentorship and access to influential networks within Silicon Valley. Over ten years, Initialized Capital raised more than $3.2 billion in assets and has invested in 23 companies, including Coinbase, Cruise Automation, Instacart, and CoinTracker.

Seven Seven Six

Ohanian left Initialized Capital in 2020 to set up another venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six (776). He wanted to leverage his experience and extensive network of contacts to help launch and scale early startups, many of which were still just ideas. Ohanian scaled 776 rapidly, with a portfolio of 38 companies, managing $750 million in assets.

Angel City FC Acquisition

In 2020, Ohanian became the largest shareholder and founding controlling owner of Angel City FC (ACFC). The professional women’s soccer team is based in Los Angeles and was established by actress Natalie Portman, venture capitalist Kara Nortman, and entrepreneur Julie Uhrman. In July 2024, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife Willow Bay acquired a controlling stake in the club, valued at $250 million. Ohanian played a key role in the club’s growth and remains on the club’s board.

Los Angeles Golf Club Acquisition

Continuing his interests in sport, Ohanian was named as the principal Owner of the Los Angeles Golf Club (LAGC) in June 2023. The club’s ownership group also includes Ohanian’s wife, her sister Venus Williams, and Michelle Wie West. Ohanian’s key aim with the club is to make golf more accessible and to blend the sport with technology and entertainment to appeal to a new and more diverse fan base.

Athlos Track & Field

In 2024, Ohanian and the American Olympic Track and Field Champion Gabby Thomas launched Athlos, a women-only professional track and field event. He was motivated by the lack of lucrative opportunities for women in track and field outside of the Olympics. The first meet was held at New York’s Icahn Stadium in September of that year and featured 36 top competitors.

The meet had a record-breaking $663,000 prize purse, with $60,000 awarded to each event winner to highlight the value of women’s athletics. Ohanian was responsible for the event being shown on platforms like ESPN+, YouTube, and DAZN, to ensure that Athlos reached millions of viewers and attracted new fans to the sport. He also introduced distributing 10% of all commercial income evenly among the athletes, which was unusual and possibly a first, as funds are usually distributed based on performance or contract.

Chelsea F.C. Investment

Following his success with ACFC, in May 2025, Ohanian bought a 10% stake in Chelsea Women’s Soccer Club in the United Kingdom. The investment was worth around £20 million ($26.86 million) and valued the club at £200 million ($268.57 million), making it one of the most valuable women’s soccer clubs in the world. He said his goal is to help Chelsea FC Women’s Club become a global brand and to use his expertise and network to boost the club’s international profile, particularly in the United States.

Ohanian has consistently shown his passion for backing tech founders and his commitment to giving women’s sport the recognition and investment it has lacked for so many years.

Bored Ape Yacht Club Lawsuit

In 2023, Ohanian was named in a class action lawsuit along with several other high-profile celebrities, including his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, and Snoop Dogg. Investors in Yuga Labs’ Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and Apecoin alleged that the celebrities, including Ohanian and Williams, fraudulently promoted NFTs.

However, the celebrities had never revealed their financial interests or how much compensation they would get as a result of their involvement. The case alleged that the celebrities who had endorsed the NFTs were benefiting from the inflated value. Yuga Labs stated that the claims were false, and as of today, the case is ongoing.

Real Estate

Brooklyn Condo

In 2011, Ohanian purchased a two-bedroom, 1,385-square-foot apartment in Brooklyn Heights for $1.245 million. Before he sold the unit, Alexis had been renting it out to people for $7,500 per month since 2016. In May 2022, he listed the apartment for sale at $2.3 million. It was scooped up in December that year for $2.05 million.