What is the networth of Bill Gates? As of 2024 and 2025 estimates from Forbes and Bloomberg, it’s somewhere in the range of $100 billion to $150 billion, depending on the day and the method. That makes him one of the richest people alive, though no longer at the very top of the list as he was for much of the 1990s and 2000s. The exact figure moves with markets, so it’s worth thinking of it as a range rather than a fixed number.
What is the networth of Bill Gates, and why is it a range?
Forbes and Bloomberg both track billionaires, and they don’t always agree. Forbes updates its list in real time and also publishes an annual ranking. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index has its own methods and tends to land on different figures. Both use public data like stock prices and filings, then estimate private holdings. A gap of tens of billions between the two isn’t unusual, which tells you how much guesswork sits underneath.
Where the money is actually held
People assume Gates is still mostly a Microsoft shareholder. That used to be true, but he’s spent decades diversifying and giving away shares. His personal wealth is mostly managed through Cascade Investment, a private investment firm that he controls. Public reporting has shown Cascade holding:
- Stocks and bonds in a wide mix of companies, including a remaining stake in Microsoft that’s now a small fraction of his original holding.
- Real assets such as hotel interests and other properties.
- Farmland. He’s been widely reported as one of the largest private owners of farmland in the United States.
- Railroad and industrial company shares, among other holdings reported in filings.
This is why his networth doesn’t swing as wildly with a single tech stock as it would for someone like a founder who still holds most of one company.
How he got here
Gates co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, and the company’s growth through personal computing made him a billionaire in the 1980s. He was ranked as the world’s richest person in Forbes lists for many years. He stepped back from day-to-day roles at Microsoft in the 2000s and left its board in 2020 to focus on philanthropy and other ventures.
He also invested in other businesses, including energy and climate projects like TerraPower, a nuclear technology company he co-founded, and a climate-focused investment fund, Breakthrough Energy.
The giving side of the story
It’s impossible to discuss Gates’s networth without mentioning how much he’s given away. The Gates Foundation, one of the largest private charities in the world, focuses on global health, poverty and education. Gates has said that he’s moved well over $50 billion of his wealth into the foundation over time. In 2025 he announced plans to give away the vast majority of his remaining fortune through the foundation over the next couple of decades, with the foundation expected to wind down around 2045.
If that plan proceeds as stated, his personal net worth will shrink significantly over time, even though the underlying investments may keep growing.
A quick comparison of how he’s ranked
| Source | Rough range (2024-2025) |
|---|---|
| Forbes | Roughly $100-130 billion |
| Bloomberg | Roughly $100-150 billion |
These ranges are approximate, rounded and shift with markets. Check the live lists if you need today’s reading.
What the networth of Bill Gates doesn’t tell you
A net worth figure is a snapshot of assets minus liabilities. It doesn’t measure influence, cash flow or what a person has already donated. Gates is known to have given a large portion of his wealth already, so the headline number understates the total he’s generated. And because most of his holdings are held through investment vehicles that update only when markets move, the figure you see on a given day can lag reality.
It also doesn’t tell you much about his income, since a large portfolio produces dividends and gains that vary from year to year.
Key takeaways on the networth of Bill Gates
- Estimates in 2024-2025 are roughly $100-150 billion, depending on source.
- Most of his wealth is invested through Cascade Investment, not just Microsoft shares.
- He’s committed to giving away nearly all of it through the Gates Foundation.
- Estimates change daily with markets.
It also helps to know why the two big trackers disagree. Bloomberg and Forbes may value private holdings differently, count real estate at different prices, or update on different schedules. Neither is wrong, exactly. They’re two attempts to price assets that don’t trade every day. If you want a single sentence to remember, it’s this: Gates is worth well over $100 billion by most counts, and he intends to give most of it away.
