Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and once the world’s richest man, has dropped to 12th place on the global wealth list, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of 9 July 2025.

The latest data shows Mr Gates now has a net worth of $124 billion, highlighting a notable shift in the global wealth hierarchy. This decline is largely attributed to his continued philanthropic commitments, which have increasingly outpaced his investment returns.

The tech pioneer’s fortune has decreased by $35.2 billion since the beginning of the year, representing a 22.2% drop, an outlier among fellow tech billionaires whose fortunes have surged, largely driven by booming artificial intelligence and tech stocks.

Despite a modest $487 million increase in recent trading, Gates’ deliberate strategy of wealth redistribution has fundamentally altered his position among the world’s wealthiest individuals.

Now at age 69, Gates holds just 1% of Microsoft shares, a stark contrast to the early days of the company he helped build into the world’s largest software maker, which posted $245 billion in revenue in 2024. He stepped down from the company’s board in March 2020, and his stake is no longer disclosed in Microsoft’s proxy filings.

The majority of his remaining fortune is managed through Cascade Investment, a private investment firm with holdings in numerous publicly traded companies, including Canadian National Railway, Deere & Company, and Ecolab.

Another contributing factor to Gates’ decline in the rankings was his 2021 divorce from Melinda French Gates. Company filings revealed that over $5 billion worth of shares were transferred to her as part of the settlement. These assets have been excluded from his net worth calculations.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk continues to dominate the global billionaire rankings, maintaining his position as the world’s richest person with a net worth of $347 billion. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg holds second place with $258 billion, followed closely by Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who sits in third with $251 billion.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/