Bill Gates is a famous American billionaire, businessperson, author, and someone who gives a lot to charity. His net worth is $156 billion. You might assume that most of his money comes from Microsoft, the company he helped start, but that’s not exactly the case.
Right now, he owns about 103 million shares of Microsoft. With each share worth $370, that adds up to around $38 billion of his total wealth.
The rest—more than $100 billion—comes from many other investments and assets, which are managed through his investment company called Cascade Investments.
We’ll talk more about Cascade later, but for now, it’s important to mention that Bill owns most of Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts and is the largest private owner of farmland in the U.S.
When Microsoft became a public company in 1986, Bill owned 45% of it. Steve Ballmer had 8%, and Paul Allen held 25%. By the year 2000, Bill’s part had gone down to 14% because he had sold a lot of his shares.
Today, he owns less than 1.4% of Microsoft, which equals about 103 million shares. Interestingly, he’s no longer the individual who owns the most shares—Steve Ballmer now holds that title, owning about 4%. Microsoft pays $3 per share in yearly dividends, so Bill earns around $309 million a year from that, while Ballmer gets close to $1 billion.
Over time, Bill has made almost $60 billion by selling stocks and collecting dividends, mostly from Microsoft and other investments. This money has helped build up Cascade Investment LLC, which he uses to invest in many businesses. He even owns around 270,000 acres of farmland in the U.S.
He owns large amounts of stock in public companies such as Apple, Canadian National Railway, Republic Services, Ecolab, Waste Management, and Berkshire Hathaway. In addition, Cascade owns the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Between 1997 and 2008, Bill was basically the richest person in the world without any breaks. He traded the number one spot with Carlos Slim for a few years but took it back until July 2017, when Jeff Bezos from Amazon became richer. For the past ten years, Bill has regularly been one of the top five wealthiest people on the planet.
Microsoft began as a conversation between two childhood friends, Bill Gates and Paul Allen. They got themselves into a meeting with MITS, the company that made the Altair 8800 computer, and persuaded them to build and sell their interpreter.
In 1975, MITS launched Altair BASIC, which marked the beginning of their success and led them to start their own company, Microsoft. By 1977, they had opened their first international office in Japan and moved their headquarters to Washington state.
In 1980, they signed a deal to create an operating system for IBM, which became MS-DOS. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, Microsoft turned into a major technology company. After going public in 1986, 12,000 employees became millionaires, and four of them even became billionaires.
However, the company also dealt with several anti-trust lawsuits for business practices that were seen as trying to control the computer market.
During the mid-1990s, they added more products, including tools for networking and internet use like the popular Internet Explorer browser. In 2000, Bill Gates stepped down as CEO, and Steve Ballmer, who had been with the company for a long time, became the new CEO. Today, Satya Nadella is leading the company.
Early Life
William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. As a child, he was bullied and often liked to be alone in his room. Whenever his mom asked what he was doing, he would say, “I’m thinking.”
At the age of 13, he began going to the private Lakeside prep school, where he wrote his first software program.
During his first year at the school, when he was in eighth grade, the school’s Mother’s Club helped buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and gave students access to a GE computer.
Gates quickly became very interested in programming the GE computer using BASIC. He created his first program—a tic-tac-toe game that let people play against the computer.
But later on, he and his friends Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and Kent Evans got in trouble for using glitches in the system to get extra computer time. Because of this, the school banned them from using the computer for a while.
After that, the four of them started the Lakeside Programmers Club to earn some money.
Once their ban was over, the boys agreed to look for software bugs in return for more computer time. Gates began exploring the code for different programs, such as Fortran, Lisp, and machine language. In 1971, a teacher at Lakeside asked Gates and Evans to help make the school’s class scheduling system automatic.
They built the program, but Gates made a small change—he adjusted the code so he could be in classes with girls he found more interesting. They planned to finish the system by their senior year. Sadly, near the end of their junior year, Evans died in a mountain climbing accident. After that, Gates worked with Allen to finish the project for Lakeside.
During their senior year, Gates and Allen started a company called Traf-O-Data. They built traffic counters using the Intel 8008 processor. Gates finished school at Lakeside in 1973 and started studying at Harvard that same fall.
At Harvard, he took math and advanced computer science classes and met Steve Ballmer. But Gates left the university at the end of his second year.
Interesting Facts
His net worth reached more than $350 million when Microsoft went public in 1986. By 1987, he was a billionaire at only 31 years old. In 1999, his net worth was about $100 billion, which would be around $153 billion today after adjusting for inflation.
If he had never given any money to charity, he would be worth about $175 billion now. His huge house in Seattle is 66,000 square feet and is worth $147 million.
Since 2003, he has earned at least $50 billion from Microsoft dividends. Right now, he owns about 1.3% of Microsoft.
He plans to give away 99.96% of his money to charity before he dies and reportedly plans to leave just $10 million to each of his three children.
Microsoft
When the MITS Altair 8800 came out, using the Intel 8080 CPU, it gave Gates and Paul Allen the right moment to start their own software company. MITS, the company behind this new microcomputer, partnered with Gates and Allen.
They had created an Altair emulator for a minicomputer, along with the BASIC interpreter. The name Microsoft was officially registered on November 26, 1976. In the early years, Gates was very involved—he personally reviewed every line of code before it was sent out and often made changes himself.
Then, on November 20, 1985, Microsoft released the first retail version of Microsoft Windows.
In 1986, Microsoft went public with its stock starting at $21. By the end of the day, the stock closed at $27.75, making Gates’ 45% share worth $350 million. Less than a year later, as the stock price rose, he became a billionaire at the age of 31.
On June 15, 2006, Gates said he would slowly move away from his daily work at Microsoft over the next few years so he could spend more time on charity work.
On March 13, 2020, Gates said he was stepping down from his role as Microsoft’s Chairman.
Cascade Investments
Over time, Bill has made over $50 billion from dividends and selling stocks. He put this money into Cascade Investment, his private investment company. Today, Cascade is believed to manage more than $200 billion in assets, spread out across a wide and impressive range of investments. Some of its biggest and best-known investments include:
Farmland
Cascade Investment is the largest owner of farmland in the United States, holding 269,000 acres through different shell companies. This investment has done well even when the stock market has not.
Technology Stocks
Cascade owns big shares in top tech companies, with the largest investments being in Apple Inc. and Microsoft.
Equity Holdings
The five biggest publicly known equity investments of Cascade Investment include Canadian National Railway, Republic Services (a waste management company), Ecolab (which makes disinfectants), Femsa (a beverage company), along with a few others that are not named specifically.
Berkshire Hathaway
The biggest part of Cascade’s portfolio is in Berkshire Hathaway, which makes up more than 50% of its assets. Berkshire Hathaway is a large company that owns businesses in areas like insurance, energy, and retail.
Waste Management
The second-biggest investment is in Waste Management, a company that handles trash collection and environmental services.
Four Seasons
Since 2007, Bill and Cascade have worked with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in a nearly equal partnership to control 70% of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts brand. In September 2021, Bill and Cascade bought Prince Alwaleed’s $2.21 billion share, raising their ownership to 71.3% and giving the hotel chain a value of $10 billion.
Personal Life
In 1987, Melinda French joined the product development team at Microsoft. At a work dinner, she happened to sit next to Bill, and they got along really well. Soon after, Bill asked her out. Melinda moved up in the company and became the General Manager of Information Products. She stayed at Microsoft until 1996.
Bill and Melinda got married on January 1, 1994, at a golf course in Lanai, Hawaii. They have three children: Phoebe Adele, Rory John, and Jennifer Katharine.
In 1994, Gates bought the Codex Leicester, a group of Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific notes, for $30.8 million at an auction.
In 2000, Bill and Melinda combined three of their family foundations to start the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is now the biggest openly run charitable foundation in the world.
On December 9, 2010, Bill, Melinda, and investor Warren Buffett signed the Giving Pledge, agreeing to give away at least half of their wealth to charity over time.
Bill Gates’ Incredible Seattle Mansion
Bill Gates and his family own a number of beautiful homes across the United States, and he likely has some amazing properties in other countries too, although not much is known about those.
In Washington, he owns a massive mansion called “Xanadu 2.0.” He bought this lakeside property in 1988 for $2 million and then spent $63 million and seven years turning it into one of the most well-known private homes in the world.
To make sure he had more privacy, he also bought nearby properties for another $14 million.
The mansion is designed in a modern “Pacific lodge” style and includes both traditional and advanced features. During construction, a lot of care went into details like sound quality.
More than seven types of stone were used, and all floors—even the walkways and driveway—are heated. Around 300 workers helped build the home, with about 100 of them being electricians.
The mansion sits on a hillside looking out over Lake Washington in Medina. The main house covers an enormous 66,000 square feet. It has a 60-foot swimming pool with an underwater sound system, a 2,500-square-foot gym, a 1,000-square-foot dining room, six kitchens, and a large dining area that can hold 200 guests.
One wall includes 24 video screens that come together to form a huge display. There’s also a warm and inviting 1,000-square-foot dining room with a fireplace that seats 24 people.
The house is filled with high-tech features and includes more than 52 miles of fiber optic cables. Family members and guests wear microchip tags that automatically adjust things like lighting, temperature, music, and even the artwork on digital displays in every room they enter. Each room also has its own touchpad to give full control over the settings.
Security is very advanced, with hidden cameras and floor sensors placed throughout the property. There are no visible electrical outlets, and every door handle was specially designed, costing about $2,000 each.
Some of the inside doors are extremely heavy—over 800 pounds—but they’re so well balanced that they open easily.
Bill Gates’ house includes some really interesting details. He has a special domed library with two hidden bookcases, and one of them hides a bar. The pool house is 3,900 square feet, and the swimming pool itself is 17 by 60 feet.
The pool has an underwater sound system so you can listen to music while swimming. There’s an underground parking area that covers 6,300 square feet and holds ten cars, plus two garages above ground.
Since Gates loves books, there’s a quote from The Great Gatsby engraved on the ceiling of his large library, which holds priceless works, including writings by Da Vinci. The property’s yearly taxes are around $1.063 million, based on a value of $150 million.
More Bill Gates Real Estate
Rancho Santa Fe, CA
In October 2014, the Gates family spent $18 million on a large 228-acre ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, California, near San Diego. They bought it from Jenny Craig, who is known for her weight loss business.
The property, called “Rancho Paseana,” is a horse ranch that’s a great match for Gates’ daughter Jennifer, who enjoys horseback riding. It includes a racetrack, an orchard, five barns, and a living space for a full-time veterinarian.
Del Mar, CA
In April 2020, Bill and Melinda bought a beautiful oceanfront mansion in Del Mar, California, for $43 million. This home is only about 15 minutes away from their Rancho Santa Fe ranch. They purchased it from the widow of T. Boone Pickens, a well-known oil businessman and investor.
Wellington, Florida
In 2013, Gates bought another horse ranch, this time in Wellington, Florida, for $8.7 million. The family had stayed at the property several times during Jennifer Gates’ riding competitions and liked it enough to buy it.
Cody, WY
In 2009, Gates purchased a 492-acre ranch in Cody, Wyoming, for an undisclosed price. The ranch had once belonged to William “Buffalo Bill” Cody. It was first listed for $12 million but had dropped to $8.9 million just before Gates bought it. The property has had only three owners in around 150 years.
Commercial Properties
Through his investment company Cascade, Gates owns parts of several well-known hotels. He has a share in the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and owns about half of all Four Seasons hotels worldwide. Along with a group of investors, he also owns part of the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.
Bill Gates’ path from being a curious kid to becoming the co-founder of Microsoft and one of the richest people in the world shows his intelligence and strong work ethic.
He changed the tech industry and chose to focus on giving back, promising to donate most of his wealth to help improve health and education around the world.
Through his foundation and business ventures, Gates continues to play a big role in making a difference in people’s lives. His wide range of investments—from farmland to the Four Seasons—along with his smart choices in technology, show that his influence goes well beyond Microsoft and will have a lasting effect for future generations.
