$157.2 billion! Former Microsoft CEO Ballmer surpassed Gates in net worth and became the sixth richest person in the world

The Paper

2024-07-02 14:02The Paper official account

For the first time, the personal wealth of the second head of the tech giant Microsoft surpassed that of its founder.

On July 1, local time, Steve Ballmer, the former CEO and president of Microsoft, surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for the first time on the Bloomberg Global Rich List to become the sixth richest person in the world. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Ballmer's net worth reached $157.2 billion, while Gates' fortune fell to seventh place with $156.7 billion.

Steve Ballmer

As one of Microsoft's first employees, Ballmer began his role as assistant to the president in 1980, was named CEO of Microsoft in 2000, and succeeded Gates as president in 2008. He retired in 2014 and became Microsoft's largest individual shareholder in the same year. Regulatory filings show that Ballmer owns 333 million shares, or about 4 percent, of Microsoft at the time of retirement. Assuming Ballmer retains the majority of the shares, more than 90 percent of his net worth is Microsoft stock.

For nearly two years, the AI (artificial intelligence) boom and the alliance with OpenAI have continued to drive Microsoft's stock price higher. On the 1st, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) shares closed at $456.73 per share, up 2.19%, with a total market capitalization of $3.39 trillion, still the world's largest company by market capitalization. Wind data shows that Microsoft's stock price has risen more than 21% this year.

On the other hand, Gates diversifies its $156.7 billion worth of assets, with about half of his wealth held through investment firm Cascade Investment, which was created through the sale of Microsoft shares and dividend earnings, according to the records. Gates also holds a $21 billion stake in Republic Services, a waste disposal company, through Cascade.

In addition, Gates, 68, has been slowly reducing his wealth through philanthropy. Since founding the Gates Foundation more than 20 years ago, Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Francis Gates, have donated nearly $60 billion from their personal fortune. In 2010, Gates and his ex-wife and Warren Buffett co-launched the "The Giving Pledge" program, which aims to encourage the world's wealthiest people to join the charity giving team and use most of their wealth for philanthropy.

At the same time, while Ballmer is also involved in philanthropy, it is nowhere near as large as Gates. Ballmer is now better known as the owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, and after retiring in 2014, he bought the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion, an investment that is now valued at about $4.6 billion.

It is worth mentioning that although he is regarded as the biggest "hero" who led Microsoft's lead in the AI boom, Microsoft's current CEO Satya Nadella (Satya Nadella) has not yet made it to the Bloomberg rich list. At present, the top three on the list are Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and LVMH (Louis Vuitton's parent company) Bernard Arnault.

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