How could Bill Gates’ net worth increase by so much after leaving the company that made him rich? The answer can be found below our feet...
From a pioneer of the digital age back to feudal-style land ownership, Bill Gates’ career is incredible and can maybe teach us something about capitalism. But what is Gates’ net worth today? Let’s discover it with this article.
Bill Gates is one of the first and most important developers of the computer revolution. He is the founder of Microsoft, the tech giant that started as a simple idea back in 1975. Founded almost at the same time as Apple, the two companies would eventually shape digital technology as we know it today.
Microsoft started as a software-developing company. Through the programming language BASIC, Bill Gates and co-founder Paul Allen invented one of the first operating systems in history. In the 1980s, Microsoft would develop the ultimate OS: Windows, which is still the main source of revenue of the company.
Microsoft and Windows made Bill Gates a multi-billionaire very quickly. His net worth was already ten figures at the age of 31, when Microsoft went public in 1986. Bill Gates was, at the time, the youngest self-made billionaire.
Over several decades, however, he slowly let go of his shares in Microsoft. In 2008, he stopped working for Microsoft altogether. His net worth at the time was $58 billion: he had been the world’s richest person for 13 consecutive years.
Philanthropy and farming
Today, Bill Gates owns only 1.3% of Microsoft, though his net worth kept increasing over time. How is that possible?
His large philanthropic activity, started with his now ex-wife Melinda, saw him involved in a series of humanitarian programmes around the world. In 2015, he famously advocated for more investments in healthcare systems and vaccines, as “we are not prepared for the next pandemic”.
He is one of the biggest founders of the World Health Organization (WHO) and disposes of quite a large share of decisional power. This aspect has drawn several critics towards him, as he is neither a public official nor has any prior medical experience.
But it’s with land ownership that Bill Gates could almost double his net worth. In the past few years, he quietly purchased large swaths of American private land, becoming the US largest landowner.
His properties span 242 thousands acres across 19 US states. Such an evolution is definitely peculiar: land ownership as a source of wealth sounds more suitable for a feudal, medieval society than for ours.
However, it allowed Bill Gates’ net worth to reach $113 billion dollars. He is still well among the 10 richest people in the world despite leaving Microsoft 15 years ago.
Does this mean that the tech revolution is over? Perhaps, now that the tech giants are getting old and grumpy, Bill Gates is taking the best decision he could. Real estate keeps being the most reliable source of investment, however old fashioned that might sound.
