Bill Gates falls out of America’s top 10 richest for first time in 34 years

He now sits just behind Bloomberg LP cofounder Mike Bloomberg and one spot ahead of Walmart heiress Alice Walton, the country’s richest woman. Forbes estimates his fortune at $107 billion.

Since 1991, Gates consistently ranked first or second on the Forbes 400 list for almost three decades before slipping below the top two in 2021. This year marks the first time in 34 years he is outside the top 10.

Gates’ fall has accelerated in recent years. He dropped to No. 4 in 2001, the year he and Melinda French Gates announced their separation after 27 years of marriage. In 2024, he slid further to No. 9. His net worth decreased as Melinda resigned as co-chair of the Gates Foundation and received $12.5 billion for her own philanthropy, a sum Forbes reported was transferred from Gates’ fortune.

Bill Gates at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January. Photo by AFP

Gates became a billionaire in 1987 at age 31 when his Microsoft shares surpassed the $1 billion mark, making him the youngest billionaire at the time, a title later claimed by Mark Zuckerberg in 2008. From 1995 to 2017, he topped Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest individuals for 18 out of 23 years, according to Benzinga.

Unlike many billionaires seeking to expand their fortunes, Gates has worked deliberately to reduce his. In 2010, he, Melinda, and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, calling on the world’s richest to donate at least half of their wealth to philanthropy, as reported by Fortune.

In May this year, Gates announced plans to "give away virtually all my wealth" through the Gates Foundation before its planned closure in 2045. "People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them," he wrote in a blog post.

Since its founding in 2000, the Gates Foundation has donated $60.2 billion, making Gates and Melinda the second-largest philanthropists in the U.S. after Buffett, according to Entrepreneur.

Forbes estimated that had Gates, who will turn 70 this October, held on to his Microsoft shares instead of focusing on philanthropy, his net worth today could reach $1.2 trillion, three times the current wealth of Elon Musk.