After having already given an estimated US$4.5 billion to different philanthropic causes throughout his career, Bill Gates is still one of the richest men on the planet. Now, reports have revealed that giving all of that money hasn't really dented his personal wealth as it had now breached the US$100 billion mark. According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Gates has increased his net worth by around US$9.5 billion in the past year.
The only other person that has breached the US$100 billion mark in the list of the richest people in the world is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bezoz currently tops the list with a net worth of around US$146 billion.
Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, have given a good chunk of their wealth to charities. Gates has also vowed to give away most of his wealth through his different foundations. He had even started the Giving Pledge foundation, which asks other billionaires to follow suit and give up most of their wealth for charity. Due to his massive philanthropic spending, most people think that his wealth has shrunk over the years. Despite the massive amount of money he has given away, Gates actually still earns a lot of money from his various investments.
In 2014, Gates was estimated to have been worth around US$76 billion, which means that he was able to accumulate more than US$24 billion in less than five years. His wealth is apparently growing at a much faster rate than he can spend it. Most of the Gates' investments are run by his money manager, Michael Larson. His investments, which include large stakes in public and private companies from real estate, automotive, to waste management, are a well-guarded secret.
Gates also does get a bit of profit from their different foundations. The couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, for example, often invests a lot of money in for-profit businesses. Just recently, the foundation acquired around 800,000 shares of the biotech company Liquidia Technologies. The company is one of the world's leading developers or personalized and engineered drugs.
While Gates does still receive some money from Microsoft, the number of shares he has with the company has actually significantly diminished. Gates used to have around 1.1 billion shares of the company. However, he has since sold those shares. Gates is reportedly still holding around 103 million shares, which are valued at around US$12 billion. In recent years, Gates has completely waived his salary and share grants from Microsoft, despite still working as its chairman.
