Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2013. It uses Forbes 2013 figures: Gates named the richest person in the US with a net worth of $72 billion, up almost $10 billion, and Microsoft about one fifth of his wealth. Holdings in Deere & Co, Canadian National Railway and Coca-Cola FEMSA are as reported then.
Bill Gates has been named the richest man in the United States by Forbes in its latest list (see the Forbes 2013 ranking of the 20 richest Americans). His net worth has grown by almost $10 billion, to $72 billion. Despite devoting himself fully to philanthropy and pledging to give most of his fortune to charitable causes, Gates keeps getting richer, and, curiously, the increase in his wealth has not come from Microsoft.
Of that $72 billion, according to Business Insider, Microsoft represents only a fifth of his total wealth. Most of his wealth, and most of its growth, comes from other companies. His investment firm, Cascade, owns a large stake in tractor maker Deere & Co, as well as a block of shares in Canadian National Railway and shares in Coca-Cola FEMSA, the Mexican bottler and distributor.
Gates has surely made the most of his friendship with Warren Buffett to get some good investment advice, because his diversification into stocks has been very smart.
Of course, this good news isn’t so welcome to some critics, given that Bill Gates recently criticized capitalism for having “flawed priorities”. He is one of the founders of something called the Giving Pledge, a kind of association or foundation in which the wealthy commit to giving away most of their fortune.
Gates is rumored to have donated as much as $28 billion to charity over the last five years, and some people are annoyed that his wealth is growing faster than the money he gives away.
Further reading
- Bill Gates: his fascinating life and career
- What Steve Jobs and Bill Gates really thought of each other
Featured image: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
