Bill Gates has lost his spot as one of the ‘top 10 richest people’ in the world after his net worth plummeted by a whopping $52 billion in just a week.
The co-founder of Microsoft is no longer on the list of the top 10 billionaires globally after he sunk to number 12 recently.
This is according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index which shows that Gates has a current net worth of $124 billion as of yesterday (July 8).
This is much lower than the former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is sitting in the fifth spot of the list.
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Why is Bill Gates losing billions of dollars from his net worth?
So, why has Gates seen a decrease of $52 billion from his net worth in the past week? The answer lies in his charitable endeavors.
According to the billionaire’s website for the Gates Foundation, both Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates, donated a total of $60 billion in 2024 alone.
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Earlier this year, Gates revealed how much his charitable foundation has spent over the years in order to reduce poverty and combat preventable diseases.
Speaking to the BBC, Gates said: “I’ve given over 100 billion, but I still have more to give.”
Philanthropy is second nature to the entrepreneur, who revealed that it was his mom who gave him some important advice.
He recalled how she had told him that ‘with wealth came the responsibility to give it away’.
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And Gates intends to follow her words of wisdom and he has plans to give away the majority of his fortune during his lifetime.
But despite the huge donations, it hasn’t actually impacted his lifestyle.
Gates said: “I made no personal sacrifice. I didn’t order less hamburgers or less movies.”
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The billionaire also shared that he has been considering how much money to set aside to leave his children.
When asked if they will be poor after his death, Gates said: “They will not”.
He went on to add: “In absolute, they’ll do well, in percentage terms it’s not a gigantic number.”
The tech mogul reportedly plans to give away over $200 billion of his wealth by 2045 for charitable efforts.
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Earlier this year, the Gates Foundation stated: “On the occasion of its 25th year, the Gates Foundation today made a new commitment to accelerate its mission to help all people live healthy, productive lives by spending $200 billion over the next 20 years. The decision marks a major acceleration in the foundation’s work and sets a new date of 2045 to sunset its operations.”