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Once the world's richest man, Bill Gates has made an extraordinary amount of money during his working life.
At his peak, the 69-year-old held the No. 1 spot from 1995 to 2017, with a few exceptions of 2008 and 2010 - 2013.
But, with billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison climbing the ranks, Gates has slowly slipped down the list.
In 2025, the Microsoft co-founder sits at No. 16 - marking the first time he’s fallen out of the top 10 richest people in the world since 1991, according to Forbes.
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For comparison, Musk currently boasts a net worth just shy of $400 billion, while Gates’ wealth is estimated at around $109 billion.
That’s still an enormous amount of money. So, what would happen if you took away 99% of it?
Well, according to Gates' 'math' in an interview, taking away the majority of Gates' wealth wouldn't leave him high and dry.
In fact, it doesn't seem to even come close to putting a dent in his wallet.
"If you get rid of 99%, I'd have $1.3 billion," the philanthropist said.
It seems leaving Gates with 1% of his fortune would still be plenty to keep him in the billionaire club.
"I'm so sorry," Gates laughed after his remark.
Naturally, people made plenty of remarks about Gates' response online and even mocked the businessman.
"His laugh at the end could pay off my mortgage," one YouTuber user wrote.
"“Im so sorry” “Laughs in rich”," another mocked, whilst someone else fired back: "There’s more zeros in that laugh than there is in my bank."
One other user joked: "I got 99 problems and a dollar ain’t one."
Even after giving away over $100 billion to charity - including massive donations to AIDS and polio research, education, and gender equality initiatives - Gates has no plans to stop.
One of his major philanthropic ventures is co-chairing the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a nonprofit organisation 'fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world.'
To date, Forbes reported that Gates has donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation, including a $20 billion gift announced in July 2022.
Despite his immense wealth, Gates' children won’t be inheriting a fortune.
He has made it clear that his fortune is meant for philanthropy, not personal wealth. As such, his children will receive around $10 million in inheritance, which is about a fraction of his net worth.
When asked by the BBC if this meant his children would be 'poor' after he’s gone, Gates responded: "They will not [...]in absolute, they'll do well, in percentage terms it's not a gigantic number."
