William Henry Gates III is the world’s 4th richest person with a net worth of $130B, equivalent to 0.592% of the US GDP. The Microsoft co-founder owns just 1.3% of the stake, worth about $25B in the Microsoft corp and the rest of his money comes from investments in various corporations. Let’s know How Does Bill Gates Make Money?
Bill Gates with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. (Image credit: Google)
Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in 2000 and left his full-time role in the year 2008, and his last position in the corporation was of Board director, which he left in march 2020. According to Business Insider, Gates earns approximately $4,630 per second. Bill Gates owns a Cascade investment firm that manages his wealth and has invested in several stocks of multiple public traded companies. Gates and his Ex-wife Melinda founded the world’s largest private charitable organization ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’ which owns around $40B in assets.
Bill Gates has amassed most of his fortune from Microsoft, but today even after stepping down from any active role in Microsoft, he still makes billions. The secret to his billions is his intellectual insight into the market and investments in other companies.
The luxurious Investments made by Bill Gates
Billionaires Bill Gates can give $15 to every person on this planet and still have $30B left over. He has invested in major companies, from coca-cola to Berkshire Hathaway, and he makes money even when he is sleeping. His portfolio is taken care of by Cascade Investment LLC, his investment firm in which his stakes are valued at $30B, and his other notable holdings include:
- Berkshire Hathaway – Bill Gates has been friends with Warren Buffet since 1991, and Gates foundation holds 40 million shares of Berkshire Hathaway whose Market Capitalization is worth $523B. The market value of Gates shares is around $7B.
- Waste Management Inc – This company provides waste management services and has over 20 million customers in the US with a Market Cap of $50B. The Foundation owns around 18.6 million shares in this company and the market value for those shares is $2B.
- Canadian National Railway company- The Foundation owns around 17 million shares in this company with a market value of $1.5B. Canadian national railways with a Market Cap of $75B provides transportation services that include rail, freight, and warehousing.
- Caterpillar Inc- Gates foundation owns 11 million shares with a market value of $1.5B in Caterpillar that provides equipment for mining and energy with a Market Cap of $78B.
- Walmart Inc- Walmart is worth around $407B, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation owns over 12 million shares in the company with a market value of $1.4B.
- Crown Castle International Corp- This company with a Market Cap of over $75B, provides wireless communication infrastructure and is a real estate investment firm in the US. Gates Foundation owns around 5 million shares in this investment giant.
- Ecolab- This company develops water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions in the US, with a market cap of 61.3B, it is striving for cleanliness everywhere. Gates owns around 4.3 million shares of Ecolab that contribute 4.4% of the Bill Gates Foundation.
- FedEx– This American multinational conglomerate founded in 1971 provides services in transportation and E-commerce with a Market Cap of $57.8 B. It is one of the profitable holdings of gates. Gates Foundation owns around 1.5 million shares in the company.
- United Parcel Services(UPS) – Gates foundation owns 2.8 million shares in this shipping and supply chain management company, founded in 1907. UPS has a Market Cap of $159B and is the world’s 77th most valuable company.
- Auto–nation – This Automotive retailer company provides new and pre-owned vehicles and related services in the US. Gates Foundation owns around 18 million shares in Auto nation, whose Market Cap is over $8.9B.
These are the Primary stock holdings of Bill Gates, and there are others such as Coca-Cola FMC SAB de CV, Schrodinger Inc, where Mr. Gates owns dividends in the company shares.
Bill Gates Income Sources-
- Dividends – Dividend is the amount of money that a company pays to their shareholders regularly, out of profits. Gates has investments in more than 25 companies, and we can only imagine the sum of money he receives periodically. Hence dividends are his major source of Income.
- Books– Bill Gates has been an avid reader since his childhood. His parents had to make a rule ‘not to bring books to the dining table’ to stop him from reading. Today he is an author and has written around six books from ‘Business @the speed of thought’ in 1999 to ‘How to avoid a climate disaster’ in 2021. He makes regular book recommendations and has authored blog posts and reviews on his website www.gatesnotes.com.
Now, who would not like to read a book by Bill Gates and a book recommended by him,
Every time someone buys his book or hits his blog post to read his insights on various
Things Bill Gates is always making money idly.
- Real Estate- Besides shares and dividends, Bill Gates owns many properties, and a private island in Belize called Grand Bogue Caye. His lavish properties generate income regularly for him because he can’t live in all his properties at the same time when he has a sprawling mansion Xanadu 2.0, equipped with modern technologies we can’t even imagine.
A view of the Xanadu 2.0(Image credit: Google)
- Guest appearance and public speeches – As a public figure, he is regularly invited at various events to talk about his opinion and his views, or as a guest lecturer, and he is paid for such events in the form of gifts or souvenirs that just adds to his income.
- Youtube- Bill Gates has a youtube channel with his name and has around 2.8 million subscribers with more than 500 videos on his channel. He regularly interacts with his audience about various issues such as philanthropy to climate change ideas, and much more. Youtube is also a tiny part of his income, which he might even care about much.
How Did Bill Gates Make his Fortune
Bill Gates is known for his philanthropic activities as much as his creation Microsoft. Leaders possess certain qualities that make them different from others, and well the circumstances play a similar kind of role in shaping them too. So, what made Bill Gates what he is today?
- Parents – Bill gates had very supportive parents, be it financially or morally. He was born in an upper-middle-class family and went to a private school as a child where he met Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. He was exposed to computers at a young age and used to tinkering with them.
- Passion- He was fascinated by computers from a young age and also left Harvard law to pursue his passion further and build Microsoft, which landed him a great deal with IBM for whom Microsoft made an Operating system but retained the licensing rights of the software.
- His Risk-taking strategy – Bill Gates believes that To win big, you need to take big risks, and that’s what he has done with his investments, but that does not mean you take risks blindly. It just means that you learn from the people who are experts and make your strategy. Today 60% of his wealth is in the form of stocks.
- Voracious learner – Bill Gates loved to read ever since he was a child, this habit makes you want to learn more and always thrust for better knowledge, and that’s one of the reasons how Bill Gates has gained such meaningful insights on almost everything. To be creative, you need to be a learner first.
- Philanthropy- Gates once said Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point, and he has stood true to his saying. He has donated more than $50B of his wealth since 1995 for various causes of humanity, and he intends to do so with most of his wealth.
His actual wealth is not known to anyone. All the figures are estimates based on his investments and ownership. Apart from being a Billionaire, Bill Gates is a great human being too. He has supported causes of climate change, high taxes levied on the wealthy, and many more humane initiatives.
To Sum up –
‘’I hope you will judge yourselves not on your professional accomplishments alone but on how well you treated people’’, writes Bill Gates in his book The Road Ahead, it just shows that no matter how much of wealth you own or how powerful you are in this world, and if you do not respect the people and have gratitude, then that wealth is meaningless to everyone around you, and you will not be remembered as the rich or nice guy in this world so, what you made of yourself with that fortune matters a lot.
After the divorce of Bill Gates with his wife Melinda Gates, it has been reported that the divorce settlement may give her $60B, although it has not been confirmed by an authentic source, and this remains to be seen that how much money will both the ex-couple be worth after the settlement and how it affects their wealth and settlements in The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
