Bill Gates Net Worth 2026: Career, Assets & Ventures

Bill Gates holds an estimated net worth of $116 billion as of October 2026, tracked by Forbes Real-Time Billionaires and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His assets are centered in Cascade Investment LLC alongside residual Microsoft equity. Gates serves as Chair of the Gates Foundation and Chairman of advanced nuclear developer TerraPower.

Net Worth in 2026

Tracking desks at Forbes and Bloomberg place Bill Gates' net worth between $105 billion and $116 billion across 2026. Forbes recorded his valuation at $107.7 billion in February 2026 and $105.6 billion at mid-year, before rising toward $115.7 billion in autumn 2026, while Bloomberg tracked his wealth at approximately $116 billion. On global wealth rosters, his rank moved between fourteenth and nineteenth across the calendar year.

This shifting position reflects the rapid capital expansion of peer technology enterprises alongside Gates' extensive personal asset diversification. Direct ownership of Microsoft common equity accounts for less than one point three percent of the company's outstanding stock, representing under one point five percent of his total wealth. Additionally, SEC Form 13F filings confirmed that the Gates Foundation Trust eliminated its remaining Microsoft shares in early 2026 to fund active charitable distributions.

The vast majority of his balance sheet is deployed through Cascade Investment LLC, which allocates funds across industrial services, public utilities, transportation networks, and North American agricultural acreage.

Net Worth Breakdown

Net Worth History

Early Life and Education

William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. He grew up in an intellectually vibrant household with his father William H. Gates Sr., a prominent civic attorney, and his mother Mary Maxwell Gates, an executive who served on the United Way board and the First Interstate Bank system. Gates attended Lakeside School, a rigorous private academy in Seattle where he first encountered computer programming on a Teletype terminal in 1968, writing an implementation of tic-tac-toe at age thirteen.

At Lakeside, Gates partnered with classmate Paul Allen to automate high school scheduling rosters and established the Traf-O-Data partnership to process traffic counter readings for local municipalities. In autumn 1973, Gates enrolled at Harvard University with initial intentions to study pre-law, but dedicated the majority of his academic hours to computer laboratories and advanced mathematics.

During his time at Harvard, Gates collaborated with computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou on prefix reversal algorithms. Their resulting paper, "Bounds for sorting by prefix reversal," established mathematical upper and lower bounds for the problem and was published in Discrete Mathematics in 1979. In early 1975, following the release of the Altair 8800 microcomputer, Gates took an official leave of absence from Harvard to co-found Microsoft.

Career

Founding Microsoft and the MS-DOS Breakthrough

Gates and Paul Allen formally launched Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975 to develop software for the Altair 8800. In 1980, International Business Machines contracted Microsoft to provide an operating system for its personal computer line. Gates acquired 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, adapted it into MS-DOS, and secured a decisive contractual clause retaining licensing rights for non-IBM hardware manufacturers, cementing Microsoft's foundational software platform.

The Windows Era and Global Computing Expansion

Microsoft released Microsoft Windows in November 1985, introducing a graphical user interface that gradually supplanted command-line computing. Gates directed the company through its March 1986 initial public offering on the Nasdaq exchange, reaching billionaire status by age thirty-one. Under his executive leadership as chief executive officer and chief software architect, releases of Windows 95, Windows 98, and Microsoft Office established an operating monopoly across consumer and enterprise computing environments.

Breakthrough Energy and TerraPower

Gates transitioned away from daily management at Microsoft in 2008 and stepped down from the corporate board of directors in March 2020. In 2006, he founded TerraPower, serving as its Chairman to develop next-generation nuclear reactors that utilize liquid sodium cooling. In 2015, he established Breakthrough Energy, an investment consortium funding commercial decarbonization ventures across heavy industry, grid infrastructure, and aviation fuels.

Salary and Income

Gates draws no executive salary from Microsoft, having retired from operational duties in 2008 and resigned from the board in 2020. His recurring liquidity derives from quarterly dividend yields paid by public companies held within Cascade Investment, alongside periodic fixed-income distributions.

Because Cascade Investment is a private limited liability entity that does not publish monthly income statements, no verified monthly earnings figure is publicly disclosed. His annual capital cash flow is predominantly deployed into clean technology research and philanthropic disbursements.

Personal Life

Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994, in Lanai, Hawaii. They have three adult children: Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. In May 2021, after twenty-seven years of marriage, they announced their decision to divorce, finalizing the legal dissolution in August 2021.

Gates resides in Medina, Washington. An avid reader, he shares literary reviews, technological perspectives, and public health updates through his personal publication platform, GatesNotes.

Philanthropy

Philanthropic operations underwent historic governance restructuring in 2024. Melinda French Gates resigned as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on June 7, 2024, receiving $12.5 billion under the terms of their separation to fund independent initiatives through her philanthropic organization. Following her departure, the organization formally rebranded to the Gates Foundation, with Gates serving as sole Chair.

In 2025, Gates announced that the Gates Foundation will permanently spend down its entire endowment and shut down by the end of 2045. To fund this twenty-year spend-down mandate, Gates committed to donating ninety-nine percent of his remaining personal wealth to the foundation, projected to add approximately $200 billion toward global health, polio eradication, and agricultural research. Gates has contributed more than $75 billion in cumulative donations to date, having also established The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett in 2010.

Leadership & Business Philosophy

Gates' managerial methodology balances analytical optimization with platform economics. In his 1999 book Business @ the Speed of Thought, Gates articulated that "the most important 'speed' issue is not doing your everyday tasks faster, but adapting to fundamental changes in customer demand and technology."

In philanthropy and climate engineering, Gates advocates for what he terms "catalytic philanthropy"—deploying private risk capital to fund early-stage scientific research that traditional market incentives and public budgets fail to support.

Latest News (October 2026)

On March 4, 2026, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted unanimously to approve a construction permit for TerraPower's Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming, with the formal permit issued on March 9, 2026. This decision marked the first commercial construction permit for an advanced non-light-water reactor in the United States in nearly a decade. Nuclear-related construction commenced in April 2026 on the 345-MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor, which features molten salt thermal storage and targets commercial operations by 2030.

Concurrently, the Gates Foundation accelerated grant disbursements under its twenty-year spend-down framework leading to its planned 2045 closure, directing funding toward maternal nutrition and agricultural disease resistance.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bill Gates' current net worth?

Bill Gates has an estimated net worth of $116 billion as of October 2026, with tracking across the year ranging between $105 billion and $116 billion on Forbes Real-Time and Bloomberg indices. His assets are largely concentrated in Cascade Investment LLC rather than Microsoft stock.

Is Melinda French Gates still involved with the Gates Foundation?

No, Melinda French Gates resigned as co-chair of the organization on June 7, 2024, receiving $12.5 billion for independent philanthropic work. Following her exit, the organization rebranded to the Gates Foundation, with Bill Gates serving as sole Chair.

When will the Gates Foundation close?

The Gates Foundation announced plans to permanently spend down its endowment and close by the end of 2045. Bill Gates pledged ninety-nine percent of his remaining wealth—estimated at roughly $200 billion over twenty years—to finance this accelerated operational timeline.

How much of Microsoft does Bill Gates currently own?

Bill Gates owns less than 1.3% of Microsoft's common stock, accounting for under 1.5% of his overall net worth. In early 2026, the Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares to finance ongoing charitable operations.

What is the status of TerraPower's Kemmerer reactor?

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved TerraPower's construction permit for Kemmerer Unit 1 in March 2026, allowing nuclear construction on the 345-MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor to begin in April 2026, targeting commercial operation in Wyoming by 2030.

What is Cascade Investment?

Cascade Investment LLC is Bill Gates' private investment office headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, and overseen by Michael Larson. It manages minority stakes in public companies including Republic Services, Ecolab, and Canadian National Railway, alongside over 275,000 acres of farmland.

Where does Bill Gates currently live?

Bill Gates resides in Medina, Washington, near Lake Washington. He maintains personal residences in King County while traveling globally to inspect Gates Foundation health programs and clean energy projects.