By ABDULLAH 
In a dramatic reshuffle of the global wealth rankings, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and once the richest man in the world, has dropped out of the world’s top 10 richest list after his net worth plunged by $52 billion in just seven days.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gates’ fortune fell from $175 billion to $124 billion—a staggering 30% drop—pushing him from 5th place to 12th in Bloomberg’s global wealth rankings and 13th on Forbes’ billionaire list.
Gates now sits below his former Microsoft colleague Steve Ballmer, who holds the 5th spot with $172 billion. Ballmer’s wealth has surged thanks to his 4% stake in Microsoft and ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team, with Microsoft’s stock skyrocketing over 1,000% in the past decade.
The steep fall in Gates’ ranking is not due to financial mismanagement but rather his unprecedented philanthropic mission. Bloomberg’s latest recalculations factored in Gates’ pledge to donate 99% of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by 2045.
The foundation—co-chaired by Gates and Melinda French Gates—has already distributed $60 billion by the end of 2024, with Warren Buffett contributing an additional $43 billion. Gates aims to invest in global health, poverty eradication, and education, especially in tackling deadly diseases and reducing child mortality.
- Elon Musk – $361B
- Mark Zuckerberg – $254B
- Larry Ellison – $253B
- Jeff Bezos – $244B
- Steve Ballmer – $172B
- Larry Page – $163B
- Bernard Arnault – $161B
- Sergey Brin – $152B
- Warren Buffett – $146B
- Jensen Huang – $139B
- Michael Dell – $138B
- Bill Gates – $124B
Despite now holding just 1% of Microsoft shares, Gates has earned more than $60 billion in stock and dividends over his lifetime, much of which is managed through Cascade Investment—a portfolio spanning energy, real estate, and private companies.
Gates has repeatedly stated that he does not want to die rich, saying his priority is to see his wealth create long-term impact rather than sit on rich lists. “Virtually all my fortune will go to philanthropy,” Gates has said, underscoring his vision of a world with fewer inequalities.