Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Bill Gates is no longer among the top 10 billionaires in the world. A look at Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index clearly shows Gates now ranking at number 12, with a total net worth of $124 billion. He ranks just below Michael Dell, and notably much lower than his former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who is far higher on the list at number 5. As of 8 July, Bill Gates stands at number 12 on the list. This sudden decline mostly stems from a recalculation of his net worth, which saw a $52 billion drop.
This recalculation by Bloomberg was made to better reflect Gates’s charitable contributions.
The primary reason for the adjustment is Bill Gates’s long-standing plan to donate the majority of his wealth to charity. According to the Gates Foundation website, Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda Gates, have given away a total of $60 billion as of last year. Reportedly, Gates has also stated that he intends to spend over $200 billion for his charity efforts by the year 2045.
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,” the Gates Foundation said in May, earlier this year.
