Bill Gates was long known as the richest person in America. Starting in 1991, he ranked either first or second on the Forbes 400 list of the country’s wealthiest people every year for nearly three decades.
He fell below the No. 2 spot in 2021. Now, for the first time in 34 years, Gates is not even in the top ten. He ranks No. 14 on this year’s Forbes 400–just behind Bloomberg LP cofounder Mike Bloomberg and one spot ahead of the country’s (and the world’s) richest woman, Walmart heiress Alice Walton. Of course, Gates still commands a massive fortune–Forbes estimates he’s worth $107 billion, the same as a year ago.
As other billionaires on the list get richer, Gates is determined to get poorer. In May he announced that he plans to give away 99% of his remaining fortune to his charitable Gates Foundation over the next two decades. The foundation will shut its doors in 2045, the year Gates will turn 90.
To part with 99% of his wealth, Gates plans to donate “billions a year” to his foundation. “It won’t be equal [amounts] every year because it'll somewhat depend on what's going on with the markets,” he told Forbes in May. “My will is very clear that when I die, all that money goes into the foundation and they would have to figure out what they do with assets.” Forbes estimates that he’s donated $7 billion to the Gates Foundation since last year’s Forbes 400. A spokesperson for Gates declined to comment.
Gates’ drop in the ranks of U.S. billionaires began the year he and Melinda French Gates, his wife of 27 years, divorced. He fell to No. 4 on the 2021 Forbes 400 list, worth an estimated $134 billion. A year ago, he dropped to No. 9, worth $107 billion. The decline in net worth came as French Gates resigned as co-chair of the Gates Foundation and announced that as part of her departure, she would receive $12.5 billion for her own philanthropy. Those funds look to have been transferred from Bill Gates’ fortune. Forbes now estimates that, in addition to the philanthropic money, French Gates received assets currently worth $29 billion as part of the divorce settlement. Spokespeople for Gates and French Gates have declined to comment on the settlement.
The Microsoft cofounder, who will turn 70 in October, has set big goals for the Gates Foundation in the decades ahead. One aim is that no mother, baby or child dies of preventable causes. The foundation will also continue its efforts to eradicate polio and reduce the impact of malaria–part of a larger foundation effort to reduce the spread of infectious disease. Along the way, Gates’ net worth will likely continue to drop—pushing him further and further down the ranks of The Forbes 400.