Bill Gates Falls To Lowest Position On Forbes List In 30 Years

Bill Gates’s empire has been surpassed after decades of rule. The American mogul has fallen to his lowest position in 30 years on the Forbes 400 list. For many years, Gates has ruled the monopoly of the first and second places in the ranking. However, the new generation of tech founders has outgrown the master.

For the first time since 1991, the Microsoft co-founder is neither number one nor number two on the list that ranks the richest people in America. Although Gates’ fortune increased by $ 23 billion over the past year, reaching a net worth of $ 134 billion , it hasn’t been enough to catch up with the new owners of the Forbes podium: Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder Elon Musk. , CEO of Tesla, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.

Gates’ divorce has cost him a spot on the Forbes list
Taking into account that the shares of these companies grew notably during the last fiscal year, the position of the one that was the inspiration of today’s great entrepreneurs fell to fourth place .

However, the increase in the value of its competitors has not been the only reason for the drop in Gates’ ranking. A portion of the businessman’s estate, at least $ 5.6 billion in company shares , has gone to his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, after they announced their divorce in May, as Forbes reports.

If not for this situation, Gates would at least have held the third position on the list , ahead of Zuckerberg.

Only a quarter of Gates’ fortune comes from Microsoft
It should be noted that only 31,000 million of its total assets come from Microsoft , thanks to its estimated participation of 1.3%. The rest of Gates’ fortune comes from his investment firm, Cascade Investment, along with a broad portfolio of assets, such as his property in Medina, Washington, or his interests in companies such as Four Seasons Hotels, AutoNation, Republic Services, Deere & Co. or Canadian National Railway, among many others.