Although he is no longer the richest man in the world, Bill Gates is probably the first person we think about when we hear “billionaire.” As a co-founder of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), he laid the foundations of the second-largest company in the world, worth over $2.7 trillion. Despite “retiring,” most of his wealth still comes from the company’s shares. Have you ever wondered how much money does Bill Gates make a second today? We did, and we found out.
Bill Gates’ net worth
According to Forbes‘ “The World’s Real-Time Billionaires” index, Bill Gates’ total net worth is estimated at $129.8 billion as of August 2024. In fact, the list ranks him as the ninth-richest person in the world.
Starting in 2008, Gates gradually transitioned from managing a computer empire to focusing on philanthropy. In February 2014, he stepped down from the role of the chairman of the Microsoft board. Furthermore, in March 2020, he left all board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) and devoted himself entirely to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Sources of income
Between 1995 and 2017, Bill Gates was the world’s richest person for 18 years. His rank has steadily declined since he left Microsoft and focused on philanthropic and other business endeavors.
He is the founder and chairman of several companies, such as BENlabs, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. Many of his projects focus on improving global healthcare and developing new sustainable energy sources. Furthermore, rather than pursuing wealth, Gates has focused on donating to charitable organizations.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the second-largest private charity in the world. Among other things, Gates has contributed to eradicating polio in Africa through the organization. He also founded The Giving Pledge, together with Warren Buffett, in which the world’s billionaires pledge to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
That said, he likely still earns the lion’s share of his income from Microsoft shares, which amounted to 103 million shares, or 1.38% of the company, in 2020 when he left the company and stopped reporting his MSFT position. This position alone would be worth $42 billion today.
Speaking of Microsoft’s share price, the stock surged over 25% from August 2023 to August 2024, which is likely the primary driver behind Gates’ earnings. The company is heavily investing in AI, which is deemed the future of the IT sector, and the market is rewarding the double-down despite the recent global IT outage.
The methodology
To calculate Bill Gates’ earnings per second, we will measure the difference between his reported net worth in 2023 and 2024 and divide the number across weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
Disclaimer: Since Bill Gates transitioned from a business magnate to a prominent philanthropist, he has stopped actively pursuing wealth and instead redirects his existing assets into charitable work. As such, his net worth and “earnings” largely depend on the price fluctuations of his remaining Microsoft shares. For example, between 2022 and 2023, Gates’ net worth dropped, and he actually lost money.
How much money does Bill Gates make a second?
In Forbes’ 2023 annual list of billionaires, Bill Gates was reported to have a net worth of $104 billion. The same list in 2024 records Gates’ wealth at $128 billion. We will take the difference between these two sums as the amount Bill Gates earned in a year, which is $24 billion.
So, how much money does Bill Gates make a second? Let’s divide $24,000,000,000 by the number of seconds in a year (31,536,000).
The numbers are as follows: Bill Gates makes approximately $761 per second based on the calculation and methodology above. This equals $45,662 per minute, $2.74 million per hour, $65.75 million per day, and $460.27 million per week.
| Per second | $761 |
| Per minute | $45,662 |
| Per hour | $2.74 million ($2,739,726.03) |
| Per day | $65.75 million ($65,753,424.66) |
| Per week | $460.27 million ($460,273,972.602) |
The calculated figure is based on Bill Gates’ net worth and the difference between the 2023 and 2024 reports. Since the figure is derived from estimates rather than precise financial data, it should be considered speculative.
Comparison to other billionaires
Once at the top of the list, Bill Gates is the ninth wealthiest person in the world as of August 2024, according to Forbes Billionaires Index. The billionaires that overcome his wealth include:
- Elon Musk – net worth of $226.9 billion;
- Jeff Bezos – net worth of $187.1 billion;
- Bernard Arnault – net worth of $171.2 billion;
- Mark Zuckerberg – net worth of $171.2 billion;
- Larry Ellison – net worth of $164.9 billion;
- Larry Page – net worth of $138.7 billion;
- Warren Buffett – net worth of $134.6 billion;
- Sergey Brin – net worth of $132.7 billion;
Trailing closely behind Bill Gates are:
- Steve Balmer – net worth of $121.5 billion;
- Mukesh Ambani – net worth of $112.1 billion;
- Amancio Ortego – net worth of $107 billion.
The bottom line
If you ever wondered how much money does Bill Gates make a second, the answer is here. As the former wealthiest billionaire in the world, it is natural to expect that Bill Gates earns exponentially more than an average person per second. However, at slightly over $761 per second, it might be a bit… more than you expected.
However, it should be noted that the year has been very favorable to Microsoft and the price of its shares, from which Gates derives most of his vast riches. And given how focused he is on philanthropy, the number may go down. Or rise, despite the circ*mstances? We will patiently observe.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
