- Billionaire Bill Gates was once crowned the richest man in the world for 18 years, but now his former right-hand man, Steve Ballmer has topped his wealth. After Gates’ net worth plummeted $51 billion to reflect his philanthropic spending, Ballmer took his spot as the fifth-richest man in the world, as Gates slipped down to 12th place. And the Microsoft cofounder will only continue to slide down the ranking, as he’s determined to not die rich.
Bill Gates was once the richest man in the world for 18 years, and currently boasts a jealousy-inducing net worth of $124 billion from cofounding the software titan Microsoft. But now his former right-hand man has more money in his bank account than he does, thanks to Gates’ billion-dollar philanthropic spending.
