GiveRate / All records / Forbes 400 (Sept. 2026) / Bill Gates
Bill Gates
≥35.5%
Bill Gates has given an estimated ≥35.5% of total wealth: $63.9B in lifetime giving against a $116B net worth.
- GiveRate
- ≥35.5%
- Net worth
- $116B
- Stated lifetime giving
- $63.9B
- Forbes 400
- #14 · Microsoft · Medina, Washington
- Status
- Calculated lower bound
- Sources
- Forbes 400 profile · Sept. 2026
The math
More than $63.9B lifetime giving (donated to Gates Foundation) ÷ ($63.9B + $116B net worth) ≈ ≥35.5%. Forbes philanthropy score 5 of 5 (20%+ of net worth given), which agrees.
Profile
- Age
- 70
- Residence
- Medina, Washington
- Industry
- Technology
- Source of wealth
- Microsoft
- Self-made
- Yes
- Role
- Chairman, The Gates Foundation
- One-year change
- $107B (#14) in Sept. 2025 to $116B (#14) in Sept. 2026, a gain of 8%.
What the range means in dollars
Forbes gives Bill Gates a philanthropy score of 5 out of 5, meaning lifetime giving equals 20% or more of current net worth. On a $116B fortune, that implies lifetime giving of at least $23.2B. 13 of the 400 share this score, 370 score lower and none score higher.
For scale: 20% or more of a $50,000 household income would be $10,000 or more.
Giving on record
After Gates donated Microsoft shares worth billions to the trust that funds the Gates Foundation in 2022, his Microsoft stake is now less than 1%, Forbes estimates.
From the Forbes profile (Sept. 2026).
Others in Technology
- Elon Musk: Under 1% · $908B
- Jeff Bezos: 1–5% · $378B
- Larry Page: Under 1% · $278B
- Michael Dell: 1–5% · $263B
- Sergey Brin: 1–5% · $256B
- Mark Zuckerberg: 1–5% · $212B
Others in Washington
- Steve Ballmer: ≥4.5% · $156B
- Melinda French Gates: 20%+ · $34.6B
- MacKenzie Scott: 48.6% · $27.9B
- Gabe Newell: Under 1% · $10.2B
- Charles Simonyi: 1–5% · $8.5B
Questions
How much has Bill Gates given to charity?
Forbes scores Bill Gates 5 of 5 for philanthropy, meaning lifetime giving of 20% or more of net worth, at least $23.2B on a $116B fortune. GiveRate calculates ≥35.5% of total wealth from stated lifetime giving of $63.9B.
What is Bill Gates' net worth?
Forbes estimates $116B as of September 2026, ranking #14 on the Forbes 400.
What is Bill Gates' GiveRate?
≥35.5%. GiveRate is lifetime giving as a share of wealth, built from published Forbes figures. See giverate.org/methods/ for the method.
GiveRate is an estimate built only from the published figures above. Wealth and giving totals are themselves estimates. See methods. Spot an error? Request a correction. See all Forbes 400 (Sept. 2026) · Open in the interactive rankings · Calculate your own GiveRate