Forbes has released their ‘2014 Forest 400,’ their ranked list of the wealthiest Americans. And Bill Gates sits comfortably at the top, with a net worth of $82 billion.
The 58 year old Microsoft-founder and self-made billionaire is followed by Warren Buffett, who is worth $67 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, comes in at 11th, and the Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at 13th and 14th, respectively.
Bill Gates’s wealth is not all from Microsoft, in fact, his shares only reportedly account for less than 20% of his net worth – although rise in MSFT shares did lend heavily to the $9 billion increase of Gates’ net worth this year. Additionally, Bill Gates has investments in Canadian National Railway, Republican Services, Deer & Co., and South American McDonalds franchise Arcos Dorados (“Golden Arches”).
But Bill Gates probably doesn’t care much for the Forbes list, as he is busy trying to eradicated Malaria. He has already helped defeat polio, and since 2000, has given $30 billion of his fortune away.
As a precaution: Forbes is infamous for reportedly making up numbers, so do take the actual net worth amount with a grain of salt — they are estimates. You can find out how they come up with these numbers here.
Further reading: Bill Gates, Microsoft
