Bill Gates’ Net Worth Corsses a Threshold of $90 billion

According to a real-time rankings from Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, Bill Gates’ Net Worth hit a record high of $90 billion.

This time it’s not Microsoft which caused such a massive rise in his wealth. Instead, the rise in Bill Gate’s net worth is due to jumps in the shares of Canadian National Railway (CNI) Company and Ecolab (ECL). These are actually two smaller companies in which Gates has holdings.

Although this is an enormous amount of money, it’s not the first time Gates’ wealth has reached $90 billion. As a matter of fact Bill Gates’ net worth briefly crossed $100 billion in 1999. This happened before the federal antitrust law case against Microsoft, and the bursting of the tech bubble in early 2000.

Well ahead of the Competitors

Gates is by far the world’s wealthiest person. He has both cash and stock in several companies including, of course, Microsoft. Notably, He is $13.5 billion ahead of Amancio Ortega, his nearest competitor. The Spanish business magnate, is the world’s second richest man and has a fortune of $76 billion.

At present, Bill Gates’ net worth is 0.5% of U.S. total GDP, and rather larger than the entire GDP of Slovakia!

Nevertheless, Gates believes that there is more to life than just making money. Being one of the most philanthropic billionaires, he has made huge donations to charity through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has also supported a number of international causes in the field of global health, such as the provision of clean water and eradication of malaria in Africa.

In 2010, Gates along with his billionaire friend Warren Buffett started a campaign named The Giving Pledge. The campaign consists of a group of wealthy individuals who have vowed to donate at least half of their wealth to charities. Many billionaires around the world have joined the pledge, including Elon Musk, Sheryl Sandberg, and Larry Ellison.

See also: 15 COUNTRIES WHERE BILLIONAIRES HIDE THEIR MONEY