Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and built the personal-computing fortune that made him the world's richest person for much of the 2000s and 2010s. Since stepping back from Microsoft, he has channeled his influence into the Gates Foundation, one of the largest private foundations on earth.
In May 2025 Gates pledged to give away virtually all of his remaining wealth and to accelerate the foundation's wind-down, setting a closing date of December 31, 2045. The foundation, with an endowment around $77 billion built from contributions by Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, plans to spend roughly $200 billion over two decades at about $9 billion a year.
That spending makes the foundation a dominant funder of global health, supporting vaccine alliances such as Gavi and campaigns against malaria and polio. NOLIGARCHY places Gates in the healthcare and data category because a single private donor's priorities can shape which diseases and which interventions the world's health institutions pursue.
What they control
- Gates Foundation: one of the world's largest private foundations, with an endowment near $77 billion and roughly $9 billion in annual spending
- A major funding role in global-health bodies, including the Gavi vaccine alliance and disease-eradication campaigns
- Cascade Investment: his private holding company and investment vehicle
- A large residual stake in Microsoft and broad personal investments
- TerraPower (advanced nuclear) and Breakthrough Energy (climate technology)
Key institutions & holdings
Plans to spend about $200 billion before closing on December 31, 2045.
Co-founded in 1975; Gates left its board in 2020 but retains a large stake.
Private holding company managing much of Gates's wealth, including farmland and equities.
Key facts
- Co-founded Microsoft in 1975; net worth estimated around $108 billion in 2026.
- In May 2025 pledged to give away virtually all his wealth and to close the Gates Foundation on December 31, 2045.
- The foundation plans to spend roughly $200 billion over 20 years, about $9 billion a year.
- Its endowment, near $77 billion, was built with gifts from Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett.
- Divorced Melinda French Gates in 2021; she departed the foundation in 2024.
- Is among the largest private owners of U.S. farmland through Cascade Investment.
Timeline
- 1975Co-founds Microsoft with Paul Allen.
- 2000The Gates Foundation is established.
- 2020Leaves the Microsoft board to focus on philanthropy.
- 2021Divorces Melinda French Gates.
- 2025-05Pledges to give away nearly all his wealth and to close the foundation in 2045.
- 2026-06Interviewed by the House Oversight Committee over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Controversies
Ties to Jeffrey Epstein · 2011-2026
Gates met and communicated with Epstein from 2011 to 2014, after Epstein's sex-offense conviction; Gates has called it a grave error in judgment and said the contact concerned raising money for global health. He appeared before the House Oversight Committee on the matter in 2026.
Outsized private influence over global health · ongoing
Critics argue the foundation's scale gives one unelected donor major sway over the agendas of the World Health Organization and vaccine programs, concentrating power over public-health priorities.
Concentration of U.S. farmland · 2021-2026
Gates's status as one of the largest private owners of American farmland has drawn scrutiny over the concentration of agricultural land in a single billionaire's hands.
Network
- Melinda French GatesFormer spouse and foundation co-founderCo-founded the foundation; left it in 2024 after the 2021 divorce.
- Warren BuffettDonor and allyDirected tens of billions of dollars in gifts to the Gates Foundation.
- Mark SuzmanLieutenantChief executive of the Gates Foundation.
Why this matters
Because the Gates Foundation funds vaccines, drugs, and disease-eradication programs at a scale rivaling some national governments, one private donor's priorities can shape which diseases receive attention, which vaccines reach poorer countries, and how global-health institutions set their agendas, influence that operates with little direct public accountability.