Bill Gates' wealth to reduce further; Microsoft co-founder and 4 others pledge $1 billion for this AI project
Bill Gates
and four other billionaires have pledged over $1 billion to fund
NextLadder Ventures
. This is a new philanthropic initiative that is focused on improving economic mobility through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This commitment is set to further impact the net worth of the
Microsoft
co-founder, who recently lost his spot in the top 10 rankings of the
Bloomberg Billionaire Index
.
Apart from Gates ($116.9 billion net worth), the billionaires that are involved in this initiative include Koch Industries founder Charles Koch ($67.5 billion), Microsoft's former CEO
Steve Ballmer
($142.5 billion), Intuit founder Scott Cook ($7.7 billion), and hedge fund investor John Overdeck ($7.4 billion). NextLadder Ventures will partner with Google and Amazon-backed AI startup Anthropic and support organisations using AI and other emerging technologies to enhance the financial prospects of low-income Americans.
Three of these philanthropists, Gates (No. 2), Ballmer (No. 8), and Koch (No. 25), are already ranked among America's top 25 philanthropists by Forbes. Gates, along with his former wife, Melinda French Gates, has previously contributed an estimated $47.7 billion, primarily through the Gates Foundation, for health and poverty alleviation efforts. In 2024, the Gates Foundation reportedly made nearly $200 million in grants through its US Economic Mobility & Opportunity and Women's Economic Empowerment programs.
Bill Gates is out of the top 10 richest list
This announcement comes after Gates fell out of the top ten on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index after a recent recalculation that accounts for his significant charitable donations.
His estimated net worth dropped by about $52 billion, which is roughly 30%, bringing it down from over $175 billion to $123 billion. As a result, Gates slipped from fifth to twelfth place.
His former assistant and Microsoft CEO successor, Steve Ballmer, has now overtaken him with a net worth of $172 billion, claiming the fifth spot.
Gates is currently behind several other tech leaders, including Alphabet co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and his longtime friend Warren Buffett.
Bloomberg noted that the update adjusts asset appreciation assumptions to better reflect Gates' philanthropic contributions and aligns with the wealth figure he shared in a blog post this May.
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