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> He's been giving his money away for many years now and strangely is still one of the richest men in the world. My understanding is that most of his wealth is
by Permit 6y ago
> He's been giving his money away for many years now and strangely is still one of the richest men in the world.
My understanding is that most of his wealth is held in MSFT stock which has increased in value by over 4x since 2016.
So if he had given away 75% of his wealth in 2016, he'd still have the same net worth today.
- mywittyname 6y agoNot to mention that he probably owns a lot of stakes in tech startups, which have, on paper at least, appreciated quite dramatically in recent years. I think Gates is probably to the point where it's functionally impossible for him to give away all of his money. The value of his personal brand and network is such that startups will probably give away decent chunks of their business just to be a part of that network.
- ceilingcorner 6y agoFunctionally impossible? He could vacate all his positions and donate it in a month. The billionaire apologia is really getting out of hand.
- mywittyname 6y agoHe's still worth a shitload of money just by being him. His name, brand, network, intelligence, and the cache of knowing him are worth a lot of money. That's wealth that is inherent to him, thus can't really be given away, and could be tapped at anytime. He could walk away from everything tomorrow, and be a millionaire the next day by just asking for money. He could probably be a billionaire again in a decade if he tried.
- ceilingcorner 6y agoImagine if he did that and put his new millions toward the growing income inequality and other problems in this country, instead of buying more farmland.
- minhazm 6y agoBill Gates holdings are actually pretty diversified. Most of his wealth is not in microsoft. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cascade_Investment
- Permit 6y agoThanks for the correction, I didn't know this!