Net worth: $63.3 billion
Wealth source: Microsoft
Residence: Medina, Wash.
World rank: 2nd
He’s famous for dropping out of Harvard and founding Microsoft, the largest software company in the world. But since stepping down as Microsoft’s chief executive officer in 2000, Mr. Gates’s energies have been largely devoted to philanthropic work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He and his wife, Melinda, had given nearly $28 billion to charity as of 2007, and reportedly plan to give away 95 percent of their wealth.
