Well, it seemed like a big deal at the time.
Fortune reprints its story on the Microsoft IPO in 1986. Bill Gates cleared $1.6 million in cash, but his 45% stake in Microsoft also became worth $350 million. He was 30 years old.
“Gates, a gawky, washed-out blond, confesses to being a ‘wonk,’ a bookish nerd, who focuses singlemindedly on the computer business though he masters all sorts of knowledge with astounding facility. Oddly, Gates is something of a ladies’ man and a fiendishly fast driver who has racked up speeding tickets even in the sluggish Mercedes diesel he bought to restrain himself.”
Bill Gates is worth $56 billion now, of course, according to Forbes. He’d be worth $86 billion or more if he hadn’t given away $30 billion to charity in the last few years.
$30 billion to charity. That is truly wonderful.
As it is, the charity giving has moved him down to #2 on the worldwide billionaires list for 2011, behind Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Helu.
Read our full biography of Bill Gates >>
What a decent human being, giving all that money away to help people he does’nt know, who else would be that generous????
I agree. It’s too bad that so much of our wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, but Gates has been a leader in giving it away — and trying to do so in the smartest way. Good for him!