Steve Ballmer is 6th richest person in the world, wealthier than Bill Gates

Steve Ballmer passed Bill Gates to become the sixth-richest person in the world. This marks the first time that the former chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp. has been wealthier than the company’s co-founder. This comes as Microsoft shares rose to a fresh record. The stock has gained 21% this year owing to its partnership with OpenAI which made it one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence rally in the US stock market.

Bill Gates founded Microsoft with his friend Paul Allen in 1975 and led it until 2000. At the time, Steve Ballmer — one of the company’s earliest employees — replaced him as CEO. He retired in 2014 and became Microsoft’s largest shareholder that same year.

A look at Steve Ballmer’s wealth in comparison to Bill Gates

Over 90% of Steve Ballmer’s $157.2 billion net worth is in Microsoft shares, as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Bill Gates has diversified his $156.7 billion fortune- half his wealth is held through Cascade Investment which was created with the proceeds of Microsoft stock sales and dividends and he has a $21 billion stake in waste-management company Republic Services Inc as well.

Bill Gates has been slowly reducing his fortune through philanthropy. He has built the $75 billion Gates Foundation- along with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett- one of the biggest charitable organizations in the world. Since starting the Foundation, Bill Gates and his former wife have given almost $60 billion from their personal fortunes.

Recently, Melinda French Gates stepped down as co-chair of the foundation and received $12.5 billion to use for her own charitable purposes.