Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft who held the title of America’s richest person for nearly 25 years, has now dropped to 14th place on the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans in 2025. His net worth is estimated at USD107 billion, ranking him below Mike Bloomberg but slightly ahead of Alice Walton, the Walmart heiress and the wealthiest woman in the United States.

Since 1991, Gates had almost consistently occupied the first or second spot on the Forbes 400 for nearly three decades before slipping out of the top two in 2021. This year marks the first time in 34 years that he has not appeared in the top ten.

According to VnExpress, Gates’ decline in ranking has accelerated in recent years. In 2001—the same year he and Melinda French Gates announced their separation after 27 years of marriage—he fell to fourth place.

By 2024, his ranking slid even further to ninth. The drop in his wealth was linked to Melinda stepping down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation and the transfer of USD12.5 billion to fund philanthropic activities, which Forbes reported came from Gates’ fortune.

Gates first became a billionaire at the age of 31 in 1987 when Microsoft’s stock surpassed USD1 billion in value. That achievement made him the youngest billionaire at the time, a title later taken by Mark Zuckerberg in 2008. From 1995 to 2017, Gates topped Forbes’ list of the world’s richest individuals 18 times over 23 years.

Unlike many billionaires who strive to increase their wealth, Gates has deliberately worked to give his fortune away. In 2010, together with Melinda and Warren Buffett, he launched the Giving Pledge, an initiative urging the world’s billionaires to commit at least half of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

In May 2025, Gates announced his intention to donate nearly all of his wealth through the Gates Foundation before the organization winds down in 2045. In a blog post, he emphasized that when he eventually dies, no one will be able to say he died as a rich man.

Since its establishment in 2000, the Gates Foundation has donated over USD60.2 billion, making Bill and Melinda Gates the second-largest philanthropists in the U.S., behind Warren Buffett. Forbes estimated that had Gates kept his Microsoft shares and not focused on philanthropy, his net worth today could have reached USD1.2 trillion—three times that of Elon Musk, currently the world’s richest person.

In 2025, Gates’ shrinking fortune was further highlighted when he lost about USD51 billion in a single week, following significant transfers of wealth to philanthropic entities and charitable causes. Although he has dropped out of the top ten richest Americans, Gates’ large-scale philanthropy underscores his dedication to reducing social inequality and supporting health and education initiatives worldwide.