Profile of a Bill-ionaire

I am talking about Bill Gates, of course.

Most people have read the recent reports that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates's personal net worth exceeds 40 billion dollars. Consider that he made this money in the 22 years or so since Microsoft was founded in 1975. If you assume he worked 14 hours a day on every business day of the year since then, that means he's been making money at a staggering half-million dollars per hour, approximately $150 per second.

Gates owns $27,381,883,256.00 ($27.38 billion) of Microsoft stock, a sum that is greater than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of most countries. In fact, he ranks just behind Libya (61st in the world with a GDP of $33.81 billion) and just ahead of Kazakhstan (62nd in the world with a GDP of $24.97 billion).

Comparing Gates' fortune to the gross revenue of publically-held companies, he can be ranked between EI du Pont de Nemours (59th with a gross revenue of $27.73 billion) and The Walt Disney Company (60th with a gross revenue of $27.06 billion). Or, instead, by comparing Gates' worth against the market capitalizations of the world's largest companies (market capitalization is the product of the number of outstanding shares of a company's stock multiplied by its share price), we find that he is ranked between Genentech, Inc., (100th with a market capitalization of $27.66 billion) and Emerson Electric Company (101st with a market capitalization of $27.13 billion).

How long would it take someone earning the national minimum wage to accumulate Gates' fortune? Since September 1, 1997, the US Minimum Wage has been $5.15 per hour. If this person worked continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and saved every bit of his (or her) earnings and disregarded all income taxes, this person would need to work for 606,533.25 years to earn the equivalent of Gates' fortune. If this person instead took the wimpy approach, and only worked 40 hours a week, then it would take 2,547,439.68 years (2.55 million years).

But note that man's oldest known hominid ancestor, Australopithecus, lived somewhere between 3.5 and 4 million years ago.

Personally, I think Gates has more money than he can spend. But let's assume that I was given the assignment to spend every dime of Gates' money, and I had a time limit of 30 years to do so. Assuming that I worked at this little project 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, I would have to spend at the rate of $28 per second, $1,735.35 per minute, and $104,121.54 per hour. Honestly, I doubt I could consistently spend $104,121.54 in one year for 30 years, not even in Manhattan. I mean, how many apartments could I possibly wish to own after purchasing the first one?

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Thanks to a reader for sharing this site with me. Read more about Bill Gates' fortune. The image at the top can be downloaded from a collection of 3-D animated screensavers for windows.

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Much as I hate to support the Evil Empire, it is worth noting that a sizeable portion of Gates' ill-gotten gains are being used through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, administered by his father, to support research into third world diseases that are of no interest to large pharmaceutical companies (no profit) such as malaria, and also for vaccination programs in third wrld countries. In the long run this may be of far greater import than anything else he has done (Windows has to die sometime).

By John Wilkins (not verified) on 17 Jun 2006 #permalink

I accept how incredibly helpful they are, but I give Bill no credit for the millions he spends on various foundations. This is a guy that could match the federal budget for NASA for the next 5 years, and still have BILLIONS leftover. It's a complete waste. He stinks, and I don't like 'im.

I don't get JD's point. How much is Gates supposed to give away in order to get credit for the massive good he's done? All of it? 90%? Enough to have what's in your bank account? Mine?

Hold him responsible for being a ruthless businessman, but give him credit for realizing that his money could go to better places than his own house. Certainly gives him a leg up on all the rich thieves doing the perp walk from Enron or Tyco...

While we're at it, he (and his dad) are the only rich guys I know who favor the inheritance tax, because they know they should pay back the country which made them so fabulously rich.

I don't like him as a businessman, but I think he's got a decent streak. Kind of like Andrew Carnegie.

I could manage to spend it all. In addition to the work the Gates Foundation is already doing...the Grameen Bank (http://grameen.org/) could use some financing...a public access source of satellite surveillance, giving everybody the resources of various governments...clean water everywhere...and lots and lots of basic research....

By Christopher Gwyn (not verified) on 19 Jun 2006 #permalink