Steve Ballmer is richer than Bill Gates after Microsoft's stock hit new highs. In 2024 alone, the value of the Windows maker's stock increased by 21%. Thanks to its partnership with OpenAI, the company founded by Gates is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.

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Steve Ballmer once worked as an assistant to Bill Gates at Microsoft. Photo: Bloomberg.

According to Bloomberg's billionaire rankings, more than 90% of Ballmer's $157.2 billion net worth is Microsoft stock. Meanwhile, Gates has diversified his $156.7 billion portfolio: about half is held in the Cascade investment fund, and $21 billion is in the waste management company Republic Services through Cascade.

In fact, Gates's wealth, at 68, has gradually decreased due to his contributions to philanthropy. Along with his ex-wife Melina French Gates and billionaire Warren Buffett, Gates has donated billions of dollars to build the Gates Foundation, one of the world's largest charitable organizations.

Since its founding more than 20 years ago, Gates and his ex-wife have donated nearly $60 billion from their personal fortunes. Recently, French Gates stepped down as co-chair of the foundation and received $12.5 billion to dedicate to his private charitable foundation.

In 2010, Gates, French Gates, and Buffett founded the Giving Pledge, an organization that encourages billionaires to donate almost all of their wealth. Ballmer, 68, also engages in philanthropy, but not on the same scale as his former boss.

Gates founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and led the company until 2000, when Ballmer – one of the original employees – replaced him as CEO. Ballmer retired in 2014, and in the same year, he became the company's largest shareholder. He acquired the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team for $2 billion in 2014, an estimated $4 billion today.

(According to Bloomberg)