Steve Ballmer - A Microsoft employee is now richer than Bill Gates
## Steve Ballmer is richer than Bill Gates – thanks to Microsoft
The footprints were large: When Steve Ballmer took over the reins of Microsoft from founder Bill Gates in the year 2000, he had only recently become one of the richest people in the world – thanks to his successful tenure as the head of the software giant. Now, Ballmer has surpassed Gates for the first time. This is also because Ballmer continues to bet heavily on Microsoft.
With a fortune of 160 billion Dollars, Steve Ballmer is now the sixth richest person in the world. And the only employee in the Top Ten of the billionaires index published by the industry service "Bloomberg". Gates ranks "only" eighth: He possesses 159 billion Dollars. Before Ballmer are now only Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, who owns the luxury conglomerate LVMH, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Google founder Larry Page.
Steve Ballmer is richer than Bill Gates – due to Microsoft
There are several reasons why Ballmer is now richer than his predecessor. For one, the index only counts private wealth and deducts assets held in foundations. Gates, however, has put a significant portion of his business into the common foundation he shares with his ex-wife Melinda, which manages 75 billion Dollars and invests in research for vaccines or development aid, among other things. Ballmer, on the other hand, has invested much smaller portions of his wealth in charitable causes.
This not only affects the count but also directly impacts Ballmer's wealth. While Gates has invested more diversely, the largest part of Ballmer's wealth still resides in Microsoft. And the stock of the company has seen nothing but upward trends since the hype around OpenAI. Ballmer's stock holdings in his employer are now worth approximately 145 billion Dollars. They make up nearly 90% of his wealth.
Additionally, Ballmer receives a dividend that is particularly lucrative for him. Microsoft pays out three dollars per share annually for each held share, a figure that has remained unchanged for years. For the 333.25 million shares Ballmer publicly disclosed in 2014, this amounts to a payout of one billion Dollars – regardless of how the stock price develops on its own.
Well-negotiated
The fact that Ballmer holds so many shares is due to his employment contract and, indirectly, Bill Gates. The stock option grant is not only impressive in numbers: It makes Ballmer the largest individual shareholder of the company – even surpassing the founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
In his book "Idea Man", Allen recalls how it came about. According to him, Gates was determined to hire his former study partner Ballmer. Ballmer had management experience at Procter & Gamble and was now studying again at the elite university Stanford. "Steve was one who didn't just give in. That's what you needed to work with Bill," Allen remembers. "Before a business trip in 1980, I agreed to offer him 5% of the company. Bill thought he wouldn't stay at Stanford for less."
When he returned, he learned from a circulating memo in the company that Gates had not kept his end of the deal: He had offered Ballmer significantly more shares of Microsoft, with an 8.75% stake. Allan took a firm stance. "I'm not interested in hiring Mr. Ballmer anymore," he wrote to his co-founder. Gates gave in. "We need Steve," he explained to Allan – according to Allan's account, without looking him in the eyes. Gates made an offer: He paid Ballmer the remaining stock options from his own share. And made him the richest employee in the world.
Despite being surpassed by Steve Ballmer in wealth, Bill Gates still ranks eighth on the billionaires index, with Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Page occupying the top spots. This is partly due to Gates' significant investment in charitable causes, with his foundation managing 75 billion Dollars.
Ballmer's wealth, on the other hand, remains predominantly tied to Microsoft. His stock holdings in the company are worth approximately 145 billion Dollars, accounting for nearly 90% of his wealth. This substantial stake is a result of his well-negotiated employment contract with Bill Gates, which made him the largest individual shareholder of Microsoft.
