\n
![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-595276662-e1719951907442.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/p>\n [ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
When Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft<\/a> he didn\u2019t get a single company share. But now, his skyrocketing Microsoft holdings<\/a> have made him richer than the company\u2019s founder.<\/p>\n The 68-year-old former Microsoft CEO squeaked by his onetime boss Bill Gates to become the sixth richest person<\/a> in the world on Monday with a net worth of $157 billion. He is now richer than many well-known tech entrepreneurs including Google<\/a> cofounder Sergey Brin, Oracle<\/a> founder Larry Ellison, and Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the first time that Ballmer\u2019s net worth has surpassed that of Gates, and one of the few times in history an employee has come to be richer than a company\u2019s founder. Ballmer is the only person<\/a> with a net worth of $100 billion or more who made their money as an employee rather than a founder, as Fortune<\/em> previously reported.<\/p>\n Ballmer\u2019s net worth was boosted by a rally in Microsoft\u2019s shares, which closed at an all-time high on Tuesday and have surged 22% since January. Shares of the company represent about 90% of his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index<\/a>, and Microsoft has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom fueling markets, thanks to its $10 billion investment in OpenAI<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2014, Ballmer left Microsoft with about a 4% stake worth $22.5 billion, according to Forbes<\/em><\/a>. At the time, he said that he was holding on to his shares for the long term, Forbes<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to own Microsoft shares until I either give something to charity or I die,\u201d he told<\/a> the outlet.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Gates has diversified his portfolio over the years away from the company he founded, with half of his holdings now managed through private investment firm Cascade Investment. He has a $21 billion stake in waste management company Republic Services<\/a> through Cascade, Bloomberg reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gates\u2019 major philanthropic donations also factor in. As of 2023, Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates had donated $59.5 billion<\/a> to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, turning it into the one of the world\u2019s largest charitable foundations. In 2010, Gates also cocreated the Giving Pledge<\/a> with French Gates and\u00a0investor Warren Buffett, and has promised to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Although Steve Ballmer\u2019s holdings have made him one of the richest men in the world, when he joined as the company\u2019s 30th employee in 1980, he didn\u2019t get a single share. After dropping out of Stanford Business School, he served as a quasi\u2013personal assistant to Bill Gates with the unimpressive title \u201cbusiness manager,\u201d Forbes<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n Yet, because Microsoft was looking to grow rapidly at the time, Gates and his cofounder, Paul Allen, agreed to give Ballmer 10% of the profit growth he generated on top of his $50,000 yearly salary.<\/p>\n That deal turned out to be key to Ballmer\u2019s future wealth. Soon, Microsoft was growing so fast that Ballmer\u2019s 10% cut no longer made sense financially for the company. When Microsoft reorganized as a corporation, Ballmer negotiated an 8% slice for himself in exchange for giving up his profit-sharing deal, while Gates and Allen kept 84% and another 8% was designated for other employees, Forbes<\/em> reported. Although Allen was opposed to giving Ballmer such a large stake, Gates stepped in and said Ballmer\u2019s 8% cut could be funded by a drawdown of his own holdings, according to Forbes<\/em>.<\/p>\n While at the time Gates put his own money on the line for Ballmer, the two have since drifted apart.<\/p>\n \u201cMicrosoft was kind of the thing that really bound us,\u201d Ballmer told Bloomberg Television<\/a> in 2016. \u201cWe started off as friends, but then really got quite enmeshed around Microsoft. Since I\u2019ve gone, we really have drifted a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nGiving away money<\/h2>\n
Subscribe to the Fortune Next to Lead newsletter to get weekly strategies on how to make it to the corner office. Sign up for free<\/a>.<\/div>\n