May 20, 1998
Issue
Bill Gates, president of Microsoft, is worth $48.9 billion, based on Microsoft's current stock price. The following information helps us mere mortals appreciate how much that is (all references in US dollars):
- Bill is worth $3,591,207,000 more than the gold in Fort Knox.
- Bill makes $127.32 every second, or $509.28 every four seconds, which is the time it would take him to pick up a $500 note off the ground.
- Bill could give $8.27 to every person on our planet (all 5.91 billion) and still have $7 million left for incidentals.
- If Bill were a company, he would have the 11th largest gross revenue in the world.
- If Bill were a country, his GDP would rate 44th in the world (edging out Hungary, Peru and Bulgaria).
- If you turned Bill's money into $1 notes and stacked them, you would have a stack 5,330,360 metres high.
- If you used these notes as wallpaper, you could cover the surface area of Vatican City 1125.23 times.
- If you used Boeing 747s to get these $1 notes to the Vatican, it would take 402 trips.
- If Bill decided to spend all his money in the next 27 years, he would have to spend $1.81 billion every year, or $57 every second.
- If someone earns the US minimum wage, works for 40 hours a week and has no expenses, it would take 4,549,035.42 years to earn what Bill's worth now.
[From the Bill Gates Net Worth Page.]