Recently, Fortune magazine announced a new round of the global billionaires list.

Among them, Musk ranks first with a net worth of $226 billion, equivalent to RMB 1.64 trillion.

The second place goes to Amazon's Bezos, followed by LV's owner Bernard Arnault, then Zuckerberg, and finally Google's founder Larry Page.

Of course, the top 5 are also regulars on the billionaires list, so no one was too surprised.

But the sixth place goes to Microsoft's Ballmer, which is quite surprising, as his wealth amounts to $157 billion (around RMB 1.14 trillion), even surpassing that of Bill Gates.

It's worth noting that Bill Gates is the founder of Microsoft, while Ballmer is just an employee and not the founder. The fact that an employee is wealthier than his boss is indeed intriguing.

With a fortune of $157 billion, Ballmer has become the richest employee and the wealthiest non-entrepreneurial founder, as most other wealthy individuals are entrepreneurs.

Why is Ballmer so wealthy?

Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 as the 30th employee. When he entered the company, he didn't own any Microsoft shares and was purely an employee.

Later, Ballmer performed exceptionally well at Microsoft and was promoted to president. Besides a salary of $50,000, Bill Gates also gave him 10% of the profits he created during his time at Microsoft, but still did not grant him any shares.

However, when Microsoft underwent a restructuring, Ballmer became the CEO. Through negotiations, he obtained 8% of Microsoft's shares but gave up the 10% profit share, officially becoming one of Microsoft's major shareholders.

During his tenure, Microsoft missed out on the entire mobile internet era, with the rise of the iPhone and Android, while Microsoft's Windows Phone failed, and the acquisition of Nokia was also unsuccessful.

Therefore, in 2013, Ballmer left Microsoft. After continuous dilution, he still held around 4% of the shares, which he never sold and has been holding onto. Currently, Ballmer is Microsoft's largest individual shareholder.

Over the past year, due to the popularity of AI, Microsoft has invested in OpenAI, resulting in significant profits and a soaring market value that has now reached a whopping $3.4 trillion, ranking first globally.

In just the first half of 2024, Microsoft's stock price increased by 22%. Thanks to this significant increase in market value, Ballmer's Microsoft shares have also become increasingly valuable, reaching the current $157 billion, and his wealth has surpassed that of Bill Gates.

Of course, there are other reasons for Bill Gates' decreasing wealth, such as his continuous charitable donations, including nearly $60 billion donated to the Melinda Gates Foundation.

But it's undeniable that Ballmer's wealth mainly comes from his continued confidence in Microsoft and holding onto its shares, with 90% of his wealth originating from Microsoft stocks. Perhaps Bill Gates never expected that the shares he gave Ballmer would make him richer than himself.