Bill Gates No Longer World’s Richest Man After Giving Away Billions

spotted: HuffingtonPost

Bill Gates didn’t lose his title as the world’s richest man last year; he gave it away by putting billions into his charitable foundation, experts say.

Forbes will release its 2011 billionaires list on Wednesday (check back to GWOP for full list) and Gates, investor Warren Buffett and last year’s richest man, Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, will almost certainly be in the top three. The trio have topped the list for the past five years.

But it would be no contest if Microsoft co-founder Gates had not already given away more than a third of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on global health and development and U.S. education.

Experts say, Gates was currently worth about $49 billion, behind Slim, whose fortune he estimated at $60 billion. Buffett, also a philanthropist, is now worth some $47 billion.

But had Gates not given away any money, he would be worth $88 billion, experts say.
Gates and his wife Melinda have so far given $28 billion to their foundation, the largest in the United States.

 

Now thats #GWOP.  If we you had the billions like Bill Gates, what charitable organization or research would you invest your money into?  Cure for Brain Cancer? Stem Cell Research? Cure for HIV/AIDS?  Childhood Obesity?

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