Microsoft’s 30th Employee Is Already Richer Than Bill Gates

As far as we know, there are very few cases in the world where an employee’s wealth exceeded that of the company’s founder. And even less whether the employee stayed in his position. For this reason, and because this man became the sixth richest person on the planet, today we will tell you how the 30th employee of Microsoft went to his boss.

Steve Ballmer. The oldest people in the area remember him from that legendary Microsoft presentation that is now Internet history. But Steve Ballmer is, of course, much more than just a euphoric guy and Gates’ friend. He’s in the news this week for several reasons. First, by becoming the sixth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $157 billion, at age 68.

It’s also the first time Ballmer’s net worth has exceeded Gates’s, and one of the few times in history that an employee has become richer than a company’s founder. In fact, Ballmer is the only person worth $100 billion or more who made his money as an employee rather than a founder.

“Agreement”. Ballmer’s story goes back to the early 1980s, when he joined Microsoft as the company’s 30th employee. He did so after graduating from Stanford Business School, and his job upon arrival was the closest thing to Bill Gates’ quasi-personal assistant, with the title “business manager,” as Forbes explained a few years ago.

Ballmer was, in fact, the first “non-technical” employee of Gates and Allen, who needed immediate help getting the company off the ground. The decision to sign Ballmer? After some tough negotiations, they agreed to pay him 10% of the profit growth he made, in addition to his $50,000 annual salary. He didn’t know it then, but that agreement would prove to be the key to his future wealth.

Unexpected growth. Ballmer’s situation is rare: a new hire who already has 10% of the profits in an employee role. What happened? Microsoft began to grow so quickly and excessively that Ballmer’s 10% no longer made financial sense for the company.

Thus, when Microsoft reorganized into a corporation, Ballmer negotiated an 8% stake for himself in exchange for waiving the profit-sharing agreement, while Gates and Allen retained 84% and the remaining 8% was given to other employees.

A legacy that only grows. Since then, we can picture Ballmer, in his dressing gown, watching Microsoft stock rise day after day in front of a screen. In 2022, that 8% negotiated would have netted him $80 billion. Two years later, it had doubled. The reason? A rebound in Microsoft stock, which closed at a record high on Tuesday and is up 22% since January.

With the company’s stock accounting for about 90% of his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and Microsoft one of the biggest beneficiaries of the markets fueling the AI ​​boom, Ballmer is literally swimming in gold.

Richer than others. Not only is Ballmer richer than his former boss, he now also has more wealth than the likes of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, or Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell.

By the way, when it comes to Gates, we must also take into account his significant philanthropic donations. In 2023, together with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, he donated $59.5 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, making it one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world. In addition, in 2010, Gates, along with French Gates and investor Warren Buffett, created the Giving Pledge, promising to donate the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes.

Image | Microsoft Sweden, ClaraDon, Raymond Specking, Microsoft Sweden, Lukasz Kobus

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