Bill Gates Drops from 4th to 5th Richest in the World Due to Divorce Asset Division Impact

▲Bill Gates (right) and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates (left) [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The net worth ranking of Microsoft (MS) founder Bill Gates has dropped by one position. This change is due to the fluctuation in asset size following his divorce from ex-wife Melinda French Gates.

According to Forbes, a U.S. economic magazine, on the 9th (local time), Bill Gates transferred stocks worth $5.6 billion (approximately 6.4176 trillion KRW) to Melinda during the divorce process, causing his real-time billionaire ranking to fall from 4th to 5th place.

Forbes reports that Bill Gates currently holds assets worth about $129.6 billion (148.5216 trillion KRW), slightly trailing Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, who is ranked 4th.

Bill Gates initially transferred stocks worth $3.2 billion (3.6672 trillion KRW) to Melinda immediately after announcing their divorce in May, and after finalizing the divorce last week, he transferred an additional $2.4 billion (2.7504 trillion KRW) worth of stocks.

The final division of assets between the two has not been disclosed, but Forbes speculates that Melinda may have also received shares in private companies or undisclosed assets.

Earlier, the couple announced their divorce in May, stating that "the relationship has irretrievably broken down."

Melinda reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with Bill Gates' friendship with billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Bill Gates is also known to have had inappropriate relations with an MS employee in 2000.

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