- Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is one of the US’s top landowners, with 275,000 acres across the US.
- While most of that is farmland, he owns homes in Washington, California, Florida, and Montana.
- Here’s a look at his real estate portfolio, which he spent $150 million and three decades building.
Ten years ago, in an interview with The Telegraph, Bill Gates discussed his goal of giving away his fortune — which was worth $65 billion then and sits at $129 billion today.
“I’m certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes,” he said. “Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point.”
He didn’t mention, though, the proverbial roof over his head. Or, in Gates’ case, roofs.
As one of the richest people in the world for decades, the Microsoft cofounder has built up an impressive real estate portfolio. With 275,000 acres across the United States, he’s the country’s 42nd biggest landowner, according to the Land Report.
The vast majority of that — about 242,00 acres — is farmland, with the most acreage in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona, per the Land Report.
“I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs,” Gates said in a Reddit Ask Me Anything last year. “There isn’t some grand scheme involved — in fact, all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.”
But he also owns dozens of properties across Washington, California, Florida, and Montana that are for his personal use.
Over three decades, he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, spent more than $150 million on their current real estate portfolio. Following their 2021 divorce, a number of the properties were transferred from one trust to another — so it’s hard to discern who owns exactly what, as all of their trusts are linked to the same Seattle bank.
Here’s a look at Gates’ many homes, along with details about transfers around the Gates divorce. Neither Gates nor French Gates responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.