Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner
Bill Gates is the wealthiest person in the world (or arguably Arnault).<p>You might say, no, Musk and Bezos are worth 50% (or ~60 billion) more. On paper yes, but that&#x27;s not a great metric. When I think of wealth, I think of what you can reasonably acquire.<p>If you multiply Musk&#x27;s shares in Tesla times the current share price, sure you get 180 billion. But if he tried to sell a large number those shares, they&#x27;d <i>plummet</i> in value as he was selling them. Without Musk, I&#x27;d be surprised if Tesla is worth 20% of its current valuation. To a lesser extent, this is true of Bezos too, although Amazon without him is still a very valuable company.<p>On the other hand, Bill Gates owns 1.6% of Microsoft, which I believe is his biggest holding, followed by Berkshire Hathaway stock. I&#x27;d bet he can sell both of those holdings completely without a huge hit to either stock price (but definitely <i>some</i> hit). Same with his farmland and other alternative assets. On top of that, having already sold his Microsoft shares, he&#x27;s not subject to as much capital gains tax as Bezos or Musk, each of whom pretty much owe 20% of their total net worth the second they want to sell.<p>So on paper, Musk and Bezos are wealthier, but if all of them decided to Scrooge McDuck it and put all their money into a gold filled vault tomorrow, Bill Gates&#x27; vault would be the fullest.<p>EDIT: typo above... Originally said that Musk owns 180 bn in Amazon stock :)