1. Bill Gates – $109.6 Billion
While Bill Gates may now be one of the wealthiest people in the world, he wasn’t always a billionaire. Gates was born back in 1955 to William Gates, a prominent lawyer, and Mary Maxwell, a board director for First Interstate BancSystem. Even though his parents wanted him to pursue a career in law, Gates went another way. Instead, he wrote his first software program at the age of 13 and never looked back.
In 1973, Gates enrolled at Harvard College, where he met fellow student Steve Ballmer. After two years, he left Harvard to pursue his dream of computer stardom. Over ten years later, in 1985, Gates’ Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows, and the rest was history. Today, Gates remains one of the richest people alive with a $109.6 billion fortune!