Wealthiest
Photo of Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer

Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American businessman and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. In 2022, Steve Ballmer's net worth is estimated to be $90 billion dollars.

March 29, 2022

Words by Matthew Taylor

Steve Ballmer Net Worth

$90 billion

Est. Range $69.8B - $110.3B

Medium Confidence

Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American businessman and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association. As of March 2022, Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates his personal wealth at around $108 billion, making him the eighth-richest person on Earth.

Ballmer was hired by Bill Gates at Microsoft in 1980, and subsequently left the MBA program at Stanford University. He eventually became president in 1998, and replaced Gates as CEO on January 13, 2000. On February 4, 2014, Ballmer retired as CEO and was replaced by Satya Nadella; Ballmer remained on Microsoft's Board of Directors until August 19, 2014, when he left to prepare for teaching a new class.

His tenure and legacy as Microsoft CEO has received mixed reception, with the company tripling sales and doubling profits, but losing its market dominance and missing out on 21st-century technology trends such as the ascendance of smartphones in the form of iPhone and Android.

You vs. Steve Ballmer

How long would it take you to earn as much as Steve Ballmer?

Richest Business

While many of us work in business, you’re not going to make your fortune staying at your day job – the average office worker in the US earns about $41,000 a year. If you manage to get to an executive level, you’re getting closer, but you still have a long way to go. If you can reach the top, CEO salaries know no bounds, but you’ll have to pick the right company!

Many of the wealthiest business people on our list are investment bankers or have done well on the share market. A few have inherited a business empire or secured a good chunk of shares in a blue-chip company through a sizeable divorce settlement. Others are lucky enough to be friends with a “generous” head of state (aka Putin) and find that their wealth can grow to unprecedented levels when supported by state-backed enterprises.

Nowadays though, it’s harder to start traditional business empires from scratch. Media moguls have fallen out of favour in recent years and the big names on this list come from tech. Bill Gates has been a stalwart and is now accompanied by Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk. Innovation is the key to wealth, but only if you can get the cash, confidence and idea to really make it big.

Buying Power

Steve Ballmer's net worth of 90 billion can buy...

684723x
Tesla Model S
Priced at $131,440
147540x
Prestige 420 yacht
Priced at $610,000
2368x
Gulfstream G450
Priced at $38,000,000

Methodology

The Wealthiest Index is a ranking of the world's richest people. In calculating Andre Agassi’s net worth, we strive to provide the most transparent calculations available with detailed analysis of how that Andre Agassi’s fortune was made. Each net worth figure is updated at regular intervals to reflect market movements.

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