Gates' gifts open path for Bezos to hit top spot

Giving keeps some billionaires farther down Forbes’ list.

Bill Gates is losing hold of his title as the world’s richest person, with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once again mounting a challenge for the top spot. But if Gates weren’t so philanthropic, it wouldn’t even be close.

Gates has a net worth of $86.8 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He would be worth $150 billion if he hadn’t given away almost 700 million Microsoft billion Corp.of charity,cash shares accordingand otherand $2.9to assetsan to anal- ysis of his publicly disclosed giving since 1996. The index numbers are based on the close of trading in New York Wednesday.

And if not for more than a decade of donating Berkshire Hathaway shares to charity, Warren Buffett, who is ranked No. 3 in the index with $80.6 billion, would be right behind Gates with $135 billion. Bezos, who passed Gates for a few hours earlier this summer, has a net worth of $85.3 billion, according to the Bloomberg index, a daily ranking of the world’s 500 richest people.

“Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have a set a new bar in terms of the raw scale of their giving,” said Jacob Harold, chief executive officer of GuideStar, a non-profit that collects information on charities. Both Gates, 61, and Buffett, 87, have done most of their giving through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve global issues like health care and poverty. The foundation has made $41 billion in direct grants, including to GuideStar, and holds assets worth $40.3 billion, according to the charity’s website. Gates and Buffett also founded the Giving Pledge in 2010.

NICK COTE / THE NEW YORK TIMES Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder, may surpass Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, who has topped Forbes’ billionaires list 18 out of the last 23 years.