Forbes’ 2014 ranking of the World’s Most Powerful People – an annual snapshot of the heads of state, CEOs, financiers, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who truly run the world was released recently. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates was ranked No.7 in the list.
America’s richest man, Bill Gates, is using his billions to effect major social change around the globe. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given away $30 billion since 2000, a fortune that on its own would be one of the 20 largest in America. The foundation is working to eliminate polio in the three countries where it still exists and is committed to stamping out malaria wherever possible. In September the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million to fight Ebola in West Africa; Bill Gates then announced in early November that his foundation would spend $500 million to fight malaria and a host of neglected diseases. In the U.S., the most generous philanthropist in history is working to improve education, in part by paying college fees for talented students through a $1.37 billion grant administered by the United Negro College Fund.
Read how Forbes came up with this list here. Find the list of World’s Most Powerful People here.