Bill Gates Reveals He Worked 80 Hours A Week, Even As A Billionaire

Achieving billionaire status is typically interpreted as a sign of slowing down. That wasn't the case with Bill Gates. The Microsoft co-founder admitted to working 80 hours a week even after accumulating enormous wealth. In an interview with CNBC, Mr Gates shared that he didn't feel really "successful" until 1998, more than ten years after Microsoft went public and a long time after he already became the youngest billionaire in history.

"I wouldn't say that I felt comfortable that we were successful until about 1998 or so." Bill Gates said. 

He added, "That's the first time I look back and say, ‘Okay, we are in a pretty good position here, and I understand why my competitors are so jealous that they think they need the Justice Department to help them out," referring to antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft in the late 1990s when rivals and the US government accused the company of being a monopoly.

In his memoir, Source Code, Bill Gates shared that he regularly put in 80-hour work weeks creating software out of concern that any error would jeopardise Microsoft's dominance in the rapidly expanding personal computer market. With a market value of more than $250 billion, Microsoft was the most valuable public business in the world at the time. With an estimated net worth of $58 billion, Mr Gates was the richest person in the world.

According to Bloomberg, Bill Gates' current net worth is estimated at $165 billion, while Microsoft is valued at over $3 trillion.

Even though Mr Gates is no longer actively involved in Microsoft's daily operations, he is still very much invested in charity, using the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to focus on global health, education, and climate change.

Interestingly, Bill Gates' remark on the number of work hours came weeks after a row over comments by L&T chairman SN Subrahmanyan, who said he regretted not being able to make his employees work on Sundays.

Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy has also often called for a 70-hour work week for Indians.