Bill Gates is once again the world's richest man, according to Bloomberg News.
It says Gates has taken the lead from Mexican magnate Carlos Slim thanks to Microsoft's rising stock price. It's at a 5-year high trading at ~$34 a share.
Bloomberg's Billionaire Index hasn't yet updated to reflect Gates' new net worth. It still shows Slim as number one with a $73.2 billion net worth. Gates is listed at $72.9 billion.
Microsoft's stock is up 26% this year, despite the fact that the PC market is in a state of contraction. The reason Microsoft's stock is rising, it seems, is that Microsoft has confronted its worst case scenario, and is still doing fine.
Last quarter, the company reported revenue and operating profits that were up 8% and 5% each. This is because Microsoft is a fairly diverse company that doesn't rely on just PC sales. This diversification is helping it weather a bad PC market.
Microsoft also got a big boost when ValueAct revealed that it's buying $2 billion worth of the company's stock.
Gates is famously giving away his money, so while it's neat he's the richest man in the world, it's not his primary focus. Through the Bill and Melinda Gates he's doing charitable work around the world.
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