MW Here's how much of his fortune Bill Gates will leave to his kids-but who gets the $130 million Washington estate?

By Charlie Lankston

The 'Xanadu 2.0' property features 7 bedrooms, 6 kitchens, and a swimming pool with its own underwater music system.

Billionaire Bill Gates has revealed the exact percentage of his wealth he plans to leave to his three children, explaining that their inheritance will be less than 1% of his extraordinary $152 billion fortune.

The 69-year-old Microsoft $(MSFT)$ founder opened up about his feelings around inheritance during an appearance on Raj Shamani's podcast, "Figuring Out," when he was asked whether he believes it is a parent's "duty" to "save everything for their kids."

Gates-who is believed to be worth around $152 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index-said that the debate about inheritance really comes down to the opinions of the individual parent but that, from his point of view, it wouldn't do his children any "favors" to make them feel as though they were expected to carry on some kind of "dynasty."

"Everybody gets to decide on that. In my case, my kids got a great upbringing and education but less than 1% of the total wealth," he explained, adding: "I decided it wouldn't be a favor to them [to leave them more]. It's not a dynasty. I'm not asking them to run Microsoft."

Of course, 1% of $152 billion is hardly chump change, and would leave each of Bill's three kids-Jennifer, 28, Rory, 25, and Phoebe, 22-with around $1.52 billion each, provided they get their own percentage cut of his fortune.

What Gates did not elaborate on is how his wealth will be passed down. Because while the centibillionaire has plenty of bucks in the bank, he also has an array of other high-value assets, including a spread of pricey properties that are dotted across the U.S.

At the heart of that property portfolio is Xanadu 2.0, an expansive Washington state compound named for the fictional estate in the movie "Citizen Kane." Gates began building the place in 1988, years before he wed his former wife, Melinda French Gates, with whom he shares his three kids.

Today, the compound, which is located in Medina, Wash., a suburb of Seattle, spreads over 66,000 square feet and features all manner of modern amenities, including an advanced security system that can detect who is in the residence by the weight of their footsteps thanks to the pressure-sensitive floors.

The Microsoft founder originally purchased the property on which Xanadu 2.0 now sits for $2 million and then poured an estimated $63 million into renovating it, turning the home into an ultramodern oasis fit for a tech titan.

The home is now believed to be worth an eye-watering $130 million, according to Fortune.

The property features seven bedrooms, six kitchens, 24 bathrooms, and six fireplaces. It also boasts a private library and a 17-by-60-foot swimming pool that has its own underwater music system.

Gates' opulent abode also comes complete with a theater room, sauna, party space, steam room, separate men's and women's lockers, a trampoline room with a 20-foot ceiling, offices, and outdoor sports courts.

The reception hall is partially below ground and can seat 150 people for an elegant dinner or hold 200 people for a cocktail party.

Gates has lived in the home for close to 40 years-and recently revealed that he plans to continue doing so for many years to come, despite admitting that the property is perhaps too "gigantic" for him to occupy without a wife and children.

But though the home that once served as a base for his family is no longer occupied by his children or his former wife, Gates told the outlet that he cannot ever see himself moving to a smaller property, particularly given that his three kids still enjoy visiting their childhood home whenever possible.

More from Realtor.com: Bay Area Sees Huge Influx of Billionaire Residents-Cementing Its Status as World's Wealth Capital

Furthermore, the tech billionaire says he's grown accustomed to his new life inside the walls of the property, enjoying the small freedoms that come from living alone.

"My house in Seattle, I admit, is gigantic," he told The Times in January. "My sisters have downsized. I can't. I like the houses I have. My kids like to come back-that is a luxury. I don't cook, I don't make my own bed, but I don't mind if no one has made it-I wouldn't notice."

Xanadu 2.0 is a far cry from the humble, middle-class family that Gates was brought up in-and he admitted that there was a time when even he could not have foreseen the lavish lifestyle that now seems so normal to him.

"I have three houses. I used to fly coach and make people share hotel rooms and think having a private plane was a waste," he said.

More from Realtor.com: How Much Will AI Change Property Taxes?

It is not known which properties-other than his Medina complex-Gates retained in his 2021 divorce from his former spouse; however, at the time of the split, they had multiple dwellings in their portfolio.

These included a beach house in Del Mar, Calif., which they purchased for $43 million in 2020; an equestrian ranch in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., which they bought in 2014, paying $18 million; two horse farms-one in Wellington, Fla., and one in upstate New York; and a $12.5 million property in Indian Wells, Calif.

More from Realtor.com: Tariffs on Canadian Lumber Set To Double in Surprise Move-Sending Homebuilder Stocks Plunging

Gates' daughter, Jennifer, a talented equestrian was gifted the horse farm in New York, and it's thought that she is also running the property in Wellington and the ranch in California as part of her Evergates Stables business.

Reports also surfaced in 2023 that Gates had purchased a $51 million New York City penthouse for Jennifer, who works as a doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Her younger sister, Phoebe, also recently moved to the city after graduating from Stanford University, although it is not known whether she has moved into the same expansive apartment.

More from Realtor.com: What a Recession Could Mean for the Housing Market

Meanwhile French Gates, who has been open about her dislike of Xanadu 2.0 over the years, is thought to have moved into a smaller property in the Seattle area, where her female-focused organization, Pivotal Ventures, is headquartered.

It's unclear which-if any-of the homes in their shared portfolio the duo will pass down to their children; however, Gates has previously made clear that the bulk of his wealth will be left to the Gates Foundation, a non-profit that he founded with his wife in 2000.

This story originally ran on Realtor.com.

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 14, 2025 05:04 ET (09:04 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.