Bill and Melinda Gates world's wealthiest couple: Wealth-X

New York, Jul 22: Bill and Melinda Gates are the world's wealthiest couple with a combined net worth of USD 85.7 billion, a report said today.

Bill Gates, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975, married Melinda, a Microsoft employee, in 1994. In 2000, they set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aimed at agricultural development, health, educational and other social causes.

"In 2010, the couple joined billionaire investor Warren Buffett to form the Giving Pledge –- a campaign to spur the world's wealthiest individuals to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy," as per Wealth-X, the global wealth intelligence and prospecting company.

Spanish retail tycoon Amancio Ortega Gaona and his second wife, Flora Perez, took the number two spot on the Wealth-X list with a combined net worth of USD 70.7 billion. Ortega married Flora in 2001, and she currently serves as the vice president of the Amancio Ortega Foundation.

The youngest couple on the Wealth-X list was 31-year old Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and 30-year old Priscilla Chan, who were ranked 9th on the list. "They boast a combined net worth of USD 38.5 billion.

The couple met at Harvard in 2004 and were married in a low-key, simple wedding ceremony in their Palo Alto home in 2012," the report added. Others on the list include, Warren Buffett and Astrid Menks at the 3rd place with a combined networth of USD 65 billion, followed by David and Julia Koch (4th, USD 47.5 billion), Charles and Elizabeth Koch (5th, USD 47.4 billion).

Wang Jianlin and Lin Ning were placed at the 6th place with a combined networth of USD 40.7 billion, followed by Jeff and Mackenzie Bezos (7th, USD 39.8 billion), Bernard Arnault and Helene Mercier (8th, USD 38.7 billion) and James and Lynne Walton (10th, USD 36.2 billion).

Wealth-X provides insight into the ultra-wealthy with the world's largest collection of curated research on ultra high net worth individuals.

PTI