Gates donated 64 million Microsoft shares worth $4.6 billion (RM19.8 billion) to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in June.

Bill Gates is not just the world’s richest person – he’s also the world’s biggest philanthropist, at least so far this year. According to a filing published last Monday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gates donated 64 million Microsoft shares worth $4.6 billion (RM19.8 billion) to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in June.

The donation overtakes Warren Buffet’s $3.2 billion contribution to the Gates Foundation in July as the largest donation made this year.

It is also Gate’s largest donation of stock since 2000, when he gave away $5.1 billion. To date, Gates has donated about $35 billion worth of Microsoft shares since 1994, according to Bloomberg’s calculations.

In 2010, Gates and his wife, together with Buffet, started The Giving Pledge, an effort to give half of their wealth to charity during their lifetime or in their will. More than 170 of the world’s richest people have also signed up, including Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and George Lucas.

While the donation accounts for 5% of his wealth and 38% of his shareholdings in the company, Gates remains as the richest person on the planet, with an estimated value of $86 billion as of last Tuesday.