The Microsoft founder and the richest man on earth donated 64 million Microsoft shares valued at $4.6 billion. That is the largest donation by Bill Gates in 17 years.  

Usually Bill Gates and his wife donate through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but this time it is unclear who the recipient of the gift is.

Gates gave away $16 billion in 1999 and then $5.1 billion in 2000. His recent donation brings his total number of gifts to charitable donations to $50 billion.

But even despite donating the majority of his wealth to charity, Gates still holds the title of the world's richest person. His net worth is estimated at $89 billion.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos is the second wealthiest individual with an $88.7 billion fortune. On July 27, Bezos unseated Gates as the richest person in the world for a few hours, profiting from the e-commerce company's meteoric stock rise ahead of the earnings report.