Bill Gates might have made his initial fortune by revolutionizing personal computing, but it’s not just software that’s kept him one of the richest people on the planet over the years. In fact, some of his most significant “side hustles” have little to do with technology — like helping supply the potatoes for McDonald’s iconic fries.
Using various shell corporations linked to Cascade, his investment business, Gates managed to acquire over 269,000 acres of farmland in under 10 years (per NBC News). To put that in perspective, we’re talking around 420 square miles, an area larger than New York City. That land is spread over 18 states, making Gates not only one of the United States’ top 50 landowners by area, but the largest private owner of farmland in the entire country. This land is used to grow a wide variety of crops, including corn, carrots, and soybeans, but it also produces an incredible quantity of potatoes to help meet the demand of America’s biggest fast food chain.
Take 100 Circle Farms, for example, a whopping 14,000-acre agricultural operation in Gates’ home state of Washington. With crop circles so large you can spot them from the International Space Station, the farm can produce over 2,000 spuds in a single day. It then sends them to a processing plant where they’re transformed into McDonald’s fries. However, although Cascade Investments maintains that its agricultural practices are ecologically sustainable, Gates has admitted that the investment is unrelated to his climate-related philanthropic ventures. There have also been concerns raised by American farmers that they no longer own the land they work on, while also being forced to compete in the market against a multibillionaire.
Bill Gates is one of the few people with a McDonald’s Gold Card
Free McDonald’s for life sounds like the sort of urban legend you’d hear on the school playground, but it’s a reality for Bill Gates. One could argue it’s a perk that’s wasted on someone worth over $100 billion, but that didn’t stop the fast food company from issuing Gates his very own Gold Card.
There are only a handful of people known to hold a McDonald’s Gold Card, and Gates’ is arguably one of the most valuable. Some Gold Cards are issued by franchisees, meaning freebies are restricted to a handful of restaurants in a particular region. Fellow billionaire Warren Buffett also holds a Gold Card, for example, but it’s reportedly only valid in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Meanwhile, Gates has confirmed that his card works anywhere in the world. It’s still unclear why McDonald’s gifted Gates a Gold Card, as the company is notoriously tight-lipped about the selection process. It could be due to his role in the supply chain, the fact that his Gates Foundation Trust once held an interest in the fast food giant, his prominence as one of the world’s richest people, or simply an unknown factor.
However, the tech mogul claims that he rarely takes McDonald’s up on its offer of a free lunch, as he can afford to pay. He’s certainly not wrong; after all, Gates makes more than the average American’s annual salary in the time it takes to scoff down a Big Mac.
