Editing Steve Ballmer (section)

==Wealth and taxes==
In 2021, [[ProPublica]] documented how Ballmer is using his ownership of various sports teams as a means to lower his federal income tax to as low as 12%, compared to around 35% for the athletes playing in the team. The report exposes how the Clippers were profitable before their acquisition by Ballmer, but then reported $700 million in losses for tax purposes in following years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simani |first=Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott, Ellis |date=July 8, 2021 |title=The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/the-billionaire-playbook-how-sports-owners-use-their-teams-to-avoid-millions-in-taxes |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 8, 2021 |title=Report: LeBron James' 2018 federal tax rate was triple that of Los Angeles Clippers' billionaire owner |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/report-le-bron-james-2018-federal-tax-rate-was-triple-that-of-los-angeles-clippers-billionaire-owner-165320954.html |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=Yahoo Sports |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2023, ProPublica did another report, about Ballmer's usage of [[wash sale]]s helped by [[Goldman Sachs]], under the label "Tax Advantaged Loss Harvesting", resulting in tax savings of more than half a billion dollars over 5 years<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Ernsthausen |first1=Jeff |last2=Kiel |first2=Paul |date=February 9, 2023 |title=How the Wealthy Save Billions in Taxes by Skirting a Century-Old Law |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-files-taxes-wash-sales-goldman-sachs |access-date=June 14, 2024 |website=ProPublica |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Foley |first=Stephen |date=March 28, 2023 |title=Tax loss harvesting: an investment tactic that has gone too far |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a7bf2d21-618b-448f-8a6b-53ad4b9a3f54 |access-date=June 14, 2024 |work=Financial Times}}</ref>

As of 5 March 2025, [[Bloomberg Billionaires Index]] estimated his personal wealth at around $136 billion,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bloomberg Billionaires Index |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/ |website=bloomberg.com |access-date=5 March 2025}}</ref> making him the tenth-richest person in the world, and the Forbes *Real-Time Billionaires List* ranked him as the twelfth-richest person with a net worth of $117.8 billion.<ref>{{cite web |title=Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List |url=https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ |website=forbes.com |access-date=5 March 2025}}</ref>