Bill Gates may be worth $91 billion, but he still cooks his own soup and finds time to binge watch NBC's "This Is Us" with his wife.
The billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist shared several peeks into his personal preferences and daily life during a recent "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit.
Here are seven facts you may not know about the second-richest man in the world, from his Reddit AMA and beyond.
He didn't want to meet Warren Buffett
Today, Gates is famously close with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. But the two almost didn't meet. In fact, Gates's mother had to convince him to attend the 1991 dinner where they spoke for the first time after he told her he was "too busy" working on Microsoft to go.
"I wasn't convinced," Gates writes in a blog post reflecting on the pair's friendship 25 years later. "'Look, he just buys and sells pieces of paper. That's not real value added. I don't think we'd have much in common,' I told her."
But once she convinced him, a beautiful friendship was born. "We were suddenly lost in conversation and hours and hours slipped by," Gates says. "He didn't come across as a big shot investor. He had this modest way of talking about what he does. He was funny, but what impressed me most was how clearly he thought about the world."
He doesn't keep snacks or beer in his house
Gates cooks for himself and says he's prone to heating up a bowl of tomato soup when he's hungry because "it is kind of a comforting food and reminds me of doing the same when I was growing up."
However, the billionaire isn't a big snacker. "I avoid having candy bars and nuts around since I would grab almonds (salty) or M&Ms if they were just sitting there," he said.
Gates also revealed that he's not much of a beer drinker either, although he does enjoy a glass or two in the right setting. "When I end up at something like a baseball game, I drink light beer to get with the vibe of all the other beer drinkers," he revealed on Reddit. "Sorry to disappoint real beer drinkers," he added.
He's never seen "Game of Thrones"
Gates has binged on the latest seasons of Netflix's "Narcos" and "This Is Us," but he has yet to get to get addicted to HBO's wildly popular "Game of Thrones."
"There is so much good stuff to watch now that people tell me great things that I never get around to like 'Game of Thrones,'" he said on Reddit. "Partly I leave a lot of time to read so my video allocation is less than most people and partly I watch lectures."
Instead, Gates prioritizes reading and plows through around 50 books per year. The two best books he's read in 2018 so far are "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress" by Steven Pinker and "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World — and Why Things Are Better Than You Think" by Hans Rosling.
He wears a baseball cap to disguise himself
Being one of the richest people the world also makes Gates one of the most recognizable. But when he wants to fly under the radar, he simply puts on a hat, he revealed during a 2017 "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit.
"When I did college tours with my son, I wanted the focus to be totally on him," he wrote. "A lot less people recognize me when I have a hat on or else they realize I am trying to be incognito."
Usually, however, the billionaire doesn't mind being spotted in public. "Mostly when people do recognize me they are super nice so I don't feel it is a burden to be noticed most of the time," he said.
Paul Allen had to bail him out of jail in the 70's
Gates isn't a huge spender, but he has made a few big splurges. Back in 1979, when he first started making big money off Microsoft, he decided to splurge on a fancy ride: a Porsche 911 supercar.
The car didn't gather dust in Gates' garage, either. He loved to put its speed to the test with aimless drives around the New Mexico dessert. After one particularly raucous night, he had to call Allen to bail him out of jail, according to a Time profile from 1997.
He eats at McDonald's
In Bill and Melinda Gates' 2017 annual letter, which they addressed to longtime friend Buffett, Bill tells the story of a particularly economical lunch Buffett took him out for years ago.
"Remember the laugh we had when we traveled together to Hong Kong and decided to get lunch at McDonald's? You offered to pay, dug into your pocket, and pulled out … coupons!" he writes.
Buffett also revealed to CNBC in a 2007 interview that Gates is the owner of a McDonald's Gold Card, which scores him free Mickey D's anywhere in the world for life.
His favorite celebrities are his wife and his best friend
When asked who his favorite celebrity is during the recent AMA, Gates replied that his top choices are his wife Melinda and his billionaire best friend Warren Buffett. Rock musician Bono came in third.
However, he conceded that he's more familiar with big names in the political realm than Hollywood's A-list. "Most celebrities I don't know very well," he wrote. "I do get to meet a lot of political leaders and Nelson Mandela was the most impressive ever. Jimmy Carter is also amazing."
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