Kiri Irving claims that Bill Gates, who owns the greater part of the Earth and Water in the United States, originally appeared in the world of Fadeaway.
In a recent flow, NBA star Kiri Erving star raised his eyebrows again, not for the dazzling movement of Dribel, but for a controversial claim: Bill Gates owns a majority of land and water in the United States.
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“I still think it’s weird that, you know, the Gates or Bill Gates family owns a lot from Earth in North Dakota. I think it’s weird. He owns a majority of water in the United States. I think it’s weird.”
Cyri’s comments have caused immediate reactions online. Although it is not unknown to the alternative perspectives, having previously questioned the form of the land, this statement fits into a combination of land ownership data, problems with corporate agriculture and long -standing American concerns about the control of a billionaire on natural resources. But is there any truth in what he has said?
Let’s break it.
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Bill Gates is indeed the largest private owner of agricultural land in the United States. According to the Earth report, by 2021, Gates owns approximately 270,000 acres of agricultural land, distributed in more than a dozen countries, including large plots in Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska and Washington. This land is mainly used for agricultural purposes such as growing potatoes, carrots, soy and corn.
However, this number represents only 0.03% of 895 million acres of common US agricultural land, according to USDA. And it’s just agricultural land, not the total area of the land, which is about 2.3 billion acres on US gates of the US, makes it a remarkable figure, but the idea that it owns a “majority” from US land is objective.
This part of Kiri’s statement has even less merit. Gates does not “have” the greater part of the water in the United States. In fact, no one does it. Water rights in the United States are regulated by a patchwork of state and federal laws that depend greatly on geography.
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For example, rudder rights are applied in the eastern United States, giving landowners the right to use water from neighboring sources. In the dry Western United States, previous budget loans are dominated by: the first person to use water for useful purpose receives the legal right to continue using it, regardless of land ownership.
Water is also managed by the doctrines of public confidence in many countries, which means that the government holds it in confidence for people. Municipal utilities, irrigation areas and federal agencies such as the Reclamation Bureau manage large tanks and delivery systems, not private billionaires.
Gates made philanthropic investments in water sanitary warfare, especially in developing countries, but they are far from owning water rights in the United States.
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The Cyrill Framework embarks on the growing public distrust of billionaires, buying large raw materials, especially since food security and climate change become urgent concerns. Gates’ mass wealth, estimated at $ 128 billion by 2025, according to Forbes, makes it a natural lightning for these fears. But equating this wealth with ownership of the country’s natural resources is a jump too far.
Although there is nothing wrong with questioning power, the facts simply do not support Cyri’s claim. Bill Gates does not have the bigger part of American land or water, just a small but remarkable part of the farmland. The water system in the US is a decentralized, highly regulated domain that no person or entity can “possess” in any meaningful way.
In this case, Kiri may have fallen a little too far from the truth.
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This story was originally reported by Fadeaway World on July 28, 2025, where it first appeared.