Bill Gates
For other people named Bill Gates, see Bill Gates (disambiguation).
Bill Gates
Gates in 2013
BornWilliam Henry Gates III
October 28, 1955 (age 58)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
ResidenceMedina, Washington, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University (dropped out)
OccupationTechnology Advisor of Microsoft
Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
CEO of Cascade Investment
Chairman of Corbis
Years active1975–present
Net worthUS$ 77.2 billion (Mar 2014)[1]
Board member of
Microsoft
Berkshire Hathaway
Spouse(s)Melinda Gates (m. 1994)
ChildrenJennifer, Rory, and Phoebe
ParentsWilliam H. Gates, Sr.
Mary Maxwell Gates
Signature
Website
TheGatesNotes.com
William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor.[2][3][4] Gates is the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen.
He is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people[5] and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009—excluding 2008, when he was ranked third;[1] in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the world's second wealthiest person.[6][7] According to the Bloomberg Billionaires List, Gates became the world's richest person again in 2013, a position that he last held on the list in 2007.[8] As of March 2014, he is the richest.[1]
During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock.[a] He has also authored and co-authored several books.
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by judicial courts.[11][12] In the later stages of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.[13]
Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect, and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014, taking on a new post as technology advisor to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.[14]
Early life
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates, Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. His ancestry includes English, German, and Scots-Irish.[15][16] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates's maternal grandfather was JW Maxwell, a national bank president. Gates has one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or "Trey" because his father had the "II" suffix.[17] Early on in his life, Gates's parents had a law career in mind for him.[18] When Gates was young, his family regularly attended a Congregational church.[19][20][21] The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock ... there was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing".[22]
At 13 he enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive preparatory school.[23] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a bloc
n his sophomore year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake sorting as a solution to one of a series of unsolved problems[33] presented in a combinatorics class by Harry Lewis, one of his professors. Gates's solution held the record as the fastest version for over thirty years;[33][34] its successor is faster by only one percent.[33] His solution was later formalized in a published paper in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.[35]
Gates did not have a definite study plan while a student at Harvard[36] and spent a lot of time using the school's computers. Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, and he joined him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974.[37] The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company.[38] Gates dropped out of Harvard at this time.[39] He had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him after seeing how much Gates wanted to start a company.[36]
Microsoft
Main articles: History of Microsoft and Microsoft
BASIC
After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.[40] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demo, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS,[41] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their partnership "Micro-Soft" and had their first office located in Albuquerque.[41] Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.[41] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.
Microsoft's BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter saying that MITS could not continue to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software without payment.[42] This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.[41] The company moved from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.[40]
During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, Gates personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit.[43]
IBM partnership
IBM approached Microsoft in July 1980 regarding its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC.[44] The computer company first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system.[45] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later, Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000.[46]
Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system.[46] They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry.[47] Despite IBM's name on the operating system the press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the new computer, with PC Magazine asking if Gates were "The Man Behind The Machine?"[44] He oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board.[40]
Windows
Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, and in August, the compa
Books
To date, Bill Gates has authored two books:
The Road Ahead, written with Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold and journalist Peter Rinearson, was published in November 1995. It summarized the implications of the personal computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed by the arrival of a global information superhighway.
Business @ the Speed of Thought was published in 1999, and discusses how business and technology are integrated, and shows how digital infrastructures and information networks can help getting an edge on the competition.
Documentaries
Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
Waiting for "Superman" (2010) [122]
The Virtual Revolution (2010)
Feature films
Pirates of Silicon Valley, a 1999 film which chronicles the rise of Apple and Microsoft from the early 1970s to 1997. Gates is portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall.
The Social Network, a 2010 film which chronicles the development of Facebook. Gates is portrayed by Steve Sires.[123]
Social media
In 2013, Gates became a LinkedIn Influencer.[124]
See also
Biography portal
Microsoft portal
Big History – academic discipline advocated by Bill Gates
List of billionaires
List of college dropout billionaires
List of people who have been pied
List of wealthiest non-inflated historical figures
Paul Allen – Microsoft's co-founder, friend, and fellow billionaire
List of richest Americans in history
Notes
^ Gates regularly documents his share ownership through public U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission form 4 filings.[9][10]
References
^ a b c "William ‘Bill’ Gates", Forbes (profile), retrieved March 2013
^ Manes 1994, p. 11.
^ "Bill Gates (American computer programmer, businessman, and philanthropist)". Retrieved March 20, 2013.
^ "Honoring the Inventor: Bill Gates' Patents". Retrieved March 20, 2013.
^ Wahba, Phil (September 17, 2008). "Bill Gates tops US wealth list 15 years in a row". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2008.
^ "The Washington Post". Archived from the original on September 16, 2012.
^ "Forbes Billionaires list". Archived from the original on May 25, 2012.
^ a b Cuadros, Alex; Harrison, Crayton (May 17, 2013). "Bill Gates Retakes World's Richest Title From Carlos Slim". Forbes. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
^ MSFT (Holdings), NASDAQ
^ MSFT (Symbol), NASDAQ
^ Manes 1994, p. 459.
^ Lesinski 2006, p. 96.
^ "Gates foundation". Archived from the original on May 23, 2012.
^ "Microsoft names Satya Nadella to replace Steve Ballmer". BBC News. 4 February 2014. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
^ "Ancestry of Bill Gates". Wargs. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2010.
^ "Scottish Americans". Alba West. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2009.
^ Manes 1994, p. 15.
^ Manes 1994, p. 47.
^ Lesinski, Jeanne M (September 1, 2008). Bill Gates: Entrepreneur and Philanthropist. Twenty First Century Books. ISBN 978-1-58013-570-2. Retrieved March 10, 2011. "The Gates family regularly went to services at the University Congregational Church."
^ Lowe, Janet (January 5, 2001). Bill Gates Speaks: Insight from the World's Greatest Entrepreneur. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-40169-8. Retrieved March 10, 2011. "The Gates family attended the University Congregational Church, where the Reverend Dale Turner was pastor."
^ Berkowitz, Edward D (2006). Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-12494-2. Retrieved March 10, 2011. "Bill Gates was a member of the baby boom, born in 1955 into an upper-middle-class family near Seattle." He attended the Congregational Church, participated in the Boy Scouts, and went to a fancy private school."
^ Cringely, Robert X. (June 1996). "Part II". Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires. Season 1. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/nerds/part2.html.
^ Manes 1994, p. 24.
^ Manes 1994, p. 27.
^ a b Gates 1996, p. 12.
^ Manes 1994, p. 34.
^ Paul Allen spills the beans on Gates’ criminal past, UK
^ "Remarks by Bill Gates, co-chair", Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Press Room, Spee
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