 |
William Henry Gates III.
|
Bill Gates full name- William Henry Gates III.
Born on 28th of October 1955 in Seattle, Washington.
Married to Melinda Gates and has 3 children.
Entrepreneur Bill Gates founded the world's largest software business, Microsoft, with Paul Allen, and subsequently became one of the richest men in the world. Born in Seattle, Washington, in 1955, well known business visionary Bill Gates started to demonstrate an enthusiasm for PC programming at age 13. Through mechanical advancement, sharp business procedure and forceful business strategies, he and accomplice Paul Allen fabricated the world's biggest programming business, Microsoft. All the while, Gates got to be distinctly one of the wealthiest men on the planet. In February 2014, Gates declared that he was venturing down as Microsoft's executive.
Early Career
Bill Gates was conceived William Henry Gates III on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. Entryways started to demonstrate an enthusiasm for PC programming at 13 years old at the Lakeside School. He sought after his enthusiasm through school. Striking out all alone with his companion and business accomplice Paul Allen, Gates ended up at the opportune place at the correct time. Through mechanical development, sharp business system and forceful business strategies, he manufactured the world's biggest programming business, Microsoft. Simultaneously, Gates got to be distinctly one of the wealthiest men on the planet.
Gates enrolled at Harvard University in the fall, originally thinking of a career in law. But his freshman year saw him spend more of his time in the computer lab than in class. Gates did not really have a study regimen. Instead, he could get by on a few hours of sleep, cram for a test, and pass with a reasonable grade.
Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, who, after attending Washington State University for two years, dropped out and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to work for Honeywell. Around this time, Allen showed Gates an edition of Popular Electronics magazine featuring an article on the Altair 8800 mini-computer kit. Both boys were fascinated with the possibilities that this computer could create in the world of personal computing. The Altair was made by a small company in Albuquerque, New Mexico, called Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Gates and Allen contacted the company, proclaiming that they were working on a BASIC software program that would run the Altair computer. In reality, they didn't have an Altair to work with or the code to run it, but they wanted to know if MITS was interested in someone developing such software. MITS was, and its president, Ed Roberts, asked the boys for a demonstration. Gates and Allen scrambled, spending the next two months writing the software at Harvard's computer lab. Allen traveled to Albuquerque for a test run at MITS, never having tried it out on an Altair computer. It worked perfectly. Allen was hired at MITS, and Gates soon left Harvard to work with him, much to his parents' dismay. In 1975, Gates and Allen formed a partnership they called Micro-Soft, a blend of "micro-computer" and "software."
Microsoft (Gates and Allen dropped the hyphen in less than a year) started off on shaky footing. Though their BASIC software program for the Altair computer netted the company a fee and royalties, it wasn't meeting their overhead. Microsoft's BASIC software was popular with computer hobbyists, who obtained pre-market copies and were reproducing and distributing them for free. According to Gates's later account, only about 10 percent of the people using BASIC in the Altair computer had actually paid for it. At this time, much of the personal computer enthusiasts were people not in it for the money. They felt the ease of reproduction and distribution allowed them to share software with friends and fellow computer enthusiasts. Bill Gates thought differently. He saw the free distribution of software as stealing, especially when it involved software that was created to be sold.
In February 1976, Gates wrote an open letter to computer hobbyists, saying that continued distribution and use of software without paying for it would "prevent good software from being written." In essence, pirating software would discourage developers from investing time and money into creating quality software. The letter was unpopular with computer enthusiasts, but Gates stuck to his beliefs and would use the threat of innovation as a defense when faced with charges of unfair business practices.
Gates had a more acrimonious relationship with MITS president Ed Roberts, often resulting in shouting matches. The combative Gates clashed with Roberts on software development and the direction of the business. Roberts considered Gates spoiled and obnoxious. In 1977, Roberts sold MITS to another computer company and went back to Georgia to enter medical school and become a country doctor. Gates and Allen were on their own. The pair had to sue the new owner of MITS to retain the software rights they had developed for Altair.
Microsoft wrote software in different formats for other computer companies, and, at the beginning of 1979, Gates moved the company's operations to Bellevue, Washington, just east of Seattle. Gates was glad to be home again in the Pacific Northwest, and threw himself into his work. All 25 employees of the young company had broad responsibilities for all aspects of the operation, product development, business development and marketing. With his acumen for software development and a keen business sense, Gates placed himself as the head of Microsoft, which grossed approximately $2.5 million in 1979. Gates was only 23.
In 1987, a 23-year-old Microsoft item administrator named Melinda French got the attention of Bill Gates, then 32. The splendid and sorted out Melinda was a flawless match for Gates. In time, their relationship developed as they found a close and scholarly association. On January 1, 1994, Melinda and Bill were hitched in Hawaii. However, just a couple of months after the fact awfulness struck Bill Gates as his mom capitulated to bosom growth, passing ceaselessly that June. Doors was crushed.
Bill and Melinda took some time off in 1995 to go to a few nations and get another point of view on life and the world. In 1996, their first girl, Jennifer, was conceived. After a year, Gates moved his family into a 55,000-square-foot, $54-million house on the shore of Lake Washington. Despite the fact that the house serves as a business focus, it is said to be an extremely comfortable home for the couple and their three youngsters. (Their child, Rory, was conceived in 1999, and a moment girl, Phoebe, touched base in 2002.)
Contribution (besides his career)
- With Melinda's influence, Gates took an interest in filling his mother's role as a civic leader. He began to realize that he had an obligation to give more of his wealth to charity. Being the consummate student he was, Gates studied the philanthropic work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, titans of the American industrial revolution. In 1994, Gates and his wife established the William H. Gates Foundation, which was dedicated to supporting education, world health and investment in low-income communities. In 2000, the couple combined several family foundations to form the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They started out by making a $28 billion contribution to set up the foundation.
- Bill Gates stepped down from the day-to-day operations of Microsoft in 2000, turning over the job of CEO to college friend Steve Ballmer, who had been with Microsoft since 1980. He positioned himself as chief software architect so he could concentrate on what was for him the more passionate side of the business, though he remained chairman of the board.
- Over the next few years, his involvement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation occupied much of his time and even more of his interest. In 2006, Gates announced he was transitioning himself from full-time work at Microsoft to devote more quality time to the foundation. His last full day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008.
- In addition to all the accolades of being one of the richest and most successful businessmen in the history of the world, Bill Gates has also received numerous awards for philanthropic work. Time magazine named Gates one of the most influential people of the 20th century. The magazine also named Gates, his wife Melinda and rock band U2's lead singer, Bono, as the 2005 Persons of the Year.
- Gates holds several honorary doctorates from universities throughout the world and an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. In 2006, Gates and his wife were awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the Mexican government for their philanthropic work throughout the world in the areas of health and education.
- In February 2014, Gates announced that he would be stepping down as chairman of Microsoft in order to move into a new position as technology adviser. In addition to Gates's transition, it was reported that longtime Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would be replaced by 46-year-old Satya Nadella.
- Gates continues to devote much of his time and energy to the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The organization tackles international and domestic issues, such as health and education. One aspect of its work in the United States is helping students become college ready. In 2015, Gates spoke out in favor of national Common Core standards in grades K through 12 and charter schools.
- Gates also proved to be a groundbreaking employer around this time: The foundation announced that it would give its employees a year's paid leave after the birth of a child or the adoption of a child.
- In 2016, Gates and his wife Melinda were recognized for their philanthropic work when they were named recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by Barack Obama.
1. Inspiring the era of the home computer.
2. Commercializing the operating system
4. Becoming the richest man in the world
5. In 2006, Warren Buffet gifted $31 billion to the Foundation, which already had over $30 billion of Gates' own money in its coffers. In 2007 alone, the Foundation spent over $2 billion on global education and health initiatives.
Other Facts
- As of 2011, his fortune is worth $59 billion.
- Gates told his university teachers he would be a millionaire by age 30. He became a billionaire at age 31.
- Gates graduated high school in 1973 and scored 1590 of 1600 on the SAT.
- Bill Gates was influenced by John D. Rockefeller and in 1994, he sold some of Microsoft's stocks to build the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- The first computer program that he wrote was a tic-tac-toe game that allowed people to play against the computer.
- Bill Gates earns about $250 every second.