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Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and writer best known for co-founding the software giant Microsoft, along with his childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief software architect, while also being its largest individual shareholder until May 2014.[2][a] He was a pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.

This article is about the co-founder of Microsoft. For other people with the same name, see Bill Gates (disambiguation).

Bill Gates

William Henry Gates III

(1955-10-28) October 28, 1955

Harvard University (dropped out)

  • Businessman
  • investor
  • philanthropist
  • writer

1972–present

See list
(m. 1994; div. 2021)

3

Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. In 1975, he and Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gates led the company as its chairman and chief executive officer until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and became chief software architect. During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics, which were considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[5] In June 2008, Gates transitioned into a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the private charitable foundation he and his then-wife Melinda had established in 2000.[6] He stepped down as chairman of the Microsoft board in February 2014 and assumed the role of technology adviser to support newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella. In March 2020, Gates left his board positions at Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway to focus on his philanthropic efforts on climate change, global health and development, and education.[7]


Since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's billionaires. From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world every year except in 2008 and from 2010 to 2013. In October 2017, he was surpassed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who had an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion compared to Gates's net worth of US$89.9 billion at the time. As of April 2024, Gates has an estimated net worth of US$150 billion, making him the fifth-richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[8]


Later in his career and since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates has pursued other business and philanthropic endeavors. He is the founder and chairman of several companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. He has donated sizable amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, reported to be the world's largest private charity. Through the foundation, he led an early 21st century vaccination campaign that significantly contributed to the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Africa. In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett founded The Giving Pledge, whereby they and other billionaires pledge to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropy.[9]

an automotive retailer which trades on the NYSE and in which Gates has a 16% stake.[83]

AutoNation

LLC, a think-tank and research company founded by Gates.[84]

bgC3

a Canadian Class I freight railway. As of 2019, Gates is the single largest shareholder of the company.[85]

Canadian National Railway (CN)

Cascade Investment

[86]

Carbon Engineering

[90]

(originally named Interactive Home Systems and now known as Branded Entertainment Network), a digital image licensing and rights services company founded and chaired by Gates.[95]

Corbis

a Seattle-based startup company aiming to blanket the Earth with live satellite video coverage. Gates is a large financial backer.[96]

EarthNow

a defunct manufacturer of very light jets. Gates was a major stake-holder early on in the project.[97]

Eclipse Aviation

a company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat products. Some of the $396 million Patrick O. Brown collected for his business came from Gates around 2014 to 2017.[98][99][100]

Impossible Foods

a global provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services to the food, energy, healthcare, industrial and hospitality markets. Combined with the shares owned by the Foundation, Gates owns 11.6% of the company. A shareholder agreement in 2012 allowed him to own up to 25% of the company, but this agreement was removed.[101]

Ecolab

a social networking site for scientists. Gates participated in a $35 million round of financing along with other investors.[102]

ResearchGate

a nuclear reactor design company co-founded and chaired by Gates, which is developing next generation traveling-wave reactor nuclear power plants in an effort to tackle climate change.[103][104][105][106][107]

TerraPower

a closed fund for wealthy individuals who seek ROI on a 20-year horizon (see next section), which "is funding green start-ups and a host of other low-carbon entrepreneurial projects, including everything from advanced nuclear technology to synthetic breast milk." It was founded by Gates in 2015.[108]

Breakthrough Energy Ventures

a biotech startup that received $350 million in venture funding in 2019, in part from Gates's investment firm Cascade Investment.[109]

Ginkgo Bioworks

Luminous Computing, a company that develops photonic integrated circuits for AI acceleration.

neuromorphic

Mologic, a British diagnostic technology company that Gates purchased, along with the , "which has developed 10-minute Covid lateral flow tests that it aims to make for as little as $1."[110]

Soros Economic Development Fund

Gates has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio with stakes in companies in various sectors and has participated in several entrepreneurial ventures beyond Microsoft, including:

, co-authored 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.

The Road Ahead

, co-authored with Collins Hemingway, was published in 1999, and discusses how business and technology are integrated, and shows how digital infrastructures and information networks can help to get an edge on the competition.

Business @ the Speed of Thought

, published in February 2021, presents what Gates learned in over a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address climate problems.[174]

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

, published in April 2022, details the COVID-19 pandemic and proposes a "Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization" (GERM) team with annual funding of $1 billion,[175] under the auspices of the WHO.[176]

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

Gates has authored four books:

Time magazine named Gates as in 1999, as well as one of the 100 most influential people in 2004, 2005, and 2006 respectively.[248]

one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century

Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts.[249] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time" published by New Statesman.[250]

Bono

Gates was listed in the London power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998, ranked number two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999, and was included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001.[251]

Sunday Times

Gates was elected a Member of the US in 1996 "for contributions to the founding and development of personal computing".[252]

National Academy of Engineering

He was awarded 1998.[253]

American Library Association Honorary Membershipin

He was elected a foreign member of the in 2017.[254]

Chinese Academy of Engineering

According to Forbes, Gates was ranked as the fourth most powerful person in the world in 2012, up from fifth in 2011.[256]

[255]

In 1994, he was honored as the 20th (DFBCS). In 1999, Gates received New York Institute of Technology's President's Medal.[257]

Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society

Gates has received honorary doctorates from (1996),[258] KTH Royal Institute of Technology (2002),[259] Waseda University (2005),[260] Tsinghua University (2007),[261] Harvard University (2007),[262] the Karolinska Institute (2007),[263] the University of Cambridge (2009),[264] and Northern Arizona University (2023).[265][266]

Nyenrode Business Universiteit

He was also made an honorary trustee of in 2007.[267]

Peking University

Gates was made an Honorary (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005.[268]

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire

In January 2006, he was awarded the by the then President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio.

Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry

In November 2006, he was awarded the , together with his wife Melinda who was awarded the Insignia of the same order, both for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores".[269]

Placard of the Order of the Aztec Eagle

Gates received the 2010 from The Franklin Institute for his achievements at Microsoft and his philanthropic work.[270]

Bower Award for Business Leadership

Also in 2010, he was honored with the by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults, for his service to youth.[271]

Silver Buffalo Award

In 2002, Bill and Melinda Gates received the for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.[272]

Jefferson Award

He was given the 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award from .[273]

the Tech Awards

In 2015, Gates and his wife Melinda received the , India's third-highest civilian award for their social work in the country.[274][275]

Padma Bhushan

In 2016, honored Bill and Melinda Gates with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for their philanthropic efforts.[276]

Barack Obama

In 2017, awarded Bill and Melinda Gates with France's highest national order, as Commanders in the Legion of Honour, for their charity efforts.[277]

François Hollande

In 2019 Gates was awarded the of the Cambridge Union in the University of Cambridge.[278]

Professor Hawking Fellowship

named Bill Gates' flower fly, Eristalis gatesi, in his honor in 1997.[279]

Entomologists

In 2020, Gates received the for his contributions to Japan and the world in regards to worldwide technological transformation and advancement of global health.[280]

Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun

In 2021, Gates was nominated at the 11th annual for the crossover for his personal YouTube channel.[281]

Streamy Awards

In 2022, Gates received the , the second-highest civilian award in Pakistan for his social work in the country.

Hilal-e-Pakistan

(1990)

The Machine That Changed the World

(1996)

Triumph of the Nerds

(1998)

Nerds 2.0.1

(2010)[283]

Waiting for "Superman"

(2010)

The Virtual Revolution

(2019)

Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates

Big History Project

List of richest Americans in history

Fridson, Martin (2001). How to Be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth. . ISBN 0-471-41617-7.

John Wiley & Sons

Gates, Bill (1996). . Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-026040-4.

The Road Ahead

Lesinski, Jeanne M. (2006). Bill Gates (biography). . ISBN 0-8225-7027-0.

A&E Television Networks

Manes, Stephen (1994). Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America. . ISBN 0-671-88074-8.

Touchstone Pictures

Wallace, James (1993). . New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-471-56886-4.

Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

Bank, David (2001). . New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-0315-1. OCLC 46634139.

Breaking Windows: How Bill Gates Fumbled the Future of Microsoft

. The Economist. June 28, 2008. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010.

"The Meaning of Bill Gates: As His Reign at Microsoft Comes to an End, so Does the Era He Dominated"

(October 25, 2004). "The Man Who Could Have Been Bill Gates". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on April 4, 2006. Retrieved June 9, 2010.

Kildall, Gary

Leibovich, Mark (2002). . Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. pp. [ 139–182]. ISBN 9780735203174. OCLC 47990010.

The New Imperialists

Rivlin, Gary (1999). . New York: Times Business. ISBN 0-8129-3006-1.

The Plot to Get Bill Gates: An Irreverent Investigation of the World's Richest Man... and the People Who Hate Him

Wallace, James (1997). Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace. New York: John Wiley & Sons.  9780471180418. OCLC 36201264.

ISBN

. Wired. Vol. 6, no. 12. December 1998. Archived from the original on August 22, 2010.

"83 Reasons Why Bill Gates's Reign Is Over"

Official website

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

on C-SPAN

Appearances

at IMDb

Bill Gates

at TED

Bill Gates

Forbes profile