William Henry Gates is an an American business magnate, author and philanthropist. He is the co-founder of Microsoft, the world’s largest software company. As of February 2023, his net worth is $106.4 billion (source: forbes.com).
Personal Information
Complete Name –> William Henry Gates III
Screen Name –> Bill
Birth Date –> October 28, 1955 (Age 67)
Hometown –> Seattle, Wasington, United States
College –> Harvard University (Dropped out in 1975 after 2years)
Course –> Pre-law, mathematics, computer science
Family
Father –> Bill Gates Sr. (Prominent lawyer)
Mother –> Mary Maxwell (Business executive)
Wife –> Melinda French (married 1994; divorced 2021)
Children –> Three
Books Published
1995 – The Road Ahead
1999 – Business @ the Speed of Thought
2021 – How to Avoid a Climate Disaster
2022 – How to Prevent the Next Pandemic
Biography
Bill Gates is the son of a lawyer (father) and a banker (mother). As a teenager, he spent many hours in front of the computer such that before he graduated in high school, he was already an accomplished programmer. With a score of 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT), he was accepted at Harvard University. On his second year at Harvard, he dropped out after reading from a magazine that a new microcomputer called Altair 8800 was released. He wanted to write the operating system for this machine. So, at age 20, he set up Microsoft in 1975 together with Paul Allen, his high school friend. Their first product was the Altair BASIC, an OS dedicated for the Altair 8800 machine which was based on the Intel 8080 microprocessor.
Soon, Microsoft was producing softwares for various systems. In 1980, it entered a partnership with IBM to develop the operating system for its personal computer. The system was called PC-DOS. For other computer manufacturers, it sold the system as MS-DOS. This arrangement landed Microsoft on top of the nascent software industry. In 1985, the company released its first version of Windows. Its near monopoly of the operating system for personal computers has begun.
In 1986, Microsoft was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1999, it became the biggest listed company with a market value of more than $618.9 billion. In 2000, Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of his company. He also gave away the position of chairman of the board in 2014 although he remains a member.
Bill Gates is married to Melinda. They have three children. Currently, most of his wealth is derived from Cascade Investment, the family’s holding company.
Quotes
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
“If you are born poor it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it’s your mistake.”
“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.”
“I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot.”
“To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.”
“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”
“Power comes not from knowledge kept but from knowledge shared.”
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”
“Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning.”
“Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.”
References
https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/
https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/william-h-gates/
See also: United States Historical Events in 365 Days