Bill Gates: Microsoft Co-Founder & Philanthropist
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William Henry Gates III
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation.[2][3] During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president, and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He is one of the best-known entrepreneurs and pioneers of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Gates launched Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; it went on to become the world's largest personal computer software company.[4][a] Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, but he remained chairman and became chief software architect.[7] In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning to a part-time role at Microsoft and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the private charitable foundation that he and his wife, Melinda Gates, established in 2000.[8] He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie.[9] He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 and assumed a new post as technology adviser to support the newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.[10]
Microsoft's Business Tactics
Throughout his tenure at Microsoft in the 1990s, Gates had been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[11]
Wealth and Rankings
Since 1987, he has been included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest documented individuals.[12][13] From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world for all but four of those years.[1] Since October 2017, he was surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who had an estimated net worth of US$90.6 billion compared to Gates' net worth of US$89.9 billion at the time.[14] As of November 9, 2019, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$107.1 billion, making him the second wealthiest person in the world, behind Bezos. On November 15, 2019, following a 48% increase in Microsoft shares, he surpassed Bezos to once again become the richest person in the world.