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

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Bill Gates
$\"Bill$ Gates in 2024
Born	William Henry Gates III (1955-10-28) October 28, 1955 (age 69) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (dropped out)
Occupations	Businessman philanthropist computer programmer writer
Years active	1972\u2013present
Known for	\n Pioneer of the personal computer revolution with Paul Allen \n Co-founding of Microsoft and Gates Foundation \n
Title	\n See list \n Chair of the Gates Foundation\n Chairman and founder of Cascade Investment\n Chairman and founder of Branded Entertainment Network\n Chairman and co-founder of TerraPower\n Founder of Breakthrough Energy\n Founder of Gates Ventures\n Technology advisor of Microsoft \n
Spouse	\n Melinda French \n (m. 1994; div. 2021)
Children	3
Parents	\n Bill Gates Sr. \n Mary Maxwell \n
Awards	\n Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2005) \n Padma Bhushan (2015) \n Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016) \n Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2020) \n Hilal-e-Pakistan (2022) \n
Website	gatesnotes.com
Signature
$\"William$

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Personal

Companies

Traf-O-Data
Microsoft\n
- history
- timeline
- criticism
BENlabs
Cascade Investment
TerraPower
Gates Ventures

Charitable organizations

Writings

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

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. 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.\n

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.\n

Since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the world's top billionaires. From 1995 to 2017, he held the title of the wealthiest person in the world every year except in 2008 and from 2010 to 2013. In 1999, he became the first ever centibillionaire when his net worth briefly surpassed US$100 billion. Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft in 2008, Gates has pursued other business and philanthropic endeavors.\n

He is the founder and chairman of several companies, including BEN, Cascade Investment, TerraPower, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. He has donated 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 towards philanthropy.\n

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v t e Bill Gates
Career	\n Microsoft\n history \n Paul Allen \n Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (CEPI) \n Corbis (BEN) \n Cascade Investment \n United States v. Microsoft antitrust case \n TerraPower \n Gates Ventures \n Big History Project \n Breakthrough Energy \n
Writings	\n \"Open Letter to Hobbyists\" (1976) \n The Road Ahead (1995) \n Business @ the Speed of Thought (1999) \n How to Avoid a Climate Disaster (2021) \n How to Prevent the Next Pandemic (2022) \n Source Code (2025) \n
Philanthropy	\n Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation \n Match for Africa \n climate change \n donations and sporting events \n
Films	\n Triumph of the Nerds (1996) \n Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) \n The Social Network (2010) \n Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (2019) \n
Family	\n Melinda French Gates (ex-wife) \n Bill Gates Sr. (father) \n Mary Maxwell Gates (mother) \n Mimi Gardner Gates (stepmother) \n
Possessions	\n Codex Leicester \n Residence \n Lost on the Grand Banks \n Porsche 959 \n
\n $\"\"$ Category \n $\"\"$ Commons \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
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National	Germany United States France BnF data Japan Australia Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Norway Latvia Croatia Chile Greece Korea Sweden Poland Israel Catalonia Belgium
Academics	CiNii Association for Computing Machinery Scopus DBLP
Artists	ULAN MusicBrainz
People	Trove Deutsche Biographie DDB
Other	IdRef SNAC

Early life and education

Microsoft

BASIC

IBM partnership

Windows

Management style

Post-Microsoft

Business ventures and investments

Climate change and energy

Political positions

Regulation of the software industry

Donald Trump Facebook ban

Patents for COVID-19 vaccines

Cryptocurrencies

Philanthropy

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Personal donations

Charity sports events

Books

Personal life

Marriage, family and divorce

Public image

Religious views

Wealth

Controversies

Antitrust litigation

Treatment of colleagues and employees

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Recognition

Depiction in media

Documentary films about Gates

Feature films

Video and film clips

Radio

Television

Books

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

Primary sources

Further reading

External links

Bill Gates

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