Bill Gates

**William Henry Gates III** (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman, as the co-founder and former chairman of Microsoft.

He is the thirteenth-richest person in the world, with his net worth stood at US$115.1 billion, as of May 2025.

## Early life

William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955 at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, U.S.  He has British and German ancestry. His father William H. Gates, Sr. was a lawyer. His mother Mary Maxwell Gates served on the board of directors for First Interstate Banksystem and the United Way. His parents wanted him to be a lawyer. At the age of 13, Bill went to Lakeside High School.

### College career and the Founding of Microsoft

He was a freshman at Harvard University in 1973. He left Harvard to make software.  Bill Gates saw an opportunity to transform the personal computer, which was expensive and difficult to use.  He decided that computers could be made less expensive and easier to use.  Gates started Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gates then went on to develop the Windows operating system, which at first wasn't well-received but with time became the most used system in the world.

### Retirement, philanthropy and charity work

In 2006, Gates announced he was going to quit his job at Microsoft. This was so he could do more charity work with his wife, Melinda. Their charity is called the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates' philanthropy projects have included vaccination of children in sub-Saharan Africa, scholarship programs in the United States, and a mission to help organize other billionaires to redistribute their wealth. He likes to give money and support to human rights, education, and technological innovation.

Gates stepped down from his CEO position in Microsoft in 1998 and Steve Ballmer did the job instead. On June 16, 2007, Microsoft said that Gates, the chairman of Microsoft, will come in on a day-to-day schedule to continue working with his charity organization full-time for the years to come. On 2014, Satya Nadella became the new CEO of Microsoft and Bill Gates came back as the Chief Technology Adviser. On March 13, 2020, Bill Gates completely left Microsoft so that he can focus on charity work. He is now focusing on charity work for climate change, global health and development, and education.

He was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, for his services to philanthropy and charity. As an American citizen, he cannot be called "Sir Bill Gates", but can use the letters "KBE" after his name.

Melinda French divorced with Bill Gates since May 3, 2021. Even though they divorced, they stated that they will keep working on charity events.

### Net worth

In 1986, Gates took Microsoft public. The company's stock was worth $520 million. Gates owned 45 percent of the stock himself, which was worth $234 million. The company continued its rapid growth and the stock price soared. At one point, Gates' stock was worth over $100 billion. This made him the richest man in the world, until October 2017, when Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos became even richer than him.

He was the richest man in the world. In October 2017, his net worth was surpassed by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Bezos 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 January 2021, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$163 billion, making him the third-richest person in the world. And now, he is the third-richest person in the world behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in net worth as of January 2021.

## Personal life

Bill Gates enjoys reading. He owns a large home library, and its ceiling is decorated with a quote from _The Great Gatsby_. He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis and golf. Every day, he writes down a daily schedule for every minute of the day, similarly to the U.S. president's schedule. Even though Gates is rich and frequently travels to work, he formerly flew in an economy class aircraft until 1997. Since 1997, the year when he bought a private jet, he travels in his private jet instead.

In 2016, he revealed that he was color-blind.

On May 10, 2022, Gates said that he tested positive for COVID-19. He was experiencing mild symptoms of COVID-19. Gates has received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

## Related pages

- Steve Jobs, founder of Apple
- Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook
- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

## Other websites

- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Bill Gates
- **image**: Bill Gates - 2023 - P062021-967902 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Gates in 2023
- **birth name**: William Henry Gates III
- **birth place**: Seattle, Washington, U.S.
- **occupation**: Business magnate, investor, author, programmer, philanthropist, humanitarian
- **known for**: Principal founder of Microsoft
- **children**: 3
- **signature**: Bill Gates signature.svg
- **signature alt**: Gates' signature