Today, Bill Gates can be described as one of the world’s most beloved grandpas. A feat that is remarkable when his magnanimous wealth and the general feeling of the global population towards wealthy men are considered. For a long time, especially in his younger years as the CEO of Microsoft, the world held the same animosity towards Bill Gates as it does the majority of its billionaires until recently when a combination of his charm, his philanthropy, and his disappearance from corporate business helped him build a reputation as an adorable and lovable man.
In his life, Bill has achieved enough to be regarded to be one of the most successful and brilliant people to ever live on the planet. The work of his company, Microsoft helped revolutionized technology, using the proceeds from his genius to build long-lasting wealth. There is so much to learn about Bill Gates, and you can learn a few of them by reading below.
Bill Gates – Biography
Perhaps he didn’t know how big at the time, but there was no doubt in the mind of William Henry Gates III when he and Paul Allen launched Microsoft that it would be a successful company. Today, the company is the leading name in computer operating systems all over the world.
Bill Gates was born on the 28th of October 1955 to the couple, William H. Gates Snr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. Although part of his mythos is the description that he built a billion-dollar company despite as a dropout, he was a mathematical genius who was born to financially comfortable parents. His father was a prominent lawyer while his mother was on the board of directors of a bank and a popular non-profit organization. Gates was born as the middle child in a family of three children, with two sisters named Kristianne and Libby.
Bill’s genius started to manifest at an early age, writing his first software program when he was a teenager at the age of 13 while he attended Lakeside School. Right at Lakeside School, Bill was already an expert on computer languages like FORTRAN, Lisp, and Machine Language. In his spare time, he worked for CCC and Information Sciences, Inc. where he wrote programs in COBOL. By the time Bill was graduating high school, he had several computer skills, a working experience that included working as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives, and his first computer venture, Traf-O-Data. At graduation, he held a distinguished award as a National Merit Scholar.
One of the uniqueness of Bill Gates as a young man was his decision to drop out of Harvard to build his company after spending two years in the prestigious school. Despite securing a seat in the famous university to study mathematics and computer science, he quit after two years and started his epic adventure with Paul Allen. Today, that adventure has grown to become one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Through the brilliance of Bill Gates, products like Windows, the most popular operating system, and Microsoft Office were launched in 1985 and 1990 respectively. As the chairman and CEO of Microsoft, a position he held from the company’s establishment to 2014, he was heavily involved in the product strategy of the company, during which his competitive nature helped him create a reputation as a difficult person.
After stepping down from his role as CEO in 2014, Bill Gates transitioned to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he, along with his wife has been driving some of the biggest improvements in modern life.
Bill Gates – Net Worth
Bill Gates, since 1987, has been on the list of the wealthiest people in the world compiled by the popular financial magazine, Forbes. He held the position of the richest man in the world from 1995 to 2017, losing his title only four times in the 22-year span. He is currently considered to be worth $95.4 billion, having lost his position as the richest man in the world to Jeff Bezos.
Bill Gates - Businesses
While he is most famous for Microsoft and its slew of products which include popular lineups like Xbox, and Microsoft Office, among others, Bill Gates has a list of other established companies through which he has pursued his other entrepreneurial interests. Some of them include TerraPower, Eclipse Aviation, Corbis, bgC3, ResearchGate, and Cascade Investments.
Bill Gates – Family
Ever since he relinquished his position as the head of Microsoft, his family life has risen in popularity in the media as part of his rebranding as the world’s most beloved grandpa. He has a wife, Melinda French whom he married in January 1994 and the couple have three children – Rory John, Phoebe Adele, and Jennifer Katharine. The family lives in a mansion believed to be worth $125 million in Washington, United States.
Bill Gates – Philanthropy
For wealthy men, philanthropy is a small gesture effort they use to massage their public image but for Bill Gates, it is a lifestyle he has embraced, both as a moral responsibility and as a scientific quest. Bill, whose mother served on one of the biggest nonprofit organizations in America and grew up spending many hours with renowned philanthropist, David Rockefeller has strong attachments to philanthropy. He has been able to pursue this passion through his foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has been at the forefront of scientific research geared toward creating cheaper and more efficient ways of living. The foundation has given over $28 billion to charity and tackled several large-scale problems in developed and under-developed countries. Bill Gates and his wife have pledged as part of the Giving Pledge, to donate 95% of their wealth to charity at the time of their death.
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How Did Bill Gates Impact the World: Critical Essay.
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