Bill Gates
Born 1955 · Age 70
Co-founder of Microsoft, technology entrepreneur and leading philanthropist; longtime Microsoft CEO/chairman turned full-time philanthropist and founder/chair of multiple investment and energy initiatives.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Seattle, Washington
William Henry Gates III born to William H. Gates Sr. (attorney) and Mary Maxwell Gates (teacher, civic leader).
Enrolled at Lakeside School
Transferred to private Lakeside School where he met Paul Allen and was introduced to computers through the school's terminal program.
Wrote first computer program (tic-tac-toe)
At Lakeside, Gates wrote a tic‑tac‑toe program in BASIC that allowed users to play the computer — his first known software.
Banned then rehired at Computer Center Corporation
Gates, Paul Allen and friends were temporarily banned from CCC for exploiting bugs to obtain free computer time; later negotiated debugging work for access.
Automated Lakeside class-scheduling system
Gates and Kent Evans developed a scheduling program for Lakeside School, earning royalties and valuable early experience.
Served as congressional page
Served as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives (summer program), an early civic/political experience.
Co-founded Traf-O-Data
Started Traf‑O‑Data with Paul Allen to build traffic-counting devices based on the Intel 8008 processor; early entrepreneurial venture.
Graduated Lakeside; scored 1590/1600 on SAT
Graduated from Lakeside School as a National Merit Scholar and achieved a near-perfect SAT score (1590/1600).
Enrolled at Harvard University
Entered Harvard (initially pre‑law) but took advanced math and graduate-level CS courses (e.g., Math 55).
Worked at Honeywell (summer)
Joined Paul Allen at Honeywell for the summer, keeping close collaboration with Allen while at Harvard.
Contacted MITS about Altair BASIC
After reading Popular Electronics, Gates and Allen contacted MITS and developed an Altair emulator and BASIC interpreter to demo to MITS.
Co-founded Micro-Soft / Microsoft
Gates and Allen formed Micro‑Soft (later Microsoft) in 1975 to develop and sell software for microcomputers.
Left Harvard and joined MITS; began partnership with Paul Allen
Took leave from Harvard to work with Paul Allen at MITS in Albuquerque on Altair BASIC; effectively began full-time software entrepreneurship.
Wrote 'An Open Letter to Hobbyists'
Publicly condemned software piracy in the early hobbyist community to assert that software developers deserve payment.
Registered 'Microsoft' trade name
Officially registered the trade name 'Microsoft' with New Mexico authorities (dropped hyphen within a year).
Early revenue milestone: >$1M in sales
Microsoft's growth reached early revenue milestones (reports indicate sales exceeded $1 million by 1978).
Moved Microsoft HQ to Bellevue, Washington
Microsoft relocated from Albuquerque to Bellevue (near Seattle), positioning the company in Gates' home region.
IBM approached Microsoft for PC software
IBM sought Microsoft to supply BASIC and ultimately an operating system for the forthcoming IBM PC; Gates referred IBM to Digital Research initially.
Acquired 86‑DOS (QDOS) and delivered PC DOS to IBM for $50,000
Microsoft licensed/adapted 86‑DOS from Seattle Computer Products and provided the OS to IBM as PC DOS; initial IBM fee to Microsoft was a one‑time $50,000.
Microsoft re‑incorporated; Gates becomes president & chairman
Microsoft reorganized and incorporated in Washington state; Gates installed as president and chairman, Paul Allen as VP/vice chairman.
First retail release of Microsoft Windows
Microsoft launched Windows (graphical shell) to compete with GUI systems like the Macintosh; major product milestone.
Microsoft initial public offering (IPO)
Microsoft went public on NASDAQ at ~$21/share; the IPO established Gates as a major shareholder and made him a millionaire.
Became a billionaire (youngest at the time)
Following Microsoft stock appreciation he became the world's youngest billionaire (age 31).
Founded Corbis (digital image archive)
Launched Corbis to license art and photography collections and later expand into digital media services.
Introduced Microsoft Office suite
Microsoft released Microsoft Office (bundle of Word, Excel, PowerPoint), which became a core revenue driver.
Windows 3.0 major success
Windows 3.0 shipped and sold ~100,000 copies in two weeks, helping cement Windows as dominant OS for PCs.
Married Melinda French
Gates married Melinda French (a Microsoft product manager); the partnership later became central to his philanthropic work.
Published 'The Road Ahead'
Gates released the bestseller 'The Road Ahead' outlining his vision of computing's future.
Became world's richest person (start of long run)
Forbes ranked Gates as the world's richest person beginning in 1995 (he would hold the title many years).
Microsoft acquired Hotmail (MSN Hotmail)
Microsoft purchased Hotmail (webmail service) and integrated it into MSN, later evolving into Outlook.com.
U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit filed
DOJ sued Microsoft for alleged anticompetitive practices; litigation became a defining public-policy battle for the company.
Published 'Business @ the Speed of Thought'
Gates published another bestseller exploring how digital technology transforms business.
First centibillionaire (net worth > $100B)
Gates briefly became the world's first centibillionaire when his net worth exceeded $100 billion.
Founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (merged)
Combined family foundations into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to focus on global health, education and poverty; initial major endowments followed.
Stepped down as Microsoft CEO; became Chief Software Architect
Handed CEO role to Steve Ballmer and moved to an architect role to focus on product strategy and philanthropy.
Antitrust ruling partially overturned; settlement reached
Initial 2000 district judge breakup order was overturned on appeal; DOJ and Microsoft reached a settlement Nov 2, 2001.
Named Time Person(s) of the Year (with Melinda Gates and Bono)
Time named Bill and Melinda Gates (and Bono) Person(s) of the Year for philanthropic work.
Honorary knighthood (KBE) & other honors
Received honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and other international recognitions.
Announced transition away from day‑to‑day Microsoft duties
Publicly said he would phase out executive role to focus on philanthropy; transition completed over following two years.
Warren Buffett pledged major donation to Gates Foundation
Warren Buffett announced an ongoing gift (eventually ~$31 billion) to the foundation, dramatically increasing its assets.
Received honorary law degree from Harvard
Harvard awarded Gates an honorary degree; he gave the commencement address emphasizing social application of discoveries.
Major donation to healthcare initiatives in India
The Gates Foundation committed significant funds to improve healthcare in India (various grants and partnerships).
Retired from day-to-day Microsoft operations
Completed his last full day at Microsoft to dedicate more time to the foundation; retained board/chair roles initially.
Co‑founded The Giving Pledge with Warren Buffett
Launched initiative encouraging billionaires to commit to give away at least half their wealth to philanthropy.
Received Silver Buffalo Award (Boy Scouts of America)
Awarded the Boy Scouts of America's highest commendation for distinguished national-level service.
Launched 'Reinvent the Toilet Challenge'
Through the Gates Foundation, launched a competition to develop sanitation technologies for areas without traditional infrastructure.
Presented new Polio Endgame Plan at Global Vaccine Summit
Gates Foundation unveiled new polio eradication 'Endgame Plan' at Abu Dhabi summit to accelerate eradication efforts.
Tripled funding match with Rotary for polio
Gates Foundation agreed to triple every new dollar Rotary International dedicates to polio eradication annually through 2018.
India certified polio-free (WHO milestone tied to Gates work)
India was declared polio-free in 2014 — a milestone tied to global eradication efforts supported by Gates Foundation funding and programs.
Stepped down as Microsoft chairman; became technology adviser
Left chair role and took an advisory role to new CEO Satya Nadella while remaining on the board until 2020.
Founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Launched BEV — a VC fund led by Gates focused on investing in technologies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Awarded Padma Bhushan (India)
India honored Bill and Melinda Gates with the Padma Bhushan for their contributions to social and philanthropic work.
Received Presidential Medal of Freedom
Awarded jointly with Melinda by President Obama for philanthropic work in global health and development.
Sold Corbis Images library to Chinese firm
Corbis images archive was sold (January 2016) to a Chinese buyer as part of a restructuring of Gates' media assets.
Received France's Legion of Honor
Awarded the Legion of Honor by France for contributions to technology and philanthropy.
Paul Allen died; Gates and Allen had reconciled before his death
Paul Allen (Microsoft co‑founder and longtime friend) died in October 2018; Gates and Allen had repaired their relationship earlier.
Netflix documentary 'Inside Bill's Brain' premiered
Three‑part documentary series exploring Gates's life, accomplishments and philanthropic work premiered in 2019.
Admitted losing the mobile OS race to Android
Publicly stated that failing to win the mobile OS market was his biggest mistake, partly blaming antitrust distractions.
Resigned from Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway boards to focus on philanthropy
Announced in March 2020 that he would step down from both boards to concentrate on global health, climate and education initiatives.
Launched COVID‑19 Therapeutics Accelerator (Gates Foundation)
Foundation established efforts (including Therapeutics Accelerator) to accelerate development and evaluation of COVID‑19 treatments and tools.
Published 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster'
Gates published a major book outlining solutions and innovations required to achieve net‑zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Bill and Melinda Gates announced divorce
After 27 years of marriage the couple announced their separation/divorce but pledged to continue philanthropic collaboration.
Published 'How to Prevent the Next Pandemic'
Gates published a book laying out lessons from COVID‑19 and proposals to proactively prevent future pandemics.
€1.1B financing partnership announced for health innovations
European Commission, EIB and the Gates Foundation announced a €1.1 billion financing partnership to eradicate polio and strengthen health systems.
Melinda French Gates resigns as co‑chair; foundation renamed Gates Foundation
After the divorce and Melinda's resignation as co‑chair, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was renamed the Gates Foundation with Bill Gates as sole chair.
Continues role as Microsoft technology adviser (occasional product reviews)
Though no longer on the board, Gates continues as a technology adviser to Microsoft leadership and does occasional product reviews.
Published memoir 'Source Code: My Beginnings'
Released the first of a planned three-volume memoirs covering childhood and formative years (ends in 1979 in the book).
Announced commitment to donate ~99% of remaining fortune to foundation
In May 2025 Gates announced he would donate ~99% of his remaining fortune (then reported about $107B) to the Gates Foundation to accelerate targeted programs.
Public net worth estimates (May 2025)
Forbes estimated Gates' net worth at US$115.1B (May 2025); other trackers vary — Bloomberg, Forbes and others report fluctuating figures.
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