This article will answer every question you have about Bill Gates. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about him.
- What does Bill Gates do for a living?
- Who are Bill Gates’s parents and siblings?
- What are Bill Gates’s interests and hobbies?
- Is Bill Gates married or does he have a girlfriend?
- Does Bill Gates have any children?
- Where is Bill Gates now?
- How tall is Bill Gates?
- How much money does Bill Gates earn?
- What is Bill Gates’s net worth?
N/B: Please read the entire post to have all your questions answered.
Who is Bill Gates?
Bill Gates is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. 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 considered one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It went on to become the world’s largest personal computer software company. Gates led the company as chairman and CEO 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.
Since 1987, he has been included in the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people. From 1995 to 2017, he held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world every year except from 2010 to 2013. In 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’s net worth of US$89.9 billion at the time. As of April 2021, Gates had an estimated net worth of US$146.7 billion, making him the third-richest person in the world.
Bill Gates’s Career
Microsoft
BASIC
Gates read the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics which demonstrated the Altair 8800, and he contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform. In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS’s interest. MITS president Ed Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks, they developed an Altair emulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter.
Partnership with IBM
IBM, the leading supplier of computer equipment to commercial enterprises at the time, approached Microsoft in July 1980 concerning software for its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC. IBM first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. IBM’s representatives also mentioned that they needed an operating system, and Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system.
Windows
Microsoft and Gates launched their first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, in an attempt to fend off competition from Apple’s Macintosh GUI, which had bewitched consumers with its simplicity and ease of use. In August of the following year, the company struck a deal with IBM to develop a separate operating system called OS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences.
The operating system grew out of DOS in an organic fashion over a decade, until with Windows 95 the DOS text screen was relegated to the closet. Windows XP, released one year after Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO, reportedly was the first to not be based on DOS. Windows 8.1 was the last version of the OS released before Gates left the Chair of the firm to John W. Thompson on February 5, 2014. As of 2020, the latest release is known as Windows 10.
Post-Microsoft
Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates has continued his philanthropy and works on other projects. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gates was the world’s highest-earning billionaire in 2013, as his net worth increased by US$15.8 billion to US$78.5 billion. As of January 2014, most of Gates’s assets are held in Cascade Investment LLC, an entity through which he owns stakes in numerous businesses, including Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and Corbis Corp. On February 4, 2014, Gates stepped down as chairman of Microsoft to become “technology advisor” at the firm, alongside CEO Satya Nadella.
On March 13, 2020, Microsoft announced Gates would be leaving his board positions at Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft to dedicate his efforts to philanthropic endeavours such as climate change, global health and development, and education.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates has widely been looked at by media outlets as an expert on the issue, despite him not being a public official or having any prior medical training. His foundation did, however, establish the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in 2020 to hasten the development and evaluation of new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients for COVID-19, and, as of February 2021, Gates expressed that he and Anthony Fauci frequently talk and collaborate on matters including vaccines and other medical innovations to fight the pandemic.
Books by Gates
- The Road Ahead: written with Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold and journalist Peter Rinearson, was published in November 1995. It summarized the implications of the personal computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed by the arrival of a global information superhighway.
- Business @ the Speed of Thought: was published in 1999, and discusses how business and technology are integrated, and shows how digital infrastructures and information networks can help to get an edge on the competition.
- How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: (February 2021) presents what Gates learned in over a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address climate problems.
How Old is Bill Gates?
Gates was born on October 28, 1955,Seattle, Washington, U.S. He is currently 65 years old.
Bill Gates‘s Family
Who are Bill Gates’s parents?
Gates is the son of William H. Gates Sr. (1925–2020) and Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994). His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way of America.
Does Bill Gates have siblings?
Gates has two sisters named Libby Gates MacPhee and Kristi Gates.
Bill Gates‘s Education
Gates enrolled in the private Lakeside prep school, where he wrote his first software program. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SAT) and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. He chose a pre-law major but took mathematics and graduate-level computer science courses. While at Harvard, he met fellow student Steve Ballmer. Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer stayed and graduated magna cum laude. Years later, Ballmer succeeded Gates as Microsoft’s CEO and maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation in 2014.
Bill Gates‘s Wife and Kids
Gates married Melinda French on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai on January 1, 1994. They have three children: Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe.
Bill Gates’s Net Worth
Gates has an estimated net worth of 129.9 billion USD.
Height/Measurements
Gate stands at a height of 5 ft 9.5 in tall.