William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28,
1955) is an American business magnate, investor, author and philanthropist.[2][3] In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft,
which became the world's largest PC software company. During his career at
Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief
software architect, and was the largest individual shareholder until
May 2014.[4][a] Gates has authored and co-authored several
books.
Starting in 1987, Gates was included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest
people[7] and was the wealthiest from 1995 to 2007,
again in 2009, and has been since 2014.[8] Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled from US$40 billion to more than US$82 billion.[9] Between 2013 and 2014, his wealth increased by US$15 billion.[10] Gates is currently the wealthiest person in
the world with an estimated net worth of US$81.7 billion as of October
2016.[11]
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been
considered anti-competitive, an opinion that has in some cases
been upheld by numerous court rulings.[12] Later in his career Gates pursued a number of
philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various charitable
organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
established in 2000.
Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in
January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief
software architect for himself.[13] In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be
transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time
work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[14] He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie (chief software architect) and Craig Mundie (chief research and strategy officer).[15] Ozzie later left the company. Gates' last
full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008.[15] He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft, in
February 2014, taking on a new post as technology adviser to support newly
appointed CEO Satya Nadella.[16]
Early life
Gates was born in Seattle, Washington
on October 28, 1955. He is the son of William H. Gates, Sr.[b] and Mary
Maxwell Gates. Gates' ancestral origin includes English, German, and
Irish, Scots-Irish.[17][18] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his
mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates' maternal grandfather was JW
Maxwell, a national
bank president. Gates has
one elder sister, Kristi (Kristianne), and one younger sister, Libby. He was
the fourth of his name in his family, but was known as William Gates III or
"Trey" because his father had the "II" suffix.[19] Early on in his life, Gates' parents had a law
career in mind for him.[20] When Gates was young, his family regularly
attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches, a Protestant Reformed denomination.[21][22][23] The family encouraged competition; one visitor
reported that "it didn't matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock ... there was always a
reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing".[24]
At 13, he enrolled in the Lakeside School, a private preparatory school.[25] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers
Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School's rummage sale to buy a Teletype
Model 33 ASR terminal and a
block of computer time on a General Electric (GE) computer for the school's students.[26] Gates took an interest in programming the GE
system in BASIC, and was excused from math classes to pursue
his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine: an
implementation of tic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the
computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute
software code perfectly. When he reflected back on that moment, he said,
"There was just something neat about the machine."[27] After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted,
he and other students sought time on systems including DEC PDP minicomputers. One of
these systems was a PDP-10 belonging to Computer Center Corporation
(CCC), which banned four Lakeside students – Gates, Paul Allen, Ric Weiland, and
Kent Evans – for the summer after it caught them exploiting bugs in the
operating system to obtain free computer time.[28][29]
At the end of the ban, the four students offered to find bugs in
CCC's software in exchange for computer time. Rather than use the system via
Teletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studied source
code for various programs
that ran on the system, including programs in Fortran, Lisp, and machine
language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970, when the
company went out of business. The following year, Information Sciences, Inc.
hired the four Lakeside students to write a payroll program in Cobol,
providing them computer time and royalties. After his administrators became
aware of his programming abilities, Gates wrote the school's computer program
to schedule students in classes. He modified the code so that he was placed in
classes with "a disproportionate number of interesting girls."[30] He later stated that "it was hard to tear
myself away from a machine at which I could so unambiguously demonstrate
success."[27] At age 17, Gates formed a venture with Allen,
called Traf-O-Data, to make traffic counters based on the Intel
8008processor.[31] In early 1973, Bill Gates served as a
congressional page in the U.S. House of Representatives.[32]
Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973, and was a National Merit Scholar.[33] He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT[34] and enrolled at Harvard
College in the autumn of 1973.[35] While at Harvard, he met Steve Ballmer, who
would later succeed Gates as CEO of Microsoft.[36]
In his second year, Gates devised an algorithm for pancake
sorting as a solution to one
of a series of unsolved problems[37] presented in acombinatorics class by Harry
Lewis, one of his professors. Gates' solution held the record as the
fastest version for over thirty years;[37][38]its successor is faster by only one percent.[37] His solution was later formalized in a
published paper in collaboration with Harvard computer scientist Christos Papadimitriou.[39]
Gates did not have a definite study plan while a student at
Harvard[40] and spent a lot of time using the school's
computers. Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen, and he joined him at Honeywell during the summer of 1974.[41] The following year saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel
8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start
their own computer software company.[42] Gates dropped out of Harvard at this time. He
had talked this decision over with his parents, who were supportive of him
after seeing how much Gates wanted to start a company.[40]
Microsoft
BASIC
MITS Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch
(200 mm) floppy disk system
After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular
Electronics that demonstrated the Altair 8800, Gates
contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the creators of the new microcomputer,
to inform them that he and others were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform.[43] 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 demo, and over the course of a few
weeks they developed an Altairemulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC
interpreter. The demonstration, held at MITS's offices in Albuquerque, was a success and resulted in a deal
with MITS to distribute the interpreter as Altair
BASIC. Paul Allen was hired into MITS,[44] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard
to work with Allen at MITS in Albuquerque in November 1975. They named their
partnership "Micro-Soft" and had their first office located in
Albuquerque.[44] Within a year, the hyphen was dropped, and on
November 26, 1976, the trade name "Microsoft" was registered with the
Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.[44] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete
his studies.
Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists,
but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and
was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted
that more than 90% of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid
Microsoft for it and by doing so the Altair "hobby market" was in
danger of eliminating the incentive for any professional developers to produce,
distribute, and maintain high-quality software.[45] This letter was unpopular with many computer
hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be
able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and
it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.[44] The company moved from Albuquerque to its new
home in Bellevue,
Washington, on January 1, 1979.[43]
During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad
responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details,
but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, Gates personally
reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it
as he saw fit.[46]
IBM partnership
IBM approached Microsoft in July 1980, regarding
its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC.[47] The computer company first proposed that
Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. When IBM's representatives mentioned
that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system.[48] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went
poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack
Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with
Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later,
Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M
that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC.
Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and
later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the
PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000.[49]
Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed
that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system.[49] They did, and the sales ofMS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry.[50] Despite IBM's name on the operating system the
press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the new
computer. PC Magazine asked if Gates were "the man behind the
machine?",[47] and InfoWorld quoted an expert as stating "it's Gates'
computer".[51] Gates oversaw Microsoft's company
restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington
state and made Gates the president of Microsoft and its board chairman.[43]
Windows
Microsoft launched its first retail version of Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, and in August, 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, mounting creative differences caused the partnership to deteriorate.[52]
Management style
Bill Gates in January 2008
From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006, Gates had primary
responsibility for the company's product strategy. He aggressively broadened
the company's range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant
position he vigorously defended it.[citation needed]He gained a reputation for being distant to
others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that
"Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning
phone calls."[53] Another executive recalled that after he
showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 of 37 times, when they met again a
month later Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied the game until
he solved it. That is a competitor."[54]
As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior
managers and program managers. Firsthand accounts of these meetings describe
him as verbally combative, berating managers for perceived holes in their
business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests
at risk.[55][56] He interrupted presentations with such
comments "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"[57] and "Why don't you just give up your options and join the Peace Corps?"[58] The target of his outburst then had to defend
the proposal in detail until, hopefully, Gates was fully convinced.[57] When subordinates appeared to be
procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over
the weekend."[59][60][61]
Gates was an active software developer in Microsoft's early
history, particularly on the company's programming
language products, but his role
most of its history was primarily as management and executive. Gates has not
officially been on a development team since working on the TRS-80 Model 100,[62] but wrote code as late as 1989 that shipped in
the company's products.[60] He remained interested in technical details; Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1985 that when watching Gates
announcing Microsoft Excel,
"Something else impressed me. Bill Gates likes the program, not because
it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do that), but
because it's a neat hack."[63] On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he
would transition out of his day-to-day role over the next two years to dedicate
more time to philanthropy. He divided his responsibilities between two
successors, placing Ray Ozzie in charge of day-to-day management and Craig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.[64]
Antitrust litigation
Further information: United States Microsoft antitrust case and European Union Microsoft competition case
Many decisions that led to antitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices have had Gates'
approval. In the 1998 United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gave deposition testimony that
several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examiner David Boiesover the
contextual meaning of words such as, "compete",
"concerned", and "we". The judge and other observers in the
court room were seen laughing at various points during the deposition.[65] BusinessWeek reported:
Early rounds of his deposition show him
offering obfuscatory answers and saying 'I don't recall,' so many times that
even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's
denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with
snippets of e-mail that Gates both sent and received.[66]
Gates later said he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to
mischaracterize his words and actions. As to his demeanor during the
deposition, he said, "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty. Whatever
that penalty is should be levied against me: rudeness to Boies in the first
degree."[67] Despite Gates' denials, the judge ruled that
Microsoft had committed monopolization and tying,
and blocking competition, both in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[67]
Appearance in ads
Gates mugshot of his 1977 arrest inAlbuquerque, New Mexico
Gates appeared in a series of ads to promote Microsoft in 2008.
The first commercial, co-starring Jerry
Seinfeld, is a 90-second talk between strangers as Seinfeld walks up
on a discount shoe store (Shoe Circus) in a mall and notices Gates buying shoes
inside. The salesman is trying to sell Mr. Gates shoes that are a size too big.
As Gates is buying the shoes, he holds up his discount card, which uses a
slightly altered version of his own mugshot of his arrest in New
Mexico in 1977, for a traffic
violation.[68] As they are walking out of the mall, Seinfeld
asks Gates if he has melded his mind to other developers, after getting a
"Yes", he then asks if they are working on a way to make computers
edible, again getting a "Yes". Some say that this is an homage to
Seinfeld's own show about "nothing" (Seinfeld).[69] In a second commercial in the series, Gates
and Seinfeld are at the home of an average family trying to fit in with normal
people.[70]
Post-Microsoft
Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates
continues 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 fortune increased by
US$15.8 billion to US$78.5 billion. As of January 2014, most of
Gates' 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.[71] On February 4, 2014, Gates stepped down as
chairman of Microsoft to become Technology Advisor alongside Satya Nadella.[16][72]
In a substantial interview with Rolling
Stone magazine, published in
March 27, 2014 issue, Gates provided his perspective on a range of issues, such
as climate change, his charitable activities, various tech companies and people
involved in them, and the state of America. In response to a question about his
greatest fear when he looks 50 years into the future, Gates stated: "...
there'll be some really bad things that'll happen in the next 50 or 100 years,
but hopefully none of them on the scale of, say, a million people that you
didn't expect to die from a pandemic, or nuclear or bio terrorism." Gates
also identified innovation as the "real driver of progress" and
pronounced that "America's way better today than it's ever been."[73] Gate's days are planned for him, similar to
the US President's
schedule, on a minute-by-minute basis.[74]
Personal life
After being named one of Good
Housekeeping's "50 Most
Eligible Bachelors" in 1985,[75] Gates married Melinda
French in Hawaii on January
1, 1994. They have three children: Jennifer Katharine (born 1996), Rory John
(born 1999), and Phoebe Adele (born 2002). The family resides in the
Gates' home, an earth-sheltered house in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina near Seattle in the state of Washington, United States. According to 2007 King County public records, the total assessed value of the property (land
and house) is $125 million, and the annual property tax is $991,000. The
66,000 sq ft (6,100 m2) estate has a 60-foot
(18 m) swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a
2,500 sq ft (230 m2) gym and a
1,000 sq ft (93 m2) dining room.[76]
The moral systems of religion, I think, are
super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the
Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very
lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And
that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief.[77]
In the same interview, Gates said: "I agree with people
like Richard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths.
Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like
that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of
the realm – not all – that religion used to fill. But the mystery and
the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and there's no scientific
explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random
numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view [laughs]. I
think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life
you make differently because of it, I don't know."[77]
Among Gates' private acquisitions is the Codex Leicester, a
collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci,
which Gates bought for $30.8 million at an auction in 1994.[78] Gates is also known as an avid reader, and the
ceiling of his large home library is engraved with a quotation from The Great Gatsby.[79] He also enjoys playing bridge, tennis, and
golf.[80][81]
Gates was number one on the Forbes
400 list from 1993 through
to 2007, and number one on Forbes list of The World's Richest People from 1995 to 2007 and 2009. In 1999, his
wealth briefly surpassed $101 billion, causing the media to call Gates a
"centibillionaire".[82] Despite his wealth and extensive business travel
Gates usually flew coach until 1997, when he bought a private jet.[83] Since 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft
holdings has declined due to a fall in Microsoft's stock price after the dot-com bubble burst and the multibillion-dollar donations he
has made to his charitable foundations. In a May 2006 interview, Gates
commented that he wished that he were not the richest man in the world because
he disliked the attention it brought.[84] In March 2010, Gates was the second wealthiest
person behind Carlos Slim, but
regained the top position in 2013, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires
List.[85][86] Carlos Slim retook the position again in June
2014[87][88] (but then lost the top position back to
Gates).
Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006
paid him a salary of $616,667 and $350,000 bonus totalling $966,667.[89] He founded Corbis, a digital
imaging company, in 1989. In 2004, he became a director of Berkshire
Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friend Warren Buffett.[90] In 2016 he revealed that he was color-blind
when discussing his gaming habits.[91]
Philanthropy
Gates with Bono, Queen Rania of Jordan, former British Prime MinisterGordon Brown,
President Umaru
Yar'Adua of Nigeria and others
during the Annual Meeting 2008 of the World
Economic Forum in Switzerland
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Gates studied the work of Andrew
Carnegie and John
D. Rockefeller, and in 1994, sold some of his Microsoft stock to
create the "William H. Gates Foundation." In 2000, Gates and his wife
combined three family foundations to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was
identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013, as the world's wealthiest
charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than
$34.6 billion.[92][93] The Foundation allows benefactors to access
information that shows how its money is being spent, unlike other major
charitable organizations such as the Wellcome
Trust.[94][95]
The foundation is organized into four program areas: Global
Development Division, Global Health Division, United States Division, and
Global Policy & Advocacy Division.[96]
Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy of David Rockefeller as a major influence. Gates and his father met
with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly modeled on the Rockefeller
family's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in
tackling the global problems that are ignored by governments and other
organizations.[97] As of 2007, Bill and Melinda Gates were the
second-most generous philanthropists in America, having given over
$28 billion to charity;[98] the couple plan to eventually donate 95
percent of their wealth to charity.[99]
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports the use of genetically modified organisms in agricultural development. Specifically, the
foundation is supporting the International Rice Research Institute in developing Golden
Rice, a genetically modified rice variant used to combat Vitamin
A deficiency.[100]
Personal
Gates' wife suggested people should emulate the philanthropic
efforts of the Salwen family, which had sold its home and given away half of
its value, as detailed in The Power of Half.[101] Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to
Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010,
Gates, investor Warren Buffett, and
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg signed a commitment they called the
"Gates-Buffet Giving Pledge."
The pledge is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their wealth
over the course of time to charity.[102][103][104]
Gates has recently expressed concern about the existential
threats of Superintelligence;
in a Reddit "ask me anything", he stated that
First the machines will do a lot of jobs for
us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well.
A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a
concern. I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand
why some people are not concerned.[105][106][107][108]
In a March 2015 interview, with Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, Gates
claimed he would "highly recommend" Nick
Bostrom's recent work, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.[109]
Gates has also provided personal donations to educational
institutions. In 1999, Gates donated $20 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the construction of a computer
laboratory named the "William H. Gates Building" that was designed by
architect Frank O. Gehry. While Microsoft had previously given financial
support to the institution, this was the first personal donation received from
Gates.[110]
The Maxwell Dworkin Laboratory of the Harvard John A. Paulson School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences is named after the mothers of both Gates and Microsoft President
Steven A. Ballmer, both of whom were students (Ballmer was a member of the
School's graduating class of 1977, while Gates left his studies for Microsoft),
and donated funds for the laboratory's construction.[111] Gates also donated $6 million to the
construction of the Gates Computer Science Building, completed in January 1996,
on the campus ofStanford
University. The building contains the Computer Science Department
(CSD) and the Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) of Stanford's Engineering
department.[112]
On August 15, 2014, Bill Gates posted a video of himself dumping
a bucket of ice water on his head, after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg
challenged him to do so, in order to raise awareness for the disease ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).[113]
Bill Gates and his foundation are taking an interest in solving
global sanitation problems since about 2005, for example by
announcing the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" which has received
considerable media interest.[114] To raise awareness for the topic of sanitation
and possible solutions, Bill Gates drank water which was "produced from
human feces" in 2014 – in fact it was produced from a sewage sludge treatment process called the Omni-processor.[115][116] In early 2015, he also appeared with Jimmy Fallon on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and challenged him to see if he could taste
the difference between this reclaimed water or bottled water.[117]
Bill and Melinda Gates have said that they intend to leave their
three children $10 million each as their inheritance. With only
$30 million kept in the family, they appear to be on a course to give away
about 99.96 percent of their wealth.[118]
Criticism
In 2007, the Los Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its
assets in companies which have been accused of worsening poverty, polluting
heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing
world.[119] In response to press criticism, the foundation
announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility.[120] It subsequently canceled the review and stood
by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to
influence company practices.[121] The Gates Millennium Scholars program has been
criticized by Ernest W. Lefever for its exclusion of Caucasian students.[122] The scholarship program is administered by the United Negro College Fund.[123] In 2014, Bill Gates sparked a protest in
Vancouver when he decided to donate 50 million dollars to UNAIDS through the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the purpose of mass circumcision in Zambia and Swaziland.[124][125]
Recognition
In 1987, Gates was listed as a billionaire in Forbes magazine's 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before
his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth
$1.25 billion, over $900 million more than he'd been worth the year
before, when he'd debuted on the list.[126]
Time magazine named Gates one of the 100 people who most
influenced the 20th century, as well as one of the 100 most influential
people of 2004, 2005, and 2006. Time also collectively
named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts.[127] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of
"Heroes of our time".[128] Gates was listed in theSunday Times power list in 1999, named CEO of the year by Chief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50
Cyber Elite" by Time in 1998, ranked number two in the Upside Elite 100 in 1999, and was included in The Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people
in media" in 2001.[129]
According to Forbes, Gates was ranked as the fourth most powerful
person in the world in 2012,[130] up from fifth in 2011.[131]
In 1994, he was honored as the twentieth Distinguished
Fellow of the British Computer Society. In 1999, Gates received New York Institute of Technology's President's Medal.[132] Gates has received honorary doctorates from Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Breukelen, The
Netherlands, in 2000;[133] KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden,
in 2002;[134] Waseda University,
Tokyo, Japan, in 2005; Tsinghua
University, Beijing, China, in April 2007;[135] Harvard University in June 2007;[136] Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, in 2007,[137] and Cambridge University in June 2009.[138] He was also made an honorary trustee of Peking University in 2007.[139]
Gates was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen
Elizabeth II in 2005.[140] In November 2006, he was awarded the Placard of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, together
with his wife Melinda who was awarded the Insignia of the same order, both for
their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education,
particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores".[141] Gates received the 2010 Bower Award for Business Leadership from The Franklin Institute for his achievements at Microsoft and his philanthropic work.[142] Also in 2010, he was honored with the Silver
Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, its highest award for adults,
for his service to youth.[143]
In 2002, Bill and Melinda Gates received the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.[145]
In 2015, Gates, along with his wife Melinda, received the Padma Bhushan,
India's third-highest civilian award for their social work in the country.[147][148]
External business ventures and investments
·
Cascade
Investments LLC, a private
investment and holding company, incorporated in United States, is controlled by
Bill Gates, and is headquartered in the city of Kirkland,
Washington.
·
bgC3, a new think-tank company founded by Bill
Gates.
·
Corbis, a digital
image licensing and rights services company.
·
TerraPower, a
nuclear reactor design company.
·
ResearchGate, a
social networking site for scientists. Gates participated in a $35 million
round of financing along with other investors.[149]
Books, films, social media and radio
Books
To date, Bill Gates has authored two books:
·
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 getting an edge on the competition.
Documentaries
External video
|
Feature films
·
1999: Pirates of Silicon Valley, a film which chronicles the rise of Apple and Microsoft from the early 1970s to 1997. Gates is
portrayed by Anthony
Michael Hall.
·
2002: Nothing
So Strange, a mocumentary featuring Gates as the subject of a modern
assassination. Gates briefly appears at the start, played by Steve Sires.
·
2010: The
Social Network, a film which
chronicles the development of Facebook. Gates is portrayed by Steve Sires.[152]
·
2015: Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates: The Competition to Control the
Personal Computer, 1974–1999: Original film from the National Geographic Channel for the American Geniusseries.[153]
Social media
Video and film clips
·
1983: Steve Jobs hosts
Bill Gates in the Macintosh dating game at the Macintosh pre-launch event (with Steve Jobs and Mitch
Kapor, references the television show, The
Dating Game)
Radio
Gates was the guest on BBC
Radio 4's Desert
Island Discs on January 31, 2016,
in which he talks about his relationships with his father and Steve
Jobs, meeting his then future wife Melinda
Ann French, the start of Microsoft and some of his habits (for example reading The Economist "from cover to cover every week").
His choice of things to take on a desert island were, for music: "Blue Skies" by Willie
Nelson; book: The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven
Pinker; and luxury item: a DVD Collection of Lectures from The
Teaching Company.[155]
1. Gates,
Works by Bill GatesOpen Library
Business positions
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First
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Succeeded by
Steve Ballmer |
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First
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Succeeded by
John W. Thompson |
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Honorary titles
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Preceded by
Warren Buffett |
World's richest person
1996–2007 |
Succeeded by
Warren Buffett |
Succeeded by
Carlos Slim |
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Preceded by
Carlos Slim |
World's richest person
2014–present |
Incumbent
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