Bill Gates
1955 – ? American software pioneer, philanthropist
Microsoft co-founder turned global health philanthropist.
- Religion
- Raised Congregationalist; has described himself as agnostic.
- Affiliations
- Co-founded Microsoft; chairs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; founded Breakthrough Energy and Cascade Investment and backs TerraPower. Co-founded the Giving Pledge.
William Henry Gates III co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 and built it into the dominant personal computing company. He stepped back to run the world's largest private charitable foundation with then-wife Melinda. He remains a leading funder of global health and clean energy.
Connections
- rival of Jeff Bezos — Have traded places atop the world's wealth rankings.
- family of Melinda French Gates — Former spouse and foundation co-chair.
- family of Melinda French Gates — Former spouse and foundation co-founder.
- associate of Paul Allen — Co-founded Microsoft together.
- rival of Steve Jobs — Apple versus Microsoft rivalry, with periods of partnership.
- rival of Steve Jobs — Decades-long rivalry between Microsoft and Apple.
- ally of Warren Buffett — Close friend; pledged most of his wealth to the Gates Foundation.
- ally of Warren Buffett — Close friends; Buffett pledged most of his fortune to the Gates Foundation.
In the timeline
- 1968 Gates and Allen form the Lakeside Programming Group mentioned
- 1974 Gates and Allen see the Altair on Popular Electronics mentioned
- 1975 Founding of Microsoft mentioned
- 1980 IBM calls Bill Gates about the PC project central figure