A real story of success and "talent" of Bill Gates. Who is Bill Gates: biography and success story of the richest man on Earth Where was bill gates born

One of the most successful technology companies.
- He is a very generous philanthropist who founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

However, in addition to his charitable activities and online presence there are many things we don't know about him.

17 amazing facts biographies of bill gates

While studying at preparatory school Lakeside Gates wrote his first General Electric computer program. It was a variant of the game "Tic-Tac-Toe", in which the computer acted as an opponent.

When the school discovered that Gates could program, he was allowed to write a program to assign students to classes. Young Bill added a twist to the code: he distributed himself in such a way as to get into a class with a "disproportionate big amount interesting girls.

As a young man, Gates read every volume of the World Book Encyclopedia.

Gates scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT

Like many successful tech entrepreneurs, Gates dropped out of school. In 1975, he left Harvard to devote himself entirely to Microsoft.

Two years after leaving Harvard, he was arrested in New Mexico for running a red light. He didn't have a driver's license with him.

Already at Microsoft, Gates made it a habit to memorize his employees' car numbers to keep track of their attendance. “In the end, when the state began to grow, I gave up this occupation,” he recalled in an interview.

Speaking of cars, he has a great collection of Porsches. The main exhibit was a Porsche 959 sports car. Gates bought it 13 years before the car was approved by the Protection Agency. environment and the US Department of Transportation.

Gates flew economy class for a long time. Today he travels the world in his own plane. Gates bought it in 1997 and calls it "big show off."

Another reason to boast for the founder of Microsoft was the Codex Leicester, a notebook of scientific records made by Leonardo da Vinci in Milan in 1506-1510. He purchased the work in 1994 at an auction for $30.8 million.

Despite his wealth, Gates left his children only $10 million in inheritance - a tiny fraction of a multibillion-dollar fortune. Gates believes that too much money will do them no good.

Gates spends most of his time working with the charitable foundation. However, he continues to work at Microsoft on "Personal Agent", which "remembers everything and helps you go back and find some items or remind you of some important things."

Gates admits that if he did not succeed with Microsoft, he would become a researcher in the field.

In addition to their interest in artificial intelligence Gates considers himself one of those who are interested in the topic of "superintelligence". The same list includes such well-known figures in science and industry as Stephen Hawking and.

Favorite band? Weezer. In addition, he likes U2, and he is also looking forward to the new Spinal Tap tour.

Gates says he reads 50 books a year. He admits that “reading remains the main way to learn new things and experience the ability to understand.”

Bill Gates does not know foreign languages ​​and considers this one of his biggest omissions.

Bill Gates is a computer genius, an American entrepreneur who founded Microsoft. Known as the richest man in the world (according to Forbes), as well as the largest philanthropist in the country.

Childhood

William Gates III, or Bill Gates, whose date of birth is October 28, 1955, was born into the family of lawyer William Gates II and member of the US West National Council Mary Maxwell. Bill Gates' birthplace is Seattle, Washington. He has two sisters - Christy and Libby.

Gates's ancestors are quite respectable people: a state senator, a mayor (great-grandfather) and a bank president (grandfather).

Bill Gates, whose biography is interesting to everyone, studied at Lakeside School, the best in the city. There he immediately showed his ability in programming, practicing on a mini-computer.

Bill wrote his first program at the age of thirteen. She became the game "Tic-tac-toe". A year later, he meets Paul Allen, who will become his friend for many years to come.

Young people tested computers of one American company, and when the contract expired, they easily hacked into the protection program. At the request of the corporation, students were forbidden to use computers. But the young people did not despair, but offered cooperation. They began to look for holes in security programs and fix them. In 1970 the company went bankrupt and the collaboration ended.

The following year, they were hired by another computer firm. But the cooperation did not take place. Bill started having problems at school due to underachievement in the humanities. In the computer lab, he could spend twenty hours delving into complex programming mechanisms. There was simply no time for anything else. Parents even took him to a psychologist to get rid of computer addiction.

Youth

Bill Gates, whose biography is without a doubt one of the most outstanding, founded his first company at the age of seventeen. It lasted only four years, and after its closure left a profit of seven hundred dollars. Its goal was to create traffic meters.

In December 1972, two friends were invited to work for the TIRV company. In 1973, Gates entered Harvard, where he could only last two years. But there he met Steve Ballmer, who in the future will take last place at Microsoft.

The success of Bill Gates was not far off. In the meantime, he worked hard on software for various computers.

In 1975, he was arrested for the first time for a major offense. He was driving under the influence of alcohol and without a license. It was in Albuquerque. Paul Allen rescued a friend from the police station, giving the last money for bail.

"Microsoft"

In the same 1975, Allen learned about the invention of a new personal computer. Together with Gates, they contacted Ed Roberts, the creator. And, playing ahead of the curve, they lied about being a software developer. Young people were invited to a conversation and, based on its results, they were given a place in the MITS company. For her, Paul and Bill created a BASIC interpreter, in the credits of which they entered their names.

The guys decided to call their company "Microsoft". It was officially registered in November 1976 in the state of New Mexico. Shares were unevenly distributed. Bill Gates estimated his contribution at 64%.

In 1980, the IBM company began searching for an operating system for its personal computer. Deal with large corporation failed, and a contract was signed with Microsoft (a small role was played by the fact that Bill Gates' mother met the leaders of IBM). The latter did not have its own OS and licensed it from another company, after which it adapted it into MC-DOC.

Inspired by Xerox and Apple, Gates develops an entirely new operating system, which is eventually called Microsoft Windows. It is released in 1985. Bill Gates, whose success story is just beginning, did not even know that he had developed something ingenious.

A year later, Microsoft entered the stock exchange. Shares began to be bought up. And soon the state of Bill Gates reached a billion dollars. He was thirty-one years old. Bill Gates' company has become one of the most successful in US history.

Since 1995, almost 85% of the world's population has used software Microsoft.

Bill Gates stepped down as president of the company in 1998 and stepped down as CEO two years later. But until 2006, he actively participated in this business, painstakingly making sure that the corporation did not lose its positions and was several steps ahead of its competitors.

Since 2008, Gates has been listed in the company only as chairman of the board of directors, being the largest shareholder (about 9%).

Other business activities

Bill Gates, whose photo flaunts on the covers of the best business magazines, was fond of not only computer technology. He turned out to be a great connoisseur of art. In 1989, he founded the Corbis company, which is a photo agency. The corporation has developed the world's largest digital archive of works of art from private and public collections around the world.

In 1994, Gates became the owner of a collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci, which is now on display at the Seattle Museum of Art.

In 2004, the billionaire decided to diversify his business and joined the board of the Berkshire Hathaway holding, which owns dozens of companies from various sectors of the economy (including confectionery, auto insurance, publishing, and household appliances). But this was done more for formal reasons. The head of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, was a friend of Gates and also a well-known philanthropist who donated half of his fortune to charity (including the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation).

In October 2008, another Bill Gates company was registered. He called it BGC3 - by the initial letters of the name and serial number. The company is engaged in the development of software and hardware, is a research center that provides scientific and technical services.

Public life

More than once, Bill Gates, whose biography does not contain secrets, violated the rule of law. The billionaire was detained by police for driving without proper documents and even while intoxicated. The last time such an incident happened in 1989.

In March 1997, a certain Adam Pletcher decided to get rich easily. He began sending threatening letters to Bill Gates and demanded five million dollars from him. The extortionist was quickly caught and at the trial was given six years in prison. Gates was a witness at the trial.

In 2004, it became known that Bill Gates, whose biography had never been connected with politics before, invested a certain amount of money in the election campaign of George W. Bush. This data was published by Forbes magazine.

For his contributions to British businesses, Gates was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This event took place in March 2005.

After leaving his posts at Microsoft, Gates began to devote his time to philanthropic causes.

Charitable organization

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded in 1994. He is based in Seattle and has over thirty billion dollars at his disposal.

The main issues that the foundation deals with are the health care system and poverty. Often the funds were sent to programs fighting these problems in Africa and India. The treatment of tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS are the main priorities of the programs.

As for the internal problems of the United States, the foundation pays special attention to the education system. About thirteen million were allocated to improve distance education and create interactive classrooms. Often, however, educators were critical of the reform programs proposed by Bill Gates. The success story of the famous billionaire, in their opinion, does not allow him to exert such an influence on state educational policy.

In 2009, Ukraine was lucky, which got into the fund's program. A grant of twenty-five million dollars was made available for the provision of computer services to public libraries in the country.

The "Message of Bill Gates" has become traditional, which annually reports on the activities of his foundation and reports on plans for the future.

The fund has been criticized several times for its lack of transparency in financial transactions. The head of the charitable organization promised to audit all investments, but then changed his mind.

Writing activity

In addition to the described basics of informatics and development information technologies, the book contains many forward-thinking elements. for example, Bill Gates described his house as an environmentally friendly home.

In 1996, the book was republished due to corrections made to it on the occasion of Microsoft's reorientation towards Internet technologies.

Four years later, another book by the billionaire was published - Business at the Speed ​​of Thought. Gates talks about business in general and analyzes specific cases of the impact of information technology on doing business.

The book also became a bestseller in a New York Times poll. Bill Gates, whose photo is much more often flashed on the covers of famous publications, raised questions in this book state structure, education and health care systems.

Personal life

All his life, Gates was an avid bachelor who never intended to tie the knot with anyone. In 1987, at a press briefing, he met Melinda French, who worked as a sales manager at Microsoft. A year later, the couple began a romantic relationship.

Gates' parents enthusiastically accepted Melinda, they no longer hoped that their son would come to his senses and marry. And here is such luck. A beautiful, intelligent and religious girl with an excellent education and from an intelligent family. Melinda was nine years younger than Bill.

After six years of relationship, Bill proposed to the girl. The wedding was played in 1994 in Hawaii. To protect himself from the attention of journalists, the billionaire bought all tickets for flights to the island. In addition, he booked almost all the rooms in a huge hotel where the ceremony took place and about one hundred and thirty guests stayed.

The groom was dressed in a dazzling white tuxedo and black pants, the bride showed off in a silky white dress, made especially for her by designer Victoria Glenn. The outfit cost Melinda ten thousand dollars.

Among the invited guests were Paul Allen, Washington Post owner Katherine Graham and Warren Buffett.

After the wedding, Melinda worked for Microsoft for some time, and then decided to give all her strength to a charitable foundation. In addition, children appeared in the family.

In 1996, Bill Gates' first daughter, Jennifer, was born. Three years later, Rory's son John was born. The youngest girl Phoebe, born in 2002, is now thirteen years old.

The eldest daughter of Bill Gates is fond of equestrian sports and successfully participates in competitions. Rory and Phoebe go to an elite school. It is noteworthy that the father forbids his children to use the products of competitors - iPhones and iPads. In addition, they will have to achieve everything in life on their own. This is the attitude of their parents. The Gates bequeathed most of their fortune to a charitable foundation.

Lifestyle

It is often said about Bill Gates that he is a rather modest person, both in life and in appearance. Bill Gates' fortune, estimated at seventy-nine billion dollars, had little effect on his character. He is not obsessed with money, he does not buy himself a yacht or an island every month. On the contrary, he and his wife donate all income from Microsoft to charity.

But do not forget that this person is one of the creators of advanced information technologies, one might say, a genius. And he has one weakness - "smart home".

In fact, Bill Gates' housing was created from environmentally friendly materials (glass, wood, solar panels), but it is filled from top to bottom with all sorts of appliances, gadgets, etc. They say that its cost is about one hundred and twenty-five million dollars.

The mansion is located on the shore of the lake in the suburbs of Medina. Downtown Seattle is within easy reach, and this quiet place has just over two thousand inhabitants.

In addition to the usual rooms (bedrooms, kitchen, library), the house has many different innovations. Behind the mansion is a garage for thirty cars. There is a hall for entertaining guests. Everyone who comes to the Gates gets a special drive that can remember preferences in films, music, etc. Gates also has a trampoline, which he uses for its intended purpose. Bill is also proud of his trout lake on the property. There is no need to even talk about the presence of baths, saunas and swimming pools.

Gates is a passionate bridge lover.

1. Despite the fact that Gates never graduated from Harvard, the university administration decided to give him a diploma for achievements in science.
2. The story of Bill Gates inspired Martin Burke to create the film Pirates of Silicon Valley, which was released in 1999.
3. Books have been written about the billionaire by Janet Lowe ("Bill Gates Speaks") and Des Dearlof ("Business Way. Bill Gates").
4. In honor of Gates, a species of hover flies, which are endemic to Costa Rica, was named.

The name Bill Gates is known all over the world. But how did it happen? How did an ordinary bespectacled nerd become the richest man in the world and get the whole world hooked on his programs?

After all, in those days when he started, no one really believed that computers would take over the world and that you could make money on it.

But Bill Gates proved that any idea can be not just implemented, but implemented effectively. From 1994 to 2010, Bill Gates spent only on charity 28 billion! Dollars, of course.

Bill Gates was born in Seattle, Washington State. His parents were not mere mortals. Father - lawyer William Henry Gates II, mother - Mary Maxwell Gates, a member of the board of directors of First Interstate Bank, Pacific Northwest Bell and the United Way National Council.

Of course, he was lucky with his birth. But this is not the main thing. There are many examples when a person born in a prosperous family died a loser.

Bill studied at a very prestigious school in the city, which was called Lakeside. He worked hard on the school mini-computer and acquired good ones.

When Bill was 13 years old, he was able to write his first program. That program was the Tic-Tac-Toe game. He used the BASIC programming language.

In the 8th grade, he became friends with Paul Allen, who was then in the 10th grade. Of course, this happened in programming lessons. With his friends, Gates used a PDP-10 computer manufactured by Digital Equipment, part of the Computer Center Corporation (CCC).

In these classes, the students worked on the computer. Opening hours were limited because computers were scarce. One day, when Bill and his buddy Paul used the CCC to study, they got a little upset and hacked into the computer (well, not in the literal sense, of course). For this offense, 4 schoolchildren, including Bill Gates, were not allowed to use computers for a whole year.

How did Microsoft come about?

Today, Microsoft is known all over the world. But, of course, this was not always the case.

Bill Gates began studying at the university in 1973. And not in any, but in Harvard. In these student years he met Steve Ballmer, who later became Bill's business partner. After 2 years, Gates was expelled from the university. But this did not upset him much, since he enthusiastically began to engage in programming.

Bill's friend Paul Allen saw an interesting article in Popular Electronics magazine. It was about a new personal computer called the Altair 8800. It happened in January 1975.

Paul told Gates about it. Gates also read the article, and then contacted the president of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), and also contacted the creator of the new computer mentioned in the article, Ed Roberts. Bill informed him that he and a friend were developing software for this computer. In reality, neither Gates nor Allen had anything to do with the Altair 8800. However, they emulated the operation of its processor.

The head of MITS talked to Paul. During the conversation, Paul showed a working BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 computer. As a result, after a while, the friends already collaborated with MITS.

So they created their company and started thinking about a name for it. At first, the name "Allen and Gates" appeared, but it seemed to them that such a name strongly looks like the name of a law firm.

Then Paul suggested the name Micro-Soft, from the words microprocessors (microprocessors) and software (software).

Initially, "Micro-Soft" was specifically created to develop software for the tasks of MITS.

Some time later, after about a year at MITS, the hyphen in the name "Micro-Soft" disappeared. And on November 26, 1976, a new trademark "Microsoft" appeared.

Paul received a 36% stake in the company, and Gates, since he was the main contributor to the product, received 64%.

The CP/M operating system was the most popular operating system in the 1970s when it comes to computers based on the Intel 8080 and Zilog Z80 processors.

Since 1980, IBM has decided to improve the quality of their computers, so they began to look for a more suitable OS that could be used on the IBM PC. At first they wanted to use the CP/M operating system.

IBM was in talks with Digital Research. But the negotiations ended in vain. Therefore, IBM eventually agreed with the then small company Microsoft (it could not do without connecting family ties, or, as they say in Russia, without blat, but such is life - and not only in Russia))).

Microsoft did not have its own OS for the Intel 8086 processors. Because of this, they had to buy a license from Seattle Computer Products for the 86-DOS system (QDOS). It was a 16-bit copy of CP/M.

Microsoft then acquired full rights to 86-DOS. Subsequently, the 86-DOS system was significantly modified and adapted for the IBM PC. At the same time, Microsoft "warmed up" by $50,000 (and one must understand that the then dollar is not today's).

So the legendary MS-DOS operating system prosaically came into the world and cooperation between Microsoft and IBM began.

In 1980, Microsoft entered into an agreement with IBM. According to this agreement, Microsoft was to create the MS-DOS operating system and provide it to IBM.

But Microsoft missed the deadline. The system was handed over to IBM only in 1981, and quite crude, requiring further development.

This half-baked system featured the game "DONKEY.BAS" made by Bill Gates and Neil Konzen. This game only demonstrated the capabilities of the system. However, it was the forerunner of all IBM PC games. In this game, the user controls a racing car, and donkeys must be avoided in the process of driving. In 2012, this game was reanimated for smartphones, for operating systems Windows Phone 7.5/8 (free to download), and iOS (costs $0.99).

Then Microsoft starts work on a completely new OS. Bill spied the idea of ​​a new OS from Xerox and Apple.

The partnership with IBM continues, which was destined to introduce the new OS.

As a result, on October 20, 1985, Microsoft Windows was released (wits translate this as “micro-small windows”). Thus began the era of Windows - the legendary operating system, which immortalized the name of Bill Gates, and along the way allowed him to become one of the richest people in the world.

In general, Gates is often accused of plagiarism. In particular, Steve Jobs really disliked Gates because he thought Gates was stealing ideas from him.

But this is generally characteristic of Apple. They always think that all the ideas are stolen from them, and they are constantly suing either Samsung or anyone else.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of someone else's idea. After all, one idea is not enough - it still needs to be implemented.

For example, the same Jobs accused Gates of stealing the idea of ​​a text editor from him. So what? After all, Gates borrowed only the user interface (and even then not 100%), and all the source codes and so on were developed by Microsoft.

In addition, it is simply impossible to prove that it was Jobs who first came up with this idea. Very often the same ideas and discoveries come independently to different people. For example, we believe that Popov invented the radio, while in the West we are sure that Marconi did it. It's just that these two people independently engaged in research in this direction. And it was Popov who was the first to exchange radio signals between the transmitter and receiver! But Marconi patented this invention.

By the way, this editor, about which Gates and Jobs “broke spears”, is still in Windows (well, at least in XP). You can call it from typing edit and you will see the DOS timestamp.

Ah... it's been a long time...

Summary

Why do you need the life story of Bill Gates?

Well, firstly, I think that every programmer should know how computer hardware and software originated, and who stood at the origins.

Secondly, every programmer, if he believes in himself and goes towards his goal, can achieve both fame and fortune. And from whom to learn this, if not from those who have already achieved this?

However, first of all, you need to be a professional (in any business). Well, if we are talking about programming, then this should be studied, studied and studied again.

Small touches to the portrait of a great man.

1. He comes from a rich and successful family

To succeed, it is not necessary to be a hungry student with burning eyes. The best confirmation of this thesis is the story of the Bill Gates family. His great-grandfather was a legislator and mayor of the city, his grandfather was a vice president of the State Bank of the state, and his father was a successful lawyer.

2. Gates wrote his first computer program at the age of 13.

Little Billy began to study at the most ordinary school, but a few years later his parents transferred him to a private educational institution Lakeside School (Lakeside School). Usually changing schools is stressful for a child, but life has shown that the choice was right. In a new place, Gates discovered his interest in programming and found best friend- Paul Allen, with whom he would later create Microsoft. And at the age of 13, he wrote his first program in the BASIC programming language. More precisely, it was a game of tic-tac-toe, in which players could try their hand at competing with a computer.

3. The computer helped him to be in the same class as the best girls.

In Lakeside, Gates' eighth graders quickly noticed the success and invited him to participate in creating a program to shape school classes. Together with Allen, he did everything to get into a class where there were only girls:

“Paul did the program with me. Unfortunately for him, he was two years older and had already graduated from college by then. So of the two of us, I was the only one who got the maximum benefit, because I could put pretty girls next to me ”(Bill Gates in an interview with the BBC).

4. Gates and Allen had a business before Microsoft was founded.

Back in school, two buddies who were obsessed with programming formed a joint venture called Traf-O-Data. They built a small computer based on an Intel 8008 processor and used it to analyze the traffic of the Washington Department of Transportation. The development brought them $ 20,000 - good money at that time. But gradually the company fell into decline - Allen went to work in Boston, and Gates went to conquer Harvard, so they simply did not have time to deal with Traf-O-Data.

5. He almost broke the record in the entrance exams

This is probably not so unexpected for the richest person in the world, but still - when passing the SAT exams (standardized test for admission to higher educational establishments in the USA - approx. Ed.) Bill "knocked out" 1590 points out of 1600 possible.

6. Gates wanted to be a lawyer, not a programmer.

At Harvard, Bill was going to follow in the footsteps of his lawyer father and initially chose law courses. But a year later, his plans changed, and the young student threw all his strength into studying mathematics and computer science - subjects that were taught especially strictly at the university, and played poker in between lectures. But then he got tired of computer classes. Everyone knows what happened next - two years after the start of training, Gates decided that it was possible to live without a diploma, was expelled and went into business.

7. One of the teachers of Harvard described Gates as follows:

"Bill was a great programmer, but a terrible person."

8. Gates was arrested twice for driving without a license.

At the age of 19, Gates already had a Porsche 911 - and he rode it in much the same way as today's representatives of the Russian "golden youth". In 1975, he was arrested for speeding and driving without a license. The lesson was in vain - two years later he was arrested again in Albuquerque (New Mexico) for the same reasons. The user icon in Microsoft Outlook 10 is said to look a lot like the silhouette of Bill posing for a police photo:

9. Gates' wife Melinda was his employee

After graduating from Duke University in 1986, Melinda French immediately got a job at a startup called Microsoft:

“I thought, my God. I must work for this company. They are changing the world. And if I get an offer from there, I will never refuse it in my life.(from an interview with SBC News)

She got the job, of course, and soon after made a good impression on her boss.

“I met her at a sales meeting in New York. And after a week or so, I approached her in the parking lot and asked her if she wanted to take a walk.”

10 Gates Is The World's Youngest Billionaire

During his studies, Bill tells his teachers that he will be a millionaire before he turns 30. And already at the age of 31 (it was then 1987), the founder of Microsoft earned his first billion. At that time, this meant that Bill did it faster than anyone in the history of mankind.

11. For the wedding, he rented everything for the day to avoid the attention of journalists.

To marry Melinda Gates was going without uninvited guests. To this end, he rented all 250 rooms at the Hawaiian Manele Bay Hotel. And so that the intrusive paparazzi would not hide somewhere in the bushes, Bill rented all the helicopters that could fly to the hotel from the island of Maui. By that time (1994), he could easily afford it - after all, even then Gates was ranked second in the list of the richest people in America.

12. Gates memorized license plates on employees' cars to control them.

“I knew the car number of each of the employees, so I could always look at the parking lot and see when people were arriving and leaving. Of course, over time, as the company grew, I loosened control.”

13. He bought a da Vinci creation for $30.8 million

1994 was a remarkable year for Gates and one of his most expensive purchases. The billionaire paid almost $31 million for a 16th-century document created by the legendary Leonardo da Vinci called the Codex Leicester. As a result, the book automatically became the most expensive in the world. Today, its permanent place of storage is. Gates occasionally rents out the codex to museums.

14. He became the richest man in the world in 1995

In July 1995, Bill Gates topped the list of the richest people in the world for the first time. Forbes versions. Then the state of the 39-year-old IT businessman was $ 12.9 billion. Since then, he has lost this title several times, but has always returned it. In the March 2017 Forbes ranking, the 61-year-old Gates is again No. 1 with a fortune of $86.6 billion (up $11 billion from a year earlier).

It is curious that Microsoft, where Gates now owns only 3%, accounts for no more than 13% of his fortune. Bill actively invests in the Canadian National railway, American engineering company Deere & Co., recycling company Republic Services, and auto dealer AutoNation. In 2016, Gates and a team of investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, created Breakthrough Energy, a $1 billion investment fund.

15. During a trip to Belgium, he was thrown with a pie.

In 1998, Gates traveled to Brussels to meet with 400 local businessmen, officials and executives. educational institutions. But before entering the building, he was attacked by an unknown person - a pie "flew" in Gates' face. Belgian prankster Noel Godin claimed responsibility for the attack. Bill did not demand punishment for him - according to the billionaire's press secretary, "the pie was not even worth that."

16. Bill and Melinda Gates run the largest private philanthropic foundation in the world.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was founded in 2000 to fight poverty and improve the health situation in the Third World. Thanks to donations from the Gates couple and others famous people- Warren Buffett, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Jack Nicklaus, rapper Big Sean - the organization has become the largest private charitable foundation in the world. As of 2015, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had $39.6 billion in trust funds.

17. Bill Gates is a knight (with reservations)

In 2005, the founder of Microsoft received the title of Knight Commander of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain for achievements in the development of technology and charitable work. True, with one limitation - since Gates is not a British citizen, he received an "honorary" knighthood. As a result, he cannot refer to himself as "Sir William" or "Sir William Gates III", but is entitled to add the prefix KBE (Knight Commander of the British Empire) to his name.

18. The main goal in the life of Bill Gates is ...

In 2013, Bill took part in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session. One user asked if there were any important things left on his list of goals. Answer:

"Don't die..."

19. Before going to bed, he reads ... and washes the dishes!

Yes, yes - even the richest person in the world finds time to do household chores. In the 2014 AMA session, Bill Gates admitted that before going to bed he washes the dishes for all family members - and he loves it!

Gates' other "night-time" habit is an hour of reading before bed. He does not neglect her even when the clock is well past midnight.

20. If he could add a superpower to himself, it would be...

In their 2016 annual letter, Bill and Melinda talked about what kind of superpower they would each like to have. And what is it? No, not x-ray vision, not the desire to become invisible, and not the ability to travel through time. The Gates couple would be glad if all the people on Earth had access to electricity.

Why? Explaining his choice, Bill gives a sad number: Today, more than a billion people live without access to electricity and cannot use all the achievements of progress to improve their lives in various areas.

"Without access to energy, poor people are left to vegetate in the dark."

21. Bill and Melinda's favorite number is 122 million.

In their 2017 annual letter to Warren Buffett, the Gates name their favorite number. That's 122,000,000. That's exactly how many little lives have been saved since 1990, when the world's infant mortality rate began to decline.

22. Gates wears a hat to disguise himself.

At a 2017 AMA session, a Reddit user asked Gates if he had ever worn a disguise in public. It turned out the following - when Bill wants to go out and not attract attention to himself, he resorts to a trick popular in the past - wearing a wide-brimmed hat.

“Sometimes I wear a hat. For example, when I went on college tours with my son, I wanted to fully focus on communicating with him. A lot less people recognize me when I'm wearing a hat or something - they understand that I want to remain incognito [and don't fit]."

23. Bill and Melinda Gates will leave $10 million to each of their children.

As we already know, as of March 2017, the Gates couple have almost $ 87 billion. It is all the more surprising that they bequeathed only $ 10 million to each of their three children. For most people, this is a lot of money, but for a multibillionaire and the richest person on Earth, this amount is more like pocket money. All other money will go to charity, including the projects of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

24. Bill Gates thought the Internet was a failure.

At the dawn of the Internet, its prospects were underestimated by many, including the creator of one of the largest IT corporations in the world. Yes, yes, the phrase "the Internet is futile" belongs to Gates. To Bill's credit, he realized his mistake in time and by the mid-90s of the last century reoriented Microsoft to the creation of Internet services.

25. When Gates wants to think, he...

…Begins to sway back and forth. People who know Bill associate this habit with the fact that in childhood he was very fond of swings.

American entrepreneur, founder of Microsoft Corporation William (Bill) Gates (William (Bill) Gates) was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle (Washington, USA). His father was a lawyer, his mother was a schoolteacher, board member of the University of Washington, and chairman of the charity United Way International.

He received his secondary education in a privileged private school Seattle's Lakeside School.

Gates began to show interest in computer programming at the age of thirteen. In 1970, with his school friend Paul Allen, he wrote his first traffic control program and started a distribution company called Traf-O-Data. On this project, Gates and Allen earned 20 thousand dollars.

On the wave of success, friends were eager to open their own company, but Gates' parents opposed this idea, hoping that their son would graduate from college and become a lawyer.

In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University. At the university, he met Steve Ballmer, who later became the CEO of Microsoft. However, the study did not captivate Gates, he often skipped classes and was engaged in programming. Gates continued to communicate with Paul Allen, who entered the University of Washington, but dropped out two years later and moved to Boston, Massachusetts, where he began working at Honeywell Corporation. In the summer of 1974, Gates joined his friend.

In 1975, after reading an article in Popular Electronics magazine about the Altair 8800 computer created by MITS, Bill Gates and Paul Allen suggested that MITS write Basic software for the computer. The result of the work of young programmers satisfied customers, Paul Allen was hired, and Bill Gates, taking an academic leave from Harvard, was actively engaged in writing programs and organizing his own company Micro-Soft. It was under this name that the company, which later became Microsoft, was registered in 1976.

In February 1976, Gates introduced the practice of selling licenses to his software directly to computer manufacturers, which allowed them to "embed" these programs - operating systems and programming languages ​​- into computers.

This marketing innovation dramatically increased the firm's revenues. And although MITS soon ceased to exist, Microsoft was able to attract new customers - Apple and Commodore, who had firmly established themselves on their feet, as well as Tandy, which produced the popular Radio shack computers.

Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1979. And already in 1980, Microsoft received an offer from IBM to create an operating system for the world's first personal computer. For these needs, Gates acquired the right to exclusive license, and then ownership of the 86-DOS operating system created by Seattle Computer Products (SCP), adapted it for the needs of IBM, and sold it profitably to IBM under the name PC-DOS. The release of the IBM PC and MS-DOS was widely announced in August 1981.

The agreement with IBM included payments for each copy of Microsoft's software products, which paid big dividends on the success of the IBM PC in the 1980s. The success of both products eventually led to Intel's architecture, IBM computers, and Microsoft software becoming de facto industry standards.

After the restructuring of Microsoft in 1981, Bill Gates took over as president and chairman of the board of directors of the company. In November 1985, the first version of Microsoft Windows appeared. The system's original code name was Interface Manager, but Windows was eventually chosen because it best described the on-screen calculation "windows" that became the core element of the new product.

In 1986, Microsoft shares began to be traded on the stock exchange. The value of the shares grew at lightning speed, and within a few months at the age of 31, Bill Gates became a billionaire for the first time. In 1988, Microsoft became the largest-selling computer software company in the world.

In 1993, Windows' total monthly sales exceeded one million copies. By 1995, when the firm released a new operating system Windows system 95, supplemented by Internet access software - Internet Explorer, approximately 85% of PCs worldwide used Microsoft software.

As the head of Microsoft and the majority shareholder of Microsoft, Gates became by 1998 the richest man in the world. In late 1999, Gates announced his decision to step down as head of the company and take up programming. Despite this, he continued to be in charge of Microsoft's manufacturing strategy until he stepped down from business development duties in 2006, stating that he wanted to devote his time to philanthropy.

Bill Gates was the chairman of the board of directors of the company without executive powers, but on February 4, 2014 he left this post. At the same time, the Microsoft founder remains a member of the company's board of directors and is a consultant on the company's key projects.

Bill Gates topped the annual list of the 400 for the 21st consecutive time with $81 billion the richest people USA, published by the American magazine Forbes.

In September 2015, he topped the rankings for the 22nd time with a fortune of $76 billion, 13% of which is Microsoft stock, the rest is the billionaire's investments in numerous enterprises from a wide variety of industries.

Bill Gates has been investing for many years through his investment company Cascade Investment. Nearly 50% of the funds managed by Cascade Investment are invested in Warren Buffett's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway. Gates' top five investments also include shares of Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Caterpillar (a manufacturer of equipment for the construction and mining industry) and the Canadian National Railway Company (a railway company).

He is the author of two bestsellers. Published in 1995, The Road Ahead spent seven weeks at number one on The New York Times bestseller list. In 1999, Gates published Business the Speed ​​of Thought, a book that has been translated into 25 languages ​​and focuses on new ways of using computer technology to solve business problems. Proceeds from the sale of both books were donated to non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting the development of technology and education.

Bill Gates is a knight of the British Empire (2005). In 2007 the administration Harvard University, recognizing the merits of Bill Gates, presented her former student with a diploma.

Bill Gates is married to Melinda French Gates and they have three children: Jennifer Katharine, Rory John and Phoebe Adele.

In 2000, the couple founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation to support health and education initiatives.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources