Bill Gates
Born 28 October 1955 · United States
Co-founded Microsoft in 1975, revolutionizing personal computing worldwide.
🔔 Add birthday reminderWilliam Henry Gates III is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Following Microsoft's initial public offering in 1986 and the subsequent increase in its stock price, Gates became the world's then-youngest billionaire in 1987, at age 31. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's wealthiest person for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007.
✨ A detail that surprised us
Bill Gates became the world's youngest billionaire in 1987 at age 31, just one year after Microsoft's IPO in 1986.
1. In 1968, a 13-year-old Bill Gates enrolled at Seattle's Lakeside School where he wrote his first software program, sparking a lifelong obsession with computing.
2. 🌟 In 1975, at just 19, Gates dropped out of Harvard to co-found Microsoft with Paul Allen in Albuquerque, marking the start of their quest to put a computer in every home.
3. By 1980, Microsoft secured a crucial deal to provide BASIC programming language for IBM's first personal computer, a pivotal moment that catapulted the company into the spotlight.
4. 💰 In 1987, following Microsoft’s IPO in 1986, Gates became the youngest billionaire in history at age 31, a title cemented by his fortune growing as Microsoft dominated software markets.
5. In 2000, Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO to focus on his philanthropy, founding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation the same year to tackle global health and education challenges.
6. 🌍 By 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, convincing billionaires worldwide to commit half their wealth to philanthropic causes.
7. In 2025, Gates published "Source Code: My Beginnings," the first volume of his planned memoirs revealing untold stories from his childhood and early years at Microsoft.
8. ❓ How did a boy from Seattle’s Lakeside School evolve into a tech titan who reshaped global health, climate innovation, and philanthropy?
Awards & Honours
- 🏅Presidential Medal of Freedom
🔍 One thing most people don't know
At Lakeside School in 1968, Gates accessed a Teletype terminal connected to a General Electric computer, one of the few schools with such technology at the time.
🖼️ Through the Years
📅 The Journey
🗝️ Discoveries
"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning."
— Bill Gates
🎥 Speeches & Recordings
Bill gates : From Billionaire To Philanthropist- The Untold Story Of Success
YouTube📖 Curated Sources
🌱 What changed because of them
Bill Gates transformed the technology landscape by pioneering software for personal computers, fundamentally altering how the world works and communicates. His foundation has directly influenced global health by funding efforts to eradicate diseases like polio and malaria, while his philanthropic initiatives have pushed forward education reform and climate innovation worldwide. The Giving Pledge initiated by Gates has reshaped billionaire philanthropy globally, encouraging unprecedented wealth redistribution for social causes.
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