Bill Gates is a successful businessman, who found the world-famous company “Microsoft”. Moreover, he is a loving husband and parent. However, before he became a billionaire, he had to work hard and develop leadership skills. How did the founder of Microsoft manage to build this fortune, and his secrets to success?
Bill Gates’s childhood and adolescence
Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in the United States in Seattle, Washington. His father was an outstanding lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors of the First Interstate BancSystem banking holding. Bill also has 2 sisters.
At the age of 13, Gates went to a private school, where he learned what a computer is. In the eighth, the cool guy created his first program – tic-tac-toe, in which you could play against the computer. The technique fascinated Gates because it consistently executed the code with absolute precision.
At 17, Gates and Paul Allen created the Traf-O-Data venture to produce traffic counters based on the Intel 8008 processor. Then Gates received a National Merit Scholarship and entered Harvard College. There he met a comrade – Steve Ballmer, who many years ago succeeded Gates as CEO of Microsoft.
As a student at Harvard, Gates did not have a specific curriculum and spent a lot of time using the computers available there. He kept in touch with Paul Allen and they subsequently released the MITS Altair 8800, a computer based on an Intel 8080 processor.
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In 1974, Gates left Harvard because he wanted to start his own business. Only more than 30 years later, in 2007, Gates finally received a Harvard diploma – he was awarded the honorary title of Doctor of Science.
Bill Gates’ career and fortune: Creation of Microsoft
Bill Gates contracted with Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems to develop the operating system.
The big break for Microsoft came in 1980 when leading PC maker IBM turned to them for a new BASIC operating system for new computers. Microsoft has worked hard to sell its operating system to this and other companies.
Thus, Microsoft achieved immense popularity in the software development industry precisely at the same time as the personal computer market began to develop. And programs like Microsoft Word and Excel have become the industry standard.
Start the Windows
In 1990, the company revolutionized the programming world – graphic interlaces replaced text ones. Everyone was talking about Windows.
In 1995, Windows 95 was released, which set new standards and features for operating systems. This version of Windows was the foundation of all future releases from Windows 2000 to XP and Vista.
Throughout his tenure, Bill Gates has strived to grow Microsoft’s business. For example, Microsoft Internet Explorer became the dominant web browser, although this was mainly because it was preinstalled on most new computers. However, now Internet Explorer has lost its popularity and is rarely used.
Bill Gates subsequently stepped down as CEO of Microsoft and began donating billions of shares. He left the chairmanship back in 2014 and now serves as a technology consultant.
Forbes magazine, which annually publishes a ranking of the richest people in the world, wrote that from 2017 to 2018, Bill Gates’ fortune grew from $ 86 billion to $ 90 billion. Gates’ capital increased by $ 4 billion in one year – which is about $ 10 million a day.
By 2019, the businessman was able to increase his income by $ 19.5 billion – now his fortune reaches $ 110 billion.
Gates charity work
Bill Gates, together with his wife Melinda French, created his Foundation. Gates tried to focus on global issues ignored by the government, so he expressed an interest in improving the standards of public school education in the United States.
Since 2008, Gates has devoted himself entirely to charity. Gates and his wife Melinda are known to have donated $ 28 billion through their charitable foundation to help sick people.
Bill also paid more attention to environmental issues. And in 2015, he donated a billion dollars to a clean environment project.
Interestingly, in 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation initiated a project to install the Internet in 1000 Ukrainian libraries under the Bibliomost program.
Bill Gates’ personal life
In 1994, Bill married Melinda French, who had a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked as a manager at his Microsoft company. The couple has two adorable daughters, Jennifer Catharine and Phoebe Adele, and a son, Rory John.
Interestingly, although Gates’ revenues recently surpassed $ 110 billion, his children don’t bathe in luxury. On a level with everyone, they receive education on their own, which is proved by photos on social networks.
So, at 21, the daughter of the founder of Microsoft, Jennifer successfully passed the exams at Stanford University and competes for the American Equestrian Team.
Lakeside Private School, where Bill Gates also studied, recently graduated from the billionaire’s only son, 18-year-old Rory. But he has not yet decided where to submit the documents – he dreams of connecting his life with science and economics.
The youngest daughter, Phoebe, is 15 years old. She studies at a private school in Seattle and does not yet know who she will become in the future.
It is known that all Gates children will receive after his death only 0.01% of his money (about $ 10 million). The rest will be given to the needy.
