Bill Gates is a computer scientist who has become, thanks to his genius, one of the most influential businessmen of our time. He revolutionized the world of tech and is today the 4th richest person in the world. Business Cool lets you discover who is behind Microsoft, the tech giant.
Who is Bill Gates? The biography of this genius!
Who is Bill Gates? Bill Gates, or William Henry Gates III by his baptismal name, was born on October 28, 1955 in Seattle in the United States. His father was a business lawyer and his mother was a professor at the University of Washington. He discovered computing at the Lakeside private school, still in Seattle, thanks to one of these gigantic computers from the 60s. He started programming very early and launched his first game at the age of 13 with his childhood friend, Paul Allen. The two children were already reoptimizing software at this age.
In 1973, Bill Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman. His studies are limited to this first year only. However, this short period of time during which he attended classes allowed him to meet people who would be decisive for the rest of his career. It was at this time that he met Steve Ballmer, who a few years later would become the future boss of Microsoft until 2014.
A pioneer in the field of microcomputers, Bill Gates created the company Microcomputer Software, with his childhood friend Paul Allen, at the age of 20. Computer genius then devoted all of his time to the development of the very first computer language working with the Altair 8800 consumer microcomputer. The first software from the Micro-Soft company was Altair BASIC. The two friends make a fortune thanks to this revolutionary invention.
Bill Gates: The big key dates
1955 : Birth of William Henry Gates III in Seattle.
1975 : Bill Gates and Paul Allen name their company Microsoft
1981 : Microsoft receives corporate title officially in Washington state.
1985 : Microsoft launches the first general public version of Windows.
1986 : Microsoft goes public, one day after Oracle’s public offering.
2000 : Resignation of Bill Gates from his post as CEO of Microsoft.
2000 : Creation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
2003 : Microsoft pays its first dividend.
The birth of Microsoft
The early 1980s were marked by the dazzling success of Microsoft, launched at the time by Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen. The two friends marked the true consumer revolution in microcomputing. The company designed the famous MS-DOS for IBM, an operating system dedicated to personal computers.
This is when the sale of personal computers and the first versions of Windows exploded. Microsoft has become an essential pillar of the tech sector. Thanks to this dazzling success, Bill Gates quickly found himself in the spotlight and, at the same time, on the podium of the richest personalities in the world according to the annual ranking of Forbes magazine.
The two founders never stopped innovating, becoming essential and waging a merciless war against their main competitor: Steve Jobs, founder of Apple. In 1986, Bill Gates became a billionaire when his company was just going public.
In 1995, Bill Gates released his bestselling book, “ The road to the future“. He describes his vision of the future world, the explosion of new technologies and the importance of information. It was in 2008 that the billionaire gradually began to break away from his company Microsoft and devote more time to his humanitarian foundation. Bill & Melinda Gates, created in 2000. Its primary objective is to contribute to the democratization of the innovations necessary to improve health and the acquisition of knowledge by the entire population.
Bill Gates and his foundation
Bill Gates is a man driven by strong values and extraordinary generosity. He had in fact announced his desire to bequeath 95% of his fortune to fight against disease and illiteracy in the Third World. In 2010, many billionaires followed in his footsteps and also promised to donate at least 50% of their personal fortune.
In January 2000, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates established the foundation Bill & Melinda Gates, which is today the largest private charitable foundation in the world. According to Forbes, Bill Gates donated 35.8 billion dollars (29.8 billion euros) in Microsoft shares to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill Gates’ primary goals with this foundation are to improve health care and reduce global poverty. In the United States, the foundation’s main ambition is to expand access to education and information technologies. The foundation is led by three of its directors: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
Starting in 2017, the foundation is investing large sums to conduct studies on progress made to combat malnutrition, infant mortality and serious illnesses like HIV.. Today, Bill and Melinda will remain co-presidents and directors of their organization even after their divorce.
In addition to the actions carried out by his foundation, Bill Gates has invested in numerous other philanthropic actions or those focused on innovation and health. For example, he made large donations in research to contribute to the advancement of Alzheimer’s disease.
Bill Gates’ fortune
The majority of Bill Gates’ fortune comes from Cascade Investment, a holding company created with proceeds from Microsoft stock sales and dividends. The company is based in Kirkland in the United States and is administratively attached to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation via a trust.
Although Bill Gates made his fortune co-founding Microsoft with Paul Allen, he only owned 1.3% (the equivalent of $16 billion) of the company. However, his fortune still stands at $138 billion as of Monday, November 8, according to Bloomberg. This share has decreased significantly, since he owned 45% 35 years ago. If, however, he had kept his shares, he would be at the head of a fortune of 1.2 trillion dollars, but he decided to diversify his portfolio on the advice of his friend Warren Buffett.
Despite decisions that are not always very wise, he remains the 4th richest person in the world, even after giving $41 billion to charities for years. His fortune as of June 14, 2022 amounts to $114 billion.
Key figures on Bill Gates’ fortune
1. While an average American spends 1 dollar, Bill Gates can afford to spend 1.2 million (€999,000).
2.. Bill Gates’ total fortune is greater than the total GDP of Luxembourg ($71 billion), Estonia (31.4) and Bolivia (40.8).
3. The co-founder of Microsoft is richer than the two biggest fortunes in India (Mukesh Ambani with 74.7 billion dollars) and China (Zhong Shanshan with 66.3 billion).
4. If Bill Gates gave 15 dollars (12 €) to every person on Earth, they would still have 28 billion dollars (23.3 billion euros) left to live on.
Metaverse: When Bill Gates predicts the future
Bill Gates describes the year 2021 as‘”most unusual and difficult year”. However, he is very optimistic and confident in the future, especially in the year 2022, particularly with regard to our “ digital future”, a notion which refers to the metaverse.
In an article published on his blog personal, the co-founder of Microsoft predicted the future and in particular that of work, which will be strongly impacted by new technologies developed by companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft.
Bill Gates notes that the Covid-19 pandemic has already “ revolutionized » our work habits, as more companies than ever offer flexibility to employees who want to work remotely. “These changes will only intensify in the years to come”writes Bill Gates, and he claims that remote work will only attract more people to the metavese. “Within two or three years, I predict that most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids… to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars” he explains.
How does Bill Gates imagine future business meetings? The answer is simple, he compares them to the game show “Hollywood Squares”. Meetings will be held remotely on videoconferencing platforms, such as Zoom or Teams. But all team members will have a 3D avatar who can participate from a virtual office or other destination. All this while having the possibility of interacting with other colleagues (avatars).
“The idea is that eventually you will use your avatar to meet people in a virtual space that replicates the feeling of being in a real room with them”writes Bill Gates. But, He specifies that users will have to wear virtual reality headsets or glasses to achieve this.
Bill Gates, who left Microsoft’s board of directors in 2020, adds that his former company is working on the option of “adding a 3D avatar” and other elements, favoring the deployment of the metaverse on its Teams software. The latter could even have a clear gateway to the metaverse now that Microsoft has teamed up with Mark Zuckerberg and Meta to make the Workplace social network compatible with Teams.
