William Henry Gates III, widely known as Bill Gates, was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, United States. He is one of the founders of Microsoft and served for many years as the company’s chairman and chief software architect. According to Forbes magazine, in 2004 he was ranked as the richest person in the world.

An American entrepreneur, Gates transformed his two-person company, Microsoft, into one of the world’s leading computer software companies. By the late 20th century, he had become one of the most successful corporate leaders of his era. Born in Seattle, Washington, as the son of a lawyer father and a teacher mother, Gates attended his first computer science courses at a private school at the age of twelve. Together with his school friend Paul Allen, he spent most of his free time working on computer programs.

Bill Gates is the only son in his family. He grew up in Seattle with his older sister Kristianne and younger sister Libby. He initially attended a public school in North Seattle and later continued his education at the private Lakeside School. There, he began writing personal software programs at the age of just thirteen.

In order to use a nearby company’s large computer free of charge, Bill Gates and Paul Allen searched for and fixed software bugs for users. Through this work, they gained significant expertise in computing. In 1972, they founded their first company, Traf-O-Data, which produced programs for traffic counting and control systems and quickly generated sales of 20,000 dollars. A year later, Gates completed an internship at the defense contractor TRW, and then, upon his father’s recommendation, began studying law at Harvard University.

Gates enrolled at Harvard University in 1973 but left the school voluntarily in 1975 during his third year. While at university, he developed a version of the BASIC programming language—originally written in 1960 by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz—for the MITS Altair.

In the mid-1970s, personal computers were still in their early stages of development. The MITS company’s Altair model lacked a standard operating system and only had an incomplete one. Thanks to the BASIC programming language developed by Gates and Allen, computer users were able to program their own machines. MITS purchased the marketing license from the young developers and commissioned them to further improve the system. Gates then left his studies and, together with Allen, founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Microsoft became one of the first companies to dedicate itself consistently to developing software for microcomputers. Shortly afterward, companies such as General Electric became regular clients. In 1977, Gates signed licensing agreements with PC manufacturers such as Apple, Tandy, and Commodore to equip their devices with BASIC. By also developing programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL, and Pascal, Microsoft gained a competitive advantage and opened the door to international markets, starting with Japan after 1978. In 1979, with only 13 employees, the company achieved sales of approximately 3 million dollars.

After 1980, when IBM entered the PC market and commissioned Gates to develop an operating system, Microsoft’s rapid rise continued. The MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) quickly broke global sales records during the 1980s, selling around 120 million copies. By retaining the rights and selling the system to other hardware manufacturers, Gates ensured that MS-DOS became the industry standard. As IBM-compatible devices proliferated, Microsoft’s operating system dominated the market. By the mid-1980s, the company had grown to 1,000 employees and began opening branches across Europe.

Alongside operating systems, Gates also achieved major success in application software. After the Multiplan spreadsheet program in 1982, Microsoft introduced the WORD word-processing system in 1983, which was among the first to use a mouse. While WORD sold very well in Europe, it initially struggled in the United States against competitors like Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect, eventually gaining market share over time.

Microsoft’s decisive breakthrough came through a contract with Apple. For the Macintosh, Microsoft developed several application systems, including WORD and Excel. In 1986, Gates took Microsoft public. Soon after, the stock market value of his personal share alone—45 percent—exceeded 1 billion dollars.

Development of WINDOWS, a graphical enhancement of MS-DOS, began in 1985. After its release in 1987, Microsoft achieved major success through an effective marketing campaign. The system was continuously expanded with advanced features, with Gates emphasizing simplicity and usability. By 1993, Microsoft was the undisputed market leader, with annual revenue of 3.75 billion dollars and a market value exceeding 20 billion dollars.

Between 1975 and 2006, all major administrative decisions at Microsoft were made by Bill Gates. In 2006, he announced that he would gradually reduce his responsibilities. He shared his duties between senior executives Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. According to Forbes magazine’s 2009 research, Gates retained his status as the world’s richest man with a fortune of 60 billion dollars.

Gates married Melinda French in 1994. The couple has three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates, Rory John Gates, and Phoebe Adele Gates. Gates enjoys playing golf and tennis, is known as an avid reader, and collects manuscripts written by Leonardo da Vinci.

The Gates family lives in a residence overlooking Lake Washington, built on a 6,100-square-meter property. The house features an 18-meter swimming pool, a 230-square-meter gym, and a 93-square-meter dining room. The residence, described as “waterfront luxury,” cost approximately 113 million dollars and took seven years to complete.

Bill Gates and his wife established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to organize charitable activities. Founded in 2000, the foundation is one of the largest and most transparent philanthropic organizations in the world. With annual donations of around 28 million dollars, Bill and Melinda Gates are considered among America’s most generous philanthropists.

According to Forbes magazine’s 2015 list, Gates held the title of “World’s Richest Person” with a fortune of 79.2 billion dollars. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index reported that as of December 27, 2016, he ranked first globally with a personal wealth of 91.5 billion dollars.

On March 13, 2020, Microsoft announced that its founder and technology advisor Bill Gates had stepped down from the company’s board. Gates also declared that he would leave the board of Berkshire Hathaway, where he had served since 2004 alongside billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Books:
2014 – Level 6 Pack
2001 – Penguin Reader Level 3: The Road Ahead Sampler
2008 – Competitiveness and Innovation on the Committee's 50th Anniversary with Bill Gates
2008 – The Road Ahead
1999 – Business @ the Speed of Thought
1995 – The Road Ahead

Source: Biyografiler.com