CEO DOSSIER
With Microsoft and his vision for a computer on every desk and in every home, Bill created the world’s largest company and became the richest man on the planet. Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he is also determined to do good with his fortune and has become the biggest charitable donor in history.
early years
Bill was born in 1955 and grew up with his two sisters in Seattle. He became interested in software at an early age and started programming computers at the age of 13. When he was 17 he sold his first program for $4,200 – a timetabling system for his school.
He went to Harvard University in 1973, where he met Steve Ballmer, who is now Microsoft’s CEO. During his time at Harvard he and a childhood friend, Paul Allen, wrote the first programming language, a version of BASIC, for the first personal microcomputer, the MITS Altair. In 1975 the pair sold the code to MITS for $3,000. They then started their own company and called it Microsoft because it created software for microcomputers. The pair believed that computers would one day be used in every office and home so they concentrated on developing software for personal computers. Bill did not graduate from Harvard, choosing to drop out in his junior year so he could spend more time on his start-up company.
In 1980 Bill signed an agreement to provide the operating system MS-DOS for IBM’s new personal computer – a move which turned out to be Microsoft’s big break. The contract allowed Microsoft to licence the operating system to other manufacturers, leading to a large number of IBM-compatible personal computers, which used Microsoft’s system. In 1981 he officially became Microsoft’s CEO and chairman.
As ceo
In 1986, Bill floated the company, raising $61 million and allowing the company to expand. While Bill’s partner Paul decided to take a back seat, Bill continued to work on the frontline, rapidly growing the company, driven by his vision for networked computers.
Under Bill’s leadership Microsoft’s sales and profits soared in the early 1990s. His aim has been to continually advance and improve software technology as well as making it cheaper and easier for people to use computers. He has been responsible for rapidly expanding Microsoft’s range of products.
The most popular Microsoft product has been Windows, which is still found on most computers today. One of Bill’s biggest achievements was the introduction of Windows 95, which was designed to replace MS-DOS and allowed users to multi-task. This product has then been regularly improved and updated to keep up with changes in the way people use their computers and mobile phones as well as the introduction of tablets.
In January 2000 he stepped down as CEO and became Microsoft’s chief software architect so he could concentrate on his real passion – programming. He continued in this role until June 2006. He continues to be Microsoft’s chairman but he has been less involved with the day-to-day running of the company since 2008 and he now devotes most of his time to philanthropy with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Away from work
In 1989, Bill founded Corbis Corporation – a digital archive of art and photography from across the globe – and he is its chairman and owner.He has written two bestselling books – ‘The Road Ahead’, which was published in 1995 and remained on the bestseller list of the New York Times for seven weeks, and ‘Business @ The Speed Of Thought’ in 1999. Business @ The Speed Of Thought aimed to show how computer technology could solve business problems and has been published in 25 languages and sold in 60 countries.
Outside of Microsoft, Bill is best known for wanting to spend his vast wealth on helping other people: “I’m certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes. Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point. Its utility is entirely in building an organisation and getting the resources out to the poorest in the world.”
So far Bill and his wife Melinda have given away more than $28 billion through their charitable foundation and more than $8 billion has gone towards improving global health. One of his main aims is to eradicate the disease polio:
“My wife and I had a long dialogue about how we were going to take the wealth that we’re lucky enough to have and give it back in a way that’s most impactful to the world. Both of us worked at Microsoft and saw that if you take innovation and smart people, the ability to measure what’s working, that you can pull together some pretty dramatic things… We’re focused on the help of the poorest in the world, which really drives you into vaccination. You can actually take a disease and get rid of it altogether, like we are doing with polio… Polio’s pretty special because once you get an eradication you no longer have to spend money on it; it’s just there as a gift for the rest of time.”
“When I was in my 40s, Microsoft was my primary activity. The big switch for me was when I decided to make the foundation my primary purpose. It was a big change, although there are more in common with the two things than you might think – meeting with scientists, taking on tough challenges, people being sceptical that you can get things done.”
“I loved my Microsoft: it prepared me for what I’m doing now. In the same way that I got to see the PC and internet revolutions, now I see child death rates coming down. I work very long hours and try to learn as much as I can about these things, but that’s because I enjoy it.”
Bill and Melinda married on New Year’s Day 1994 and they have three children Jennifer Katharine, born in 1996, Rory John, born in 1999, and Phoebe Adele, born in 2002. Bill enjoys reading, playing golf and bridge.
