Published 17:21 IST, October 28th 2019
Bill Gates turns 64: Net worth, facts about second richest man
Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation and pioneer of the microcomputer revolution in the 1970s and 80s, turned 64 years old on Oct 28.
Bill Gates, the principal founder of Microsoft Corporation, turned 64 years old on October 28, 2019. Gates, pioneered the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, is currently the second richest person in the world after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with a net worth of $105.7 billion.
First software program
During his schooling career, Bill Gates wrote his first software program at the age of 13. Due to his interest in programming the GE system in BASIC, he got a waiver from attending the math classes. His first program allowed the users to play tic-tac-toe game against the computer. Gates wrote the school's student information system software to schedule students in classes.
Modified code for scheduling the classes
In 2005, addressing Lakeside school, his alma mater, Bill Gates revealed that he had modified the code for scheduling the classes so that he was placed in classes with "a disproportionate number of interesting girls”. “It was complex, but ultimately very rewarding. By the time I was done, I found that I had no classes at all on Fridays. And even better, there was a disproportionate number of interesting girls in all my classes,” said Gates.
Founded Microsoft
Born in Seattle, Washington, Gates enrolled at Harvard College in 1973 but took a leave of absence after two years to work on a software venture he called ‘Micro-Soft’ which he later trademarked as ‘Microsoft’. In 1977, he again took a leave of absence from Harvard to establish Microsoft in Albuquerque.
Breakthrough year and marriage
Gates’ reputation kept growing but the major breakthrough year for him was 1981 when Microsoft bought the rights of Disk Operating System (DOS) and incorporated it to create MS-DOS. At the age of 31, he became the youngest billionaire ever after he launched the first retail version of Microsoft Windows. In 1987, he met Melinda French at a Microsoft event and got married to her in 1994.
Philanthropy work
Gates is known for his philanthropy work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 1994, he donated some of his Microsoft shares to create the "William H. Gates Foundation" named after his father. Later, Gates and Melinda combined three family foundations and donated $5 billion of shares to create the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Updated 20:01 IST, October 28th 2019