Bill Gates

Gates, William Henry, III

Gates, William Henry, III (1955- ), American business executive, chairman and former chief executive officer of the Microsoft Corporation, born in Seattle, Washington. Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen, his partner in computer language development from 1967. While attending Harvard in 1975, Gates teamed up with Allen to develop a version of the BASIC computer programming language for the MITS Altair, the first personal computer. This work on BASIC for the Altair led Gates to drop out of Harvard in 1977 to pursue full-time his vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home”. In the early 1980s, Gates led Microsoft's evolution from a developer of computer programming languages to a diversified computer software company. This transition began with the introduction of MS-DOS, the operating system for the new IBM Personal Computer in 1981. Gates also pushed Microsoft towards the introduction of application software such as the Microsoft Word word processor. Gates has made personal investments in other high-technology companies. In 1989 he founded Corbis Corporation, which now owns the largest collection of digital images in the world. In 1994 Gates and Craig McCaw, a pioneer in the cellular telecommunications industry, became primary investors in Teledesic Corporation. Teledesic planned to launch several hundred low-orbiting artificial satellites to create a global, high-speed telecommunications network.
Much of Gates's success rests on his ability to translate technical visions into market strategy, and to blend creativity with technical acumen (in 1995 he published The Road Ahead, his vision of the future shape of the computer revolution, and in 1999 came Business @ the Speed of Thought, about the role technology can play in running a business). He is one of the few top executives from the technical side of the PC industry to have survived and thrived on the business side as well. Although Gates has accumulated great wealth from his holdings of Microsoft stock, he has been known as a tough competitor who seems to value winning in a competitive environment over money. In 1998 Gates appointed an executive vice president of the company, Steve Ballmer, to the position of president, but continued to serve as Microsoft's chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). In 2000 Gates transferred the title of CEO to Ballmer, a change that allowed Gates to focus on the development of new products and technologies. He is also involved in charity work, mainly through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, amalgamated in 1999 and working in areas of education and librarianship in the United States as well as medical research and healthcare worldwide.
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