Bill Gates

Bill Gates was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, attending the private Lakeside School where he developed an early passion for computing. At age 13, he wrote his first software program and, with friends including Paul Allen, formed the Lakeside Programmers Club, creating projects like a payroll system and Traf-O-Data, a traffic-counting business. Scoring 1590 on the SAT, he enrolled at Harvard University in 1973 intending to study law but dropped out in his junior year after developing a BASIC interpreter for the MITS Altair 8800 microcomputer, partnering with Allen to seize the emerging personal computing opportunity. In 1975, Gates and Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, initially adapting BASIC for microcomputers, which led to a pivotal deal with MITS. The company's breakthrough came in 1980 when Microsoft licensed MS-DOS to IBM for its PC, catapulting growth: staff tripled from 40 to 129 between 1980-1981, and sales rose from $8 million to $17.3 million. Microsoft incorporated in Washington state in June 1981, with Gates as president and chairman; he relocated operations to Bellevue near Seattle in 1979. Gates served as CEO for 25 years, overseeing hits like Windows and Microsoft Office, becoming the world's richest person by 1995 amid the 1986 IPO that made him the youngest billionaire at 31. Gates transitioned from Microsoft leadership in stages: succeeded as CEO by Steve Ballmer in 2000, shifted to chief software architect until 2008, stepped down as chairman in 2014, and resigned from the board in 2020 while remaining a technology advisor. That same year as CEO exit, he co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with his then-wife, focusing on global health. Allen departed in 1983 due to illness and equity disputes but later reconciled with Gates. Divorced in 2021 after 27 years, Gates now dedicates full-time to philanthropy through the Gates Foundation, Gates Ventures (addressing climate, Alzheimer's, education), and Breakthrough Energy for clean tech.