Interesting Titbits About 8 Founder CEOs of Big Tech Companies

1. Bill Gates !icrosoft

For many of us, Bill Gates symbolizes the very beginning of the modern computer. He is and
will remain a role model for everybody that wants to build their start-up. Looking through his
biography, youll see that !r.Gates has done pretty mu"h everything one "ould desire in his life#
he was for many years the ri"hest person in the world, he has a great family and "urrently, hes a
philanthropist, trying to help the poor and those in need.
From $une, %&&', Bill Gates announ"ed that he will be shifting from daily a"tivities at !i"rosoft
to part time, basi"ally (leaving) !i"rosoft. *in"e then, he is a proa"tive philanthropist, alongside
with his wife. +f youll sear"h for answers, why did he de"ide to do so, + dont think youll find
some. +f youd ask me, it was a bold move and a proof of humanity from his side. ,fter all, what
more "ould a man ask for- Being able to help millions of hungry "hildren, this is Bill Gates
dream now. ,nd we must praise him for that.
". #te$e %obs Apple
*teve $obs is, without any doubts, one of the biggest managers that modern e"onomy saw. He
reshaped ,pple so that it "ould rise from its ashes, evolve from a dying "ompany to the
behemoth that were witnessing now. ,pple has grown so powerful, that it was the biggest
"ompany in the world for some minutes and at one point it had more "ash than the .* treasury.
*teve $obs is an i"on, a symbol for what leadership and management should be.
/verybody asso"iates %obs with ,pple be"ause he knew how to impregnate his "harisma into
"ompanies operations and image. 0an you tell me who is Nike, Adidas, Acer, Asus CEO- $obs
had to resign from his position as 0/1 be"ause he is very ill, as we all know. +ts interesting to
noti"e that $obs was relu"tant towards philanthropi" a"tivities2 after resuming his a"tivity at
,pple in 3445, he eliminated all philanthropy programs. Lets hope that Tim Coo& will take "are
of ,pple as $obs did, although *teve will still have a big influen"e on "ompanys de"ision.
'. %err( )ang )ahoo*
+f you dont know by now, %err( )ang is the "o-founder of 6ahoo7 along with 8avid Filo. His
"urrent estimated net worth is 93.: billion. ,t the very beginning of what 6ahoo7 was meant to
be, $erry and 8avid "reated ($erry and 8aves Guide to the ;orld ;ide ;eb). <heir website
was, basi"ally, what we "all now a dire"tory of websites. =ui"k enough, 6ahoo7 be"ame
su""essful and the two friends realized what 6ahoo7s finan"ial potential was.
However, in %&&>, late ?ovember, 6ang stepped down from his position as 0/1. His move
wasnt une@pe"ted, as he was "riti"ized for his la"k of (finan"ial sense). +n may, the same year,
6ang refused an offer from !icrosoft, at a rate of 9::Ashare. B months later, the shares were
evaluated at only 93C. ?obody "an blame 6ang, as 6ahoo7 "an be "onsidered his "hild, but when
you have investors that are interested in finan"ial benefits, you have to please them.
+. !asaru Ibu&a #on(
!asaru +buka "o-founded the "ompany what we now "all *ony. ,s many other big "ompanies,
*onys history started low, with ,kio !orita and !asaru +buka founding Tokyo
Telecommunications Engineering Corporation 34C'. !asaru +buka is not as known as ,kio
!orita is, possibly be"ause +buka left the "ompany in 345', :& years after having found it DBill
Gates left !i"rosoft after :& years as wellE. <here is no parti"ular reason for +bukas leave, albeit
at that time he was '> years.
He didnt have health issues and had lived >4 years. However, even after his leave, he
maintained "lose ties with A&io !orita and was regarded as an (advisor) for the "ompany. 8o
you know where this finan"ial giant had started- +n 34CB, !asaru +buka de"ided to start a small,
lo"al business F a radio repair shop. He did so in a bomb-damaged building from ?ihonbashi,
<okyo, in 34CB. ,fter one year, ,kio !orita Goined and they found together the father of the
mighty #on(.
,. -erner .on #iemens #iemens
8o you remember *iemens- +t may have moved under shadow, but *iemens is one of the longest
running te"hnology "ompanies in the world, being founded in 3>C57 ;e found about *iemens
when they released their phones, but did you know that their main a"tivities are "entered around
the +ndustry *e"tor, /nergy *e"tor, Health-"are *e"tor- <here are *iemens "ars, trains,
mi"ros"opes and even wind turbines. *iemens is a "ompany with a huge versatility and diversity.
+t all started with /rnst ;erner von *iemens, a German industrialist and inventor. -erner .on
#iemens developed the original invention of the telegraph, thus "reating the first long distan"e
telegraph line in 34C>, B&& km from Berlin to Frankfurt. +n 3>>3, a *iemens ,0 alternator was
used to power the first ele"tri" street lighting in Godalming. <herefore, we "an say for sure that
*iemens has "ontributed a lot to reshape the world and boost the industrial age. ;erner von
*iemens retired from the "ompany in 3>4&, at the age of 5:, leaving behind a huge beHuest on
whi"h the twentieth "entury built its te"hnology pala"e.
/. 0iroshi )amauchi 1intendo
8o you know that ?intendo was founded in 3>>4- Ba"k then, the "ompany was spe"ialized in
hanafuda "ards. + was pretty impressed to find out that ?intendo has more than 3%% years of
history and right from the beginning, they were spe"ialized in games. ,lbeit Hiroshi
6amau"hi isnt the founder of ?intendo, he is the one who had transformed the "ard-making
"ompany into a multi-billion video-game business. 6amau"his (rule) of ?intendo is one of the
biggest periods for a 0/1 to held the position, from 34C4 until %&&%, B: years.
0iroshi )amauchi is yet another drop-out be"ause when he be"ame ?intedos president he was
only %% years old. However, he didnt drop from the university be"ause he wanted but be"ause
his grandfather, at that time, ?intedos president had died2 and sin"e he didnt have any
su""essor, he named his grandson. Hiroshis start was tedious, as many didnt look at him as
being a true leader. ?onetheless, during his (rule), 6amau"hi led ?intendo in a (notoriously
imperialisti" style). )amauchiIs leave from ?intendo is probably one of the most happy ones,
be"ause when he left, he was already 5B years and healthy enough. He is "urrently >: and his net
worth is evaluated at almost 9> billion.
2. #tan #hih Acer
0omparing with what we saw until now, ,"er is a young "ompany, being founded in 345' by
*tan *hih, his wife and a group of five more people, "lose with them. ,"er started with 33
employees and 9%B,&&& in starting "apital. ,t this moment, the <aiwanese "ompany has almost
>,&&& employees and a revenue of 9%& billion. *hih retired in %&&C, after having built and seen
the growth of a "ompany from a small start-up to what is now a threat to big "omputer
manufa"turers.
#tan #hih retired at '& from ,"er leaving Jhentang ;ang in "harge. *hih is also known for his
"harity involvements, even have been named a high-ranking offi"ial in ,K/0. *hihs retirement
may be similar to the one of 6amau"hi, as he let the helm right when the "ompany has rea"hed
its peak, in a moment when we "an say that *hih was "ontent with his work. Like !ar&
3uc&erberg said# Somebody doesnt understand that Facebook is because !anted to build
something and to see ho! it gro!s".
8. Gordon !oore Intel
;e end our list with Gordon !oore, the well-known savant for the (!oores Law) whi"h states
that the number o# transistors that can be placed ine$pensi%ely on an integrated circuit doubles
appro$imately e%ery t!o years& +n $uly, 34'>, !oore "o-founded +ntel with Lobert ?oy"e, (the
!ayor of *ili"on Malley). Both Gordon !oore and 4obert 1o(ce "an be "onsidered s"ientists,
maybe this is why +ntel is so su""essful, even C: years of history, "urrently having an in"ome of
more than 93' billion.
+n 3445 !oore retired from his position as +ntels 0/1, leaving 0raig Barett in "harge. !oores
wealth has been estimated at almost 9C billion. Gordon !oore has also done (good things), in
%&&5, 8e"ember, he and his wife donated 9%&& million for the "onstru"tion of the biggest opti"al
teles"ope in the world. ;hy did !oore leave +ntel- Be"ause he saw his "ompany grow to the
level he wanted.
!y favorite 0/1 from all the above is, without any doubt, Hiroshi 6amau"hi from ?intendo. +
re"ommend you to read its biography and the ?intendos history. *omebody should release a
book about this great 0/1, as you have a lot to learn from his a"tivity# how he started,
surrounded by doubt and how he managed to fa"e the ele"troni"s era, thus having to reshape its
entire business model. ;hos your favorite 0/1-