Family

Son of William Henry Gates Jr. and Mary Maxwell. He has English, German, Scottish and
Irish ancestry.

Education
At the age of thirteen he enrolled at Lakeside School, a private preparatory school. When he
was in the eighth grade, Gates became interested in programming the GE system in BASIC
and was excused from math classes to train in computer science.He sold his first software
program - a scheduling system for the school - for $4,200 at age 17. He graduated from
Lakeside High School in 1973 as a National Merit Scholar. He enrolled at Harvard University
in the fall of 1973, where he met Steve Ballmer, who was the CEO of Microsoft from January
2000 to February 2014.

Microsoft
Founder of Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen, fellow student and partner in the creation of
programming languages. In 1977 he left Harvard to devote himself entirely to the company.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

On June 16, 2006, he announced his intention to leave his daily work at the head of his
company. On June 27, 2008, he left his position as head of Microsoft, handing over control
of the company to Steve Ballmer to devote himself to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
dedicated to rebalancing opportunities in health and education by donating large sums of
money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs. They were
awarded the 2006 Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. Resigned as
chairman of Microsoft in February 2014, assuming the new position of technology advisor in
support of newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella.

Fortuna
As of August 2020, he had an estimated net worth of $113.7 billion, the second richest
person in the world, behind Jeff Bezos.