As a young lad, Gates was such a creative genius, with a burning desire for Computers, such that he appeared somewhat lost in some other ventures other than the science of computers.
Much more to being some computer born genius, Gates, had a very tactical and business inclined mind, probably as a result of the influence of his family on him. So apart from creating computer softwares as we all know, his business ingenuity by far, was the fueling agent that kept and sustained him in a highly competitive age.
Every computer user is familiar with the name Microsoft, and as such is familiar with the name Bill Gates. The brain behind this technological leap over the ages, and who for a while has dominated that space with unmatched influence. What exactly is his secret ? How did he come about such intriguing discovery ?
You may want to fasten your seat belts now, because everything is super interesting now, you wouldn’t want to miss one bit of it, trust me. Stay through, as we delve deeper to undercover some facts about this all time computer genius. Ready? Let’s jump right into it.
Who Is Bill Gates? (Biography of Bill Gates)
He was born, William Henry Gates, III, on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. He was born into the home of Mr. William H. Gates Sr, who was a practicing lawyer, and his Mrs Mary Maxwell who after taking a brief career in teaching devoted her whole time to helping raise her kids, and at same time working on civic affairs and with charities.
She also served on several corporate boards, among them being First Interstate Bank in Seattle (founded by her grandfather), the United Way, and International Business Machines (IBM). She would often take Bill along on her volunteer work in schools and community organizations, little wonder the genius in this young lad was primed and nurtured at a very tender stage of life. Much more than that, Bill Gates was just closer to his mother then anyone else.
Not to forget, Bill Gates does have 2 siblings, Kristianne, who is older, and Libby, who is younger. So in some sense, he was mom’s little “hand bag”. The Gates family was such an exceptional one as everyone was encouraged to put up their best at all times. With this approach, it was just way impossible for someone from such background to not be useful to himself and others.
That being said, Bill leveraged on this singular fact and committed himself to studying at a very intense level. Bill was such a vivacious reader as a child, reading with so much zest and energy like it was all he came for. He spent so many hours over reference books such as the encyclopedia. So scary it was that at the age of 11 or 12, lines of worry began to find their way on the face of Bill’s parents. His new found way of life, raised serious concerns, as they thought he was gradually becoming a loner. Though not doing so badly at school, Bill still seemed bored and withdrawn most of the times.
Career Life
When Bill turned 13 his parents enrolled him in Seattle’s Lakeside School, which promised to be the first and all important step towards achieving his career dreams. While at Lakeside School, a Seattle computer company offered to provide computer time for the students. The parent club used proceeds from the school’s rummage sale to purchase a teletype terminal for students to use.
With every stage of this process, there lit up a great radiance on his face as he was so fascinated with the working of the computer and all the promising possibilities the computer offers. He spent so much of his free time working on the terminal. He wrote a tic-tac-toe program in BASIC computer language that allowed users to play against the computer.
As time progressed, he bonded with his close friend and associate partner, Paul Allen, who was two years older than Bill. But that not withstanding, their bond was more superior as they put in all of the work together to build an empire.
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Upon graduation from college, both parted ways, in pursuit of their careers, but they still maintained the closeness. As their career still revolved around the computer space. In their early years, they came in contact with a company, called Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Gates and Allen contacted the company and began working for them.
Soon enough their experiences and knowledge gathered over the years, paid off. In 1975, Gates and Allen formed a partnership they called Microsoft, a fusion of “micro-computers” and “software.” As can be rightly observed that was how and where it all started.
Growth and Expansion
As time progressed, Microsoft as it later was called, with Bill and Allen dropping the hyphen a year later after coming up with the first, began raking in enormous profits as business deals, were signed in favour of Bill Gates.
Between 1978 and 1981, Microsoft’s growth exploded, and staff increased from 25 members to 128. Revenue shot up quickly from $4 million to $16 million. In mid-1981 Gates and Allen incorporated Microsoft, and Gates was appointed the president and chairman of the board, while Allen was named executive vice-president. What a journey this two have come through.
In November 1985, Bill Gates and Microsoft launched Windows; nearly two years after his announcement. It only kept getting better and better as the days went by.
In 1986, Bill Gates took Microsoft public with an initial public offering (IPO) of $21 per share. Gates held 45 percent of the company’s 24.7 million shares and became an instant millionaire at age 31.
Marital status
With all that Gates had gathered and was still bent on gathering, the subject of marriage became the next point of call. Amazingly, in a most dramatic way, in 1989, the young computer genius, looked aside from the computer space and found true love.
A 28 year old Microsoft executive named Melinda French caught the eyes and heart of Bill Gates, who was then 37. She was the perfect match for his kind of life, and he wasted no time in walking her up the aisle, on January 1, 1994, in Hawaii. Together they both have 3 children.
Philanthropic Life
Sadly, only a few months after his marriage, tragedy struck, as Bill Gates lost his mother to breast cancer. She died in June 1994. Gates was heart broken.
But with the comfort of his wife and family he was able to get through that moment of shock. Having being the one running charities while still alive, Bill’s mother was gone, and so there needed to be someone to step into that position.
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With the encouragement of his wife, in 1994, Bill Gates established the William H. Gates foundation, which was established to meet the global need of health and education. Later on, there was a merging with his wife to form the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.
By reason of his philanthropic work, times magazine named Gates one of the most influential people of the 20th century. The magazine also recognized and named Gates, his wife Melinda, and rock band U2’s lead singer Bono as the 2005 Persons of the Year.