William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of themicrocomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software companyMicrosoft in 1975 with his childhood friendPaul Allen. Following Microsoft's 1986initial public offering, Gates became the world's then-youngest billionaire in 1987, at age 31.Forbes magazine ranked him asthe world's wealthiest person for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007. Gates became the firstcentibillionaire in 1999, when his net worth briefly surpassed US$100 billion. According toForbes, as of May 2025, his net worth stood at US$115.1 billion, making him the thirteenth-richest individual in the world.[1][2][3]
Born and raised inSeattle, Washington, Gates was privately educated atLakeside School, where he befriended Allen and developed his computing interests. In 1973, he enrolled atHarvard University, where he took classes includingMath 55 and graduate level computer science courses, but he dropped out in 1975 to co-found and lead Microsoft. He served as its CEO for the next 25 years and also became president and chairman of the board when the company incorporated in 1981. Succeeded as CEO bySteve Ballmer in 2000, he transitioned tochief software architect, a position he held until 2008. He stepped down as chairman of the board in 2014 and became technology adviser to CEOSatya Nadella and other Microsoft leaders, a position he still holds. He resigned from the board in 2020.
Over time, Gates reduced his role at Microsoft to focus on hisphilanthropic work with theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization, which he and his then-wifeMelinda French Gates co-chaired from 2000 until 2024. Focusing on areas including health, education, and poverty alleviation, Gates became known for his efforts to combat transmissible diseases such astuberculosis,malaria, andpolio. After French Gates resigned as co-chair following the couple's divorce, the foundation was renamed theGates Foundation, with Gates as its sole chair.
William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington,[4] as the only son ofWilliam H. Gates Sr.[a] (1925–2020) and his first wife,Mary Maxwell Gates (1929–1994).[5] His ancestry includesEnglish,German, andIrish/Scots-Irish.[6] His father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors ofFirst Interstate BancSystem andUnited Way of America. Gates's maternal grandfather J. W. Maxwell was a national bank president. Gates also has an older sister Kristi (Kristianne) and a younger sister Libby. He is the fourth of his name in his family but is known as William Gates III or "Trey" (i.e., three) because his father had the "II" suffix.[7][8] The family lived in theSand Point area ofSeattle in a home that was damaged by a raretornado when Gates was 7.[9]
Gates was small for his age and was bullied as a child.[8] The family encouraged competition; one visitor reported that "it didn't matter whether it washearts orpickleball or swimming to the dock; there was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing".[14]
At age 13, Gates enrolled in the privateLakeside Prep School.[15][16] When he was in the eighth grade, the Mothers' Club at the school used proceeds from Lakeside School'srummage sale to buy aTeletype Model 33 ASR terminal and a block of computer time on aGeneral Electric (GE) computer for the students.[17] Gates took an interest in programming the GE system inBASIC, and he was excused from math classes to pursue his interest. He wrote his first computer program on this machine, an implementation oftic-tac-toe that allowed users to play games against the computer. Gates was fascinated by the machine and how it would always execute software code perfectly.[18] After the Mothers Club donation was exhausted, Gates and other students sought time on systems includingDECPDP minicomputers. One of these systems was aPDP-10 belonging toComputer Center Corporation (CCC) which banned Gates,Paul Allen,Ric Weiland, and Gates's best friend and first business partner Kent Evans for the summer after it caught them exploitingbugs in the operating system to obtain free computer time.[19][8]
The four students formed the Lakeside Programmers Club to make money.[8] At the end of the ban, they offered to find bugs in CCC's software in exchange for extra computer time. Rather than using the system remotely viaTeletype, Gates went to CCC's offices and studiedsource code for various programs that ran on the system, includingFortran,Lisp, andmachine language. The arrangement with CCC continued until 1970 when the company went out of business. The following year, a Lakeside teacher enlisted Gates and Evans to automate the school's class-scheduling system, providing them computer time and royalties in return. The duo worked diligently in order to have the program ready for their senior year. Towards the end of their junior year, Evans was killed in a mountain climbing accident, which Gates described as one of the saddest days of his life. He then turned to Allen who helped him finish the system for Lakeside.[8]
Gates did not stay at Harvard long enough to choose a concentration, but took mathematics (includingMath 55) and graduate level computer science courses.[26] While at Harvard, he met fellow student and future Microsoft CEOSteve Ballmer. Gates left Harvard after two years while Ballmer stayed and graduatedmagna cum laude. Years later, Ballmer succeeded Gates as Microsoft's CEO and maintained that position from 2000 until his resignation in 2014.[27][28]
Gates devised an algorithm forpancake sorting as a solution to one of a series ofunsolved problems[29] presented in acombinatorics class by professorHarry Lewis. His solution held the record as the fastest version for over 30 years, and its successor is faster by only 2%.[30] His solution was formalized and published in collaboration with Harvard computer scientistChristos Papadimitriou.[31]
Gates remained in contact with Paul Allen and joined him atHoneywell during the summer of 1974.[32] In 1975, theMITS Altair 8800 was released based on theIntel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw the opportunity to start their own computer software company.[33] Gates dropped out of Harvard that same year. His parents were supportive of him after seeing how much he wanted to start his own company.[34] He explained his decision to leave Harvard: "if things hadn't worked out, I could always go back to school. I was officially on leave."[35]
MITSAltair 8800 Computer with 8-inch (200 mm) floppy disk system whose first programming language was Microsoft's founding product,Altair BASIC
Gates read the January 1975 issue ofPopular Electronics which demonstrated theAltair 8800, and contactedMicro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) to inform them that he and others were working on aBASIC interpreter for the platform.[36] In reality, Gates and Allen did not have an Altair and had not written code for it; they merely wanted to gauge MITS's interest. MITS presidentEd Roberts agreed to meet them for a demonstration, and over the course of a few weeks they developed an Altairemulator that ran on a minicomputer, and then the BASIC interpreter. The demonstration was held at MITS's offices inAlbuquerque, New Mexico; it was a success and resulted in a deal with MITS to distribute the interpreter asAltair BASIC. MITS hired Allen,[37] and Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard to work with him at MITS in November 1975. Allen named their partnership "Micro-Soft", a combination of "microcomputer" and "software", and their first office was in Albuquerque. The first employee Gates and Allen hired was their high school collaboratorRic Weiland.[37] They dropped the hyphen within a year and officially registered the trade name "Microsoft" with the Secretary of the State of New Mexico on November 26, 1976.[37] Gates never returned to Harvard to complete his studies.
Microsoft's Altair BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked out and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, he wroteAn Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter in which he asserted that more than 90% of the users of Microsoft Altair BASIC had not paid Microsoft for it and the Altair "hobby market" was in danger of eliminating the incentive for any professional developers to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software.[38] This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems.[37] The company moved from Albuquerque toBellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.[36]
Gates said he personally reviewed and often rewrote every line of code that the company produced in its first five years. As the company grew, he transitioned into a manager role, then an executive.[39]
IBM partnership
IBM, the leading supplier of computer equipment to commercial enterprises at the time, approached Microsoft in July 1980 concerning software for its upcoming personal computer, theIBM PC,[40] after Gates's mother mentioned Microsoft toJohn Opel, IBM's thenCEO.[5] IBM first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. IBM's representatives also mentioned that they needed an operating system, and Gates referred them toDigital Research (DRI), makers of the widely usedCP/M operating system.[41] IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and asked if Microsoft could provide an operating system. A few weeks later, Gates and Allen proposed using86-DOS, an operating system similar to CP/M, thatTim Paterson ofSeattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC.[42] Microsoft made a deal with SCP to be the exclusive licensing agent of 86-DOS, and later the full owner. Microsoft employed Paterson to adapt the operating system for the PC[43] and delivered it to IBM asPC DOS for a one-time fee of $50,000.[44]
The contract itself only earned Microsoft a relatively small fee. It was the prestige brought to Microsoft by IBM's adoption of their operating system that would be the origin of Microsoft's transformation from a small business to the leading software company in the world. Gates had not offered to transfer the copyright on the operating system to IBM because he believed that other personal computer makers would clone IBM's PC hardware.[44] They did, making the IBM-compatible PC, running DOS, a de facto standard. The sales ofMS-DOS (the version of DOS sold to customers other than IBM) made Microsoft a major player in the industry.[45] The press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the IBM PC.PC Magazine asked if Gates was "the man behind the machine?".[40]
Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates the president and chairman of the board, with Paul Allen as vice president and vice chairman. In early 1983, Allen left the company after receiving aHodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, effectively ending the formal business partnership between Gates and Allen, which had been strained months prior due to a contentious dispute over Microsoft equity.[36][46] Later in the decade, Gates repaired his relationship with Allen and together the two donated millions to their childhood school Lakeside.[8] They remained friends until Allen's death in October 2018.[47]
Windows
Microsoft and Gates launched their first retail version ofMicrosoft Windows on November 20, 1985, in an attempt to fend off competition fromApple'sMacintoshGUI, which had captivated consumers with its simplicity and ease of use.[48] In August 1986, the company struck a deal withIBM to develop a separate operating system calledOS/2. Although the two companies successfully developed the first version of the new system, the partnership deteriorated due to mounting creative differences.[49] The operating systemgrew out of DOS in an organic fashion over a decade untilWindows 95, which hid the DOS prompt by default.Windows XP was released one year after Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO.[50]Windows 8.1 was the last version of the OS released before Gates left the chair of the firm toJohn W. Thompson on February 5, 2014.[51]
Management style
Gates delivers a speech at theWorld Economic Forum in Switzerland, January 2008.
During Microsoft's early years, Gates was an active software developer, particularly in the company's programming language products, but his primary role in most of the company's history was as a manager and executive. He has not officially been on a development team since working on theTRS-80 Model 100,[52] but he wrote code that shipped with the company's products as late as 1989.[53]Jerry Pournelle wrote in 1985 when Gates announcedMicrosoft Excel: "Bill Gates likes the program, not because it's going to make him a lot of money (although I'm sure it will do that), but because it's aneat hack."[54] During the late 1990s, he wascriticized for his business tactics, which were consideredanti-competitive. This opinion has been upheld by numerous court rulings.[55]
In June 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his role at Microsoft to dedicate more time to philanthropy. He gradually divided his responsibilities between two successors when he placedRay Ozzie in charge of management andCraig Mundie in charge of long-term product strategy.[56] The process took two years to fully transfer his duties to Ozzie and Mundie, and was completed on June 27, 2008.[57]
Post-Microsoft
Since leaving day-to-day operations at Microsoft, Gates has continued his philanthropy and works on other projects. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 to become technology advisor at the firm to support newly appointed CEOSatya Nadella.[58][59]
Gates provided his perspective on a range of issues in an interview that was published in the March 2014 issue ofRolling Stone magazine. In the interview, he provided his perspective on climate change, his charitable activities, various tech companies and people involved in them, and the state of America. In response to a question about his greatest fear when he looks 50 years into the future, Gates stated: "there'll be some really bad things that'll happen in the next 50 or 100 years, but hopefully none of them on the scale of, say, a million people that you didn't expect to die from apandemic, ornuclear orbioterrorism." Gates also identified innovation as the "real driver of progress" and pronounced that "America's way better today than it's ever been."[60] Gates has often expressed concern about the potential harms ofsuperintelligence; in aReddit "ask me anything", he stated that:
First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern. I agree withElon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people are not concerned.[61][62][63][64]
Gates and UK Foreign SecretaryDavid Cameron atCOP28 in Dubai on December 1, 2023
In March 2020, Microsoft announced Gates would be leaving his board positions at Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft to dedicate himself to philanthropic endeavors such as climate change, global health and development, and education.[71]The Wall Street Journal reported in May 2021 that Gates stepped down before Microsoft's board finished its investigation into Gates's alleged inappropriate sexual relationship with a Microsoft employee, which an external law firm had begun probing in late 2019.[72]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gates has widely been looked at by media outlets as an expert on the issue, despite him not being apublic official or having any priormedical training.[73] His foundation did, however, establish the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator in 2020 to hasten the development and evaluation of new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients forCOVID-19,[74] and, as of February 2021, Gates expressed that he andAnthony Fauci frequently talk and collaborate on matters including vaccines and other medical innovations to fight the pandemic.[75]
Business ventures and investments(partial list)
Gates has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio with stakes in companies in multiple sectors and has participated in several entrepreneurial ventures beyond Microsoft, including:
AutoNation, an automotive retailer which trades on theNYSE and in which Gates has a 16% stake.[76]
bgC3 LLC, a think-tank and research company founded by Gates.[77]
Cascade Investment LLC, a private investment and holding company incorporated in the United States, founded and controlled by Gates and headquartered inKirkland, Washington.[79]
Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the United States with his landholdings owned through Cascade Investment totalling 242,000 acres across 19 states.[80][81] He is the 49th largest private owner of land in the US.[82]
SCoPEx, Keith's academic venture in "sun-dimming"geoengineering, which Gates provided most of the $12 million for.[87]
Corbis (originally named Interactive Home Systems, then Corbis and now known as Branded Entertainment Network), a digital image licensing and rights services company founded and chaired by Gates. Corbis Images, its enormous photo image library, was sold to a Chinese firm in January 2016.[88]
EarthNow, a Seattle-based startup company aiming to blanket the Earth with live satellite video coverage. Gates is a large financial backer.[89]
Ecolab, a global provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services to the food, energy, healthcare, industrial and hospitality markets. Combined with the shares owned by the Foundation, Gates owns 11.6% of the company. A shareholder agreement in 2012 allowed him to own up to 25% of the company, but this agreement was removed.[94]
ResearchGate, a social networking site for scientists. Gates participated in a $35 million round of financing along with other investors.[95]
Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a closed fund for wealthy individuals who seekROI on a 20-year horizon (seenext section), which "is funding green start-ups and a host of other low-carbon entrepreneurial projects, including everything from advancednuclear technology to syntheticbreast milk". It was founded by Gates in 2015.[101]
Ginkgo Bioworks, abiotech startup that received $350 million in venture funding in 2019, in part from Gates's investment firm Cascade Investment.[102]
Mologic, a British diagnostic technology company that Gates purchased, along with theSoros Economic Development Fund, "which has developed 10-minute Covidlateral flow tests that it aims to make for as little as $1".[103]
Gates considersclimate change andglobal access to energy to be critical, interrelated issues. He has urged governments and the private sector to invest in research and development to make clean, reliable energy cheaper. Gates envisions that a breakthrough innovation insustainable energy technology could drive down both greenhouse gas emissions and poverty, and bring economic benefits by stabilizing energy prices.[104] In 2011, he said: "If you gave me the choice between picking the next 10 presidents or ensuring that energy is environmentally friendly and a quarter as costly, I'd pick the energy thing."[105]
In 2015, he wrote about the challenge of transitioning the world's energy system from one based primarily on fossil fuels to one based on sustainable energy sources. Globalenergy transitions have historically taken decades. He wrote, "I believe we can make this transition faster, both because the pace of innovation is accelerating, and because we have never had such an urgent reason to move from one source of energy to another."[106] This rapid transition, according to Gates, would depend on increased government funding for basic research and financially risky private-sector investment, to enable innovation in diverse areas such asnuclear energy,grid energy storage to facilitate greater use of solar and wind energy, andsolar fuels.[107]
Gates spearheaded two initiatives that he announced at the2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. One wasMission Innovation, in which 20 national governments pledged to double their spending on research and development for carbon-free energy in over five years' time.[104] Another initiative wasBreakthrough Energy, a group of investors who agreed to fund high-risk startups in clean energy technologies. Gates, who had already invested $1 billion of his own money in innovative energy startups, committed a further $1 billion to Breakthrough Energy.[107] In December 2020, he called for the U.S. federal government to create institutes for clean energy research, analogous to theNational Institutes of Health.[108] Gates has also urged rich nations to shift to 100%synthetic beef industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food production.[109]
Gates has been criticized for holding a large stake inSignature Aviation, a company that services emissions-intensive private jets.[110] In 2019, he began todivest from fossil fuels. He does not expect divestment itself to have much practical impact, but says that if his efforts to provide alternatives were to fail, he would not want to personally benefit from an increase in fossil fuel stock prices.[111] After he published his bookHow to Avoid a Climate Disaster, parts of the climate activist community criticized Gates's approach astechnological solutionism.[112] In 2022, educational streamerWondrium produced the series "Solving for Zero: The Search for Climate Innovation" inspired by the book.[113]
In June 2021, Gates's companyTerraPower andWarren Buffett'sPacifiCorp announced the firstsodium nuclear reactor inWyoming. Wyoming GovernorMike Gordon hailed the project as a step toward carbon-negative nuclear power. Wyoming SenatorJohn Barrasso also said that it could boost the state's once-active uranium mining industry.[114]
Gates supported the passage of theInflation Reduction Act of 2022. He tried to convinceJoe Manchin to support a climate bill starting in 2019, and especially in the months leading up to the adoption of the bill. The bill aimed to cut the global greenhouse gas emissions in a level similar to "eliminating the annual planet-warming pollution of France and Germany combined" and may help to limit the warming of the planet to 1.5 degrees – the target of theParis Agreement.[115] He thanked both Joe Manchin andChuck Schumer for their efforts in a guest essay inThe New York Times, where he said "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 may be the single most important piece of climate legislation in American history" given its potential to spur development of new technologies.[116] Gates gave further insights on climate change in his commencement address atNorthern Arizona University on May 6, 2023, where he was bestowed an honorary doctorate.[117]
In 1998, Gates rejected the need for regulation of the software industry in testimony before the United States Senate.[119] During theFederal Trade Commission's (FTC) investigation of Microsoft in the 1990s, Gates was reportedly upset at then CommissionerDennis Yao for "float[ing] a line of hypothetical questions suggesting possible curbs on Microsoft's growing monopoly power".[120]
Donald Trump Facebook ban
Gates during a September 2025 dinner hosted by President Trump
AfterFacebook andTwitter had bannedDonald Trump from their platforms on February 18, 2021, as a result of the2020 United States presidential election which led to theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack, Gates said a permanent ban of Trump "would be a shame" and would be an "extreme measure". He warned that it would cause "polarization" if users with different political views divide up among various social networks, and said: "I don't think banning somebody who actually did get a fair number of votes (in the presidential election) – well less than a majority – but I don't think having him off forever would be that good."[119]
In April 2021, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, Gates was criticized for suggesting that pharmaceutical companies should hold onto patents and intellectual property forCOVID-19 vaccines. He opposed theTRIPS waiver.[121][122][123] The Gates Foundation encouraged Oxford University to partner with a big company rather than give away the rights to its COVID-19 vaccine, as the university had initially announced. Oxford University eventually partnered withAstraZeneca.[124] The criticism came due to the possibility of this preventing poorer nations from obtaining adequate vaccines. Gates argued that what limited widespread access was not intellectual property, but rather the time needed for safety protocols, and the difficulty of safely transferring vaccine production to new facilities.[125] His views on the topic have been linked to his views onlegal monopolies in software.[122][123]
Cryptocurrencies
Gates has been critical ofcryptocurrencies likeBitcoin. According to him, cryptocurrencies provide no "valuable output", contribute nothing to society, and pose a danger especially for smaller investors who could not survive the potentially high losses. Gates also does not own any cryptocurrencies himself.[126]
Philanthropy
In an interview with theBBC in 2025, Gates stated that his charitable donations have totalled $100 billion, of which $60 billion have gone to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[127]
Gates studied the work ofAndrew Carnegie andJohn D. Rockefeller, and donated some of his Microsoft stock in 1994 to create the "William H. Gates Foundation". In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations and donated stock valued at $5 billion to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which was identified by the Funds for NGOs company in 2013, as the world's largest charitable foundation, with assets reportedly valued at more than $34.6 billion.[128][129] The foundation allows benefactors to access information that shows how its money is being spent, unlike other major charitable organizations such as theWellcome Trust.[130][131] Gates, through his foundation, also donated $20 million to theCarnegie Mellon University for a new building to be named Gates Center for Computer Science which opened in 2009.[132][133]
Gates has credited the generosity and extensive philanthropy ofDavid Rockefeller as a major influence. He and his father met with Rockefeller several times, and their charity work is partly modeled on theRockefeller family's philanthropic focus, whereby they are interested in tackling the global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations.[134]
The foundation is organized into five program areas: Global Development Division, Global Health Division, United States Division, and Global Policy & Advocacy Division. Among others, it supports a wide range of public health projects, granting aid to fight transmissible diseases suchAIDS,tuberculosis andmalaria, as well as widespread vaccine programs to eradicatepolio. It grants funds to learning institutes and libraries and supports scholarships at universities. The foundation established a water, sanitation and hygiene program to provide sustainable sanitation services in poor countries.[135] Its agriculture division supports theInternational Rice Research Institute in developingGolden Rice, a genetically modified rice variant used to combatvitamin A deficiency.[136] The foundation aims to provide women and girls in the developing world with information and support regarding contraception and, ultimately, universal access to consensualfamily planning.[137] In 2007, theLos Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its assets in companies that have been accused of worsening poverty, pollution and pharmaceutical firms that do not sell todeveloping countries.[138] Although the foundation announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility,[139] it was subsequently canceled and upheld its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.[140]
Gates delivered his thoughts in a fireside chat moderated by journalist and news anchorShereen Bhan virtually at theSingapore FinTech Festival on December 8, 2020, on the topic, "Building Infrastructure for Resilience: What theCOVID-19 Response Can Teach Us About How to Scale Financial Inclusion".[141]
Governments are there to think ahead to bad things that might happen. In the case of (the COVID-19) pandemic, not enough was done. We can't forget that another pandemic will come and we'll need to invest in being ready in that, ... while not forgetting that we were not prepared and we're going to have to invest – just like having a fire department – some money in an intelligent way and actually simulate what might happen and make sure that we're ready for it.[141]
In a November 2020 interview with actressRashida Jones, Gates endorsed the wearing of face masks as a means to public reopening, derisively comparing anti-mask activism to "nudists" who oppose wearing pants.[142]
Personal donations
Melinda Gates suggested that people should emulate the philanthropic efforts of the Salwen family, who sold their home and gave away half of its value, as detailed in their book,The Power of Half.[143] Gates and his wife invited Joan Salwen to Seattle to speak about what the family had done, and on December 9, 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and investorWarren Buffett each signed a commitment they called the "Giving Pledge", which is a commitment by all three to donate at least half of their wealth, over the course of time, to charity.[144][145][146] The Foundation has received criticism, particularly over its role inCommon Core, with critics stating the support is "cronyist" in that it profits from the "federal, state, and local contracts".[147][148][149][150]
Gates has also provided personal donations to educational institutions. In 1999, Gates donated $20 million to theMassachusetts Institute of Technology for the construction of a computer laboratory named the "William H. Gates Building" that was designed by architectFrank Gehry. While Microsoft had previously given financial support to the institution, this was the first personal donation received from Gates.[151]
The Maxwell Dworkin Laboratory of theHarvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is named after the mothers of both Gates and Microsoft President Steven A. Ballmer, both of whom were students (Ballmer was a member of the school's graduating class of 1977, while Gates left his studies for Microsoft), and donated funds for the laboratory's construction.[152] Gates also donated $6 million to the construction of the Gates Computer Science Building, completed in January 1996, on the campus ofStanford University. The building contains the Computer Science Department and the Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL) of Stanford's Engineering department.[153]
Since 2005, Gates and his foundation have taken an interest in solving globalsanitation problems. For example, they announced the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge", which has received considerable media interest.[154] To raise awareness for the topic of sanitation and possible solutions, Gates drank water that was "produced from human feces" in 2014 – it was produced from asewage sludge treatment process called theOmni Processor.[155][156] In early 2015, he also appeared withJimmy Fallon onThe Tonight Show and challenged him to see if he could taste the difference between thisreclaimed water or bottled water.[157]
In November 2017, Gates said he would give $50 million to the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture capital fund that seeks treatment forAlzheimer's disease. He also pledged an additional $50 million to start-up ventures working in Alzheimer's research.[158] Bill and Melinda Gates have said that they intend to leave their three children $10 million each as their inheritance. With only $30 million kept in the family, they are expected to give away about 99.96% of their wealth.[159] In 2025 Bill Gates said in an interview with Raj Shammi that his children will inherit less than 1% of his wealth.[160] On August 25, 2018, Gates distributed $600,000 through his foundation viaUNICEF which is helping flood affected victims inKerala, India.[161]
In June 2018, Gates offered freeebooks, to all new graduates of U.S. colleges and universities,[162] and in 2021, offered free ebooks, to all college and university students around the world.[163][164] The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation partially fundsOpenStax, which creates and provides free digital textbooks.[165] In July 2022 he reiterated the commitment he had made by startingthe Giving Pledge campaign by announcing on his Twitter channel he planned to give 'virtually all' his wealth to charity and eventually 'move off of the list of the world's richest people'.[166]
Charity sports events
In April 2017, Gates partnered with Swiss tennis playerRoger Federer in playing in theMatch for Africa 4, a noncompetitive tennis match at a sold-outKey Arena in Seattle. The event was in support of theRoger Federer Foundation's charity efforts in Africa.[167] Federer and Gates played againstJohn Isner, the top-ranked American player for much of this decade, andMike McCready, the lead guitarist forPearl Jam. The pair won the match 6 games to 4. Overall, they raised $2 million for children in Africa.[168] The following year, Gates and Federer returned to play in theMatch for Africa 5 on March 5, 2018, at San Jose'sSAP Center. Their opponents wereJack Sock, one of the top American players and a grand slam winner in doubles, andSavannah Guthrie, a co-anchor forNBC'sToday show. Gates and Federer recorded their second match victory together by a score of 6–3 and the event raised over $2.5 million.[169]
Books
In 1989, Gates wrote the foreword to the Microsoft Press bookLearn BASIC Now, byMichael Halvorson and David Rygmyr, reflecting on the growth of the BASIC language and its use in most of the era's personal computers. He also sketched out plans for BASIC's use as a universal language to embellish or alter the performance of a range of software applications.[170]
Gates has authored several books.The Road Ahead, co-authored with Microsoft executiveNathan Myhrvold and journalistPeter Rinearson, was published in November 1995. It summarized the implications of the personal computing revolution and described a future profoundly changed by the arrival of a globalinformation superhighway. His second book,Business @ the Speed of Thought, co-authored with Collins Hemingway, was published in 1999, and discusses how business and technology are integrated, and shows how digital infrastructures and information networks can help to get an edge on the competition. In 2021 he publishedHow to Avoid a Climate Disaster, which presents what Gates learned in over a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address climate problems.[171] Following theCOVID-19 pandemic Gates publishedHow to Prevent the Next Pandemic in 2022 which proposes a "Global Epidemic Response and Mobilization" (GERM) team with annual funding of $1 billion, under the auspices of the WHO.[172][173]
The first of Gates's planned three memoirs,Source Code was published in February 2025.[174]
Personal life
Gates is an avid reader, and the ceiling of his large home library is engraved with a quotation fromThe Great Gatsby.[175][176] He also enjoys bridge, golf, and tennis.[177][178] His days are planned for him on a minute-by-minute basis, similarly to theU.S. president's schedule.[179] Despite his wealth and extensive business travel, Gates flewcoach (economy class) incommercial aircraft until 1997, when he bought aprivate jet.[180]
In the 1990s, Gates built anearth-sheltered mansion, designed by James Cutler andPeter Bohlin, in the side of a hill overlookingLake Washington inMedina, Washington. The estate has been nicknamed "Xanadu 2.0" by Gates's biographers.[181] In 2009,property taxes on the mansion were reported to be US$1.063 million, on a total assessed value of US$147.5 million.[182] The 66,000-square-foot (6,100 m2) estate has a 60-foot (18 m) swimming pool with an underwater music system, as well as a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) gym and a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) dining room.[183]
Gates purchased theCodex Leicester, a collection of scientific writings byLeonardo da Vinci, for US$30.8 million at an auction in 1994.[184] In 1998, he reportedly paid $30 million for the original 1885 maritime paintingLost on the Grand Banks, at the time a record price for an American painting.[185] In 2016, he revealed that he wascolor-blind.[186] On May 10, 2022, Gates said that he tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing mild symptoms.[187] Gates has received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.[187] In 2025, inSource Code, Gates wrote that he believed he wasautistic.[188]
In 1987, at a trade fair in New York, Gates metMelinda French, then a recent graduate ofDuke University who had begun working at Microsoft around four months earlier.[189] Gates and French became engaged in 1993 after dating for six years.[190] They married on January 1, 1994, at the 12th hole of theJack Nicklaus–designed Manele Golf Course on the Hawaiian Island ofLānaʻi.[191][192] They have three children, two daughters and a son.[193] On May 3, 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates announced their decision to divorce after more than 27 years of marriage.[194][195]The Wall Street Journal reported that Melinda had begun meeting with divorce attorneys in 2019, citing interviews that suggested Gates's ties with Jeffrey Epstein were among her concerns.[196] However, the couple delayed their divorce until their youngest childPhoebe Gates graduated from high school.[197] The divorce was finalized on August 2, 2021, and the financial details have remained confidential.[198]
In October 2021, Gates's eldest daughter Jennifer, a pediatrician and professional show-jumper, married Olympic equestrianNayel Nassar,[199] with whom she has two daughters, born in March 2023 and October 2024.[200][201] His son Rory is pursuing a PhD at theInstitute of World Politics.[202] His youngest daughter Phoebe co-founded the digital fashion platform Phia[203] and is an advocate for women's health and reproductive rights.[204]
In February 2023, Gates confirmed that he was dating Paula Hurd (née Kalupa),[205] widow of formerOracle Corporation andHewlett-Packard chief executiveMark Hurd.[206] Appearing on theToday show in February 2025, he described Hurd as a "serious girlfriend", stating he had "moved past the divorce".[207]
Public image
Gates with U.S. Secretary of DefenseJim Mattis, February 2017
Gates's public image has changed over the years. At first he was perceived as a brilliant but ruthless "robber baron", a "nerd-turned-tycoon".[208] Starting in 2000 with the foundation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and particularly after he stepped down as head of Microsoft, he turned his attention to philanthropy, spending more than $50 billion on causes like health, poverty, and education. His image morphed from "tyrannical technocrat to saintly savior" to a "huggable billionaire techno-philanthropist", celebrated on magazine covers and sought after for his opinions on major issues like global health and climate change.[208] Still another shift in public opinion came in 2021 with the announcement that he and Melinda were divorcing. Coverage of that proceeding brought out information about romantic pursuits of women who worked for him, a long-term extra-marital affair, and a friendship with convicted sex offenderJeffrey Epstein.[209] This information and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in some deterioration of his public image, going from "a lovable nerd who was out to save the world" to "a tech supervillain who wants to protect profits over public health".[210]
Investigative journalist Tim Schwab has accused Gates of using his contributions to the media to shape their coverage of him in order to protect his public image.[73][211] In September 2022,Politico published an exposé critical of NGO leadership at the helm of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic response, written in cooperation with the German newspaperDie Welt. Criticisms included the interconnectivity of the non-profits with Gates, as well as his personal lack of formal credentials in medicine.[212]
Gates and the projects of his foundation have been the subject of many conspiracy theories that proliferate on Facebook and elsewhere. He has been implausibly accused of attempting to depopulate the world, distributing harmful or unethical vaccines, and implanting people with privacy-violating microchips. These unfounded theories reached a new level of influence during the COVID-19 pandemic when, according toNew York Times journalist Rory Smith, the uncertainties of pandemic life drove people to seek explanations from the Internet.[213][214] When asked about the theories, Gates has remarked that some people are tempted by the "simple explanation" that an evil person rather than biological factors are to blame, and that he does not know for what purpose anyone believes he would want to track them with microchips.[215][216]
Religious views
In an interview withRolling Stone, Gates said in regard to his faith: "The moral systems of religion, I think, are super important. We've raised our kids in a religious way; they've gone to the Catholic church that Melinda goes to and I participate in. I've been very lucky, and therefore I owe it to try and reduce the inequity in the world. And that's kind of a religious belief. I mean, it's at least a moral belief."[217] In the same 2014 interview he also said: "I agree with people likeRichard Dawkins that mankind felt the need for creation myths. Before we really began to understand disease and the weather and things like that, we sought false explanations for them. Now science has filled in some of the realm – not all – that religion used to fill. But the mystery and the beauty of the world is overwhelmingly amazing, and there's no scientific explanation of how it came about. To say that it was generated by random numbers, that does seem, you know, sort of an uncharitable view [laughs]. I think it makes sense to believe in God, but exactly what decision in your life you make differently because of it, I don't know."[217]
Wealth
When Microsoft went public in 1986, Gates retained 44.9% ownership of the company.[218] In 1987, he was listed as a billionaire inForbes magazine's firstAmerica's richest issue; Gates was the world's youngest-ever self-made billionaire, with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Since then, he has been featured onThe World's Billionaires list and was ranked as the richest person in 1995, 1996, 1998–2007, and 2009, maintaining the position until 2018, whenJeff Bezos surpassed his wealth. Gates was ranked first on theForbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans from 1993 to 2007, in 2009, and from 2014 to 2017.[219][220] According toForbes, as of February 17, 2025, Gates' estimated net worth stood at US$108.8 billion, making him the 16th richest individual in the world.[221]
Gates's wealth briefly surpassed US$100 billion in 1999, making him the first person to reach this net worth.[222][180] After 2000, the nominal value of his Microsoft holdings declined, partly because of the decline in Microsoft's stock price after thedot-com bubble burst, and partly because of the multi-billion dollar donations he had made to his charitable foundations. In May 2006, Gates remarked that he wished that he was not the richest man in the world, because he disliked the attention that it brought.[223] In March 2010, Gates was the second wealthiest person afterCarlos Slim, but regained the top position in 2013, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.[224][225] Slim regained the position again in June 2014[226][227] (but then lost the top position back to Gates). Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled from US$40 billion to US$82 billion.[228] In October 2017, Gates was surpassed byAmazon founderJeff Bezos as the richest person in the world.[229] In theForbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans in 2023, he was ranked sixth with a wealth of $115.0 billion.[230] He once again became the richest person in the world in November 2019 after a 48% increase in Microsoft shares, surpassing Bezos.[231] Gates told theBBC, "I've paid more tax than any individual ever, and gladly so ... I've paid over $6 billion in taxes."[232] He is a proponent of higher taxes, particularly for the rich.[233]
Gates has several investments outside Microsoft, which in 2006 paid him a salary of US$616,667 and a bonus of US$350,000, for a total of US$966,667.[234] In 1989, he foundedCorbis, a digital imaging company. In 2004, he became a board member ofBerkshire Hathaway, the investment company headed by long-time friendWarren Buffett.[235]
Gates giving his deposition at Microsoft on August 27, 1998
During his tenure as CEO of Microsoft, Gates approved of many decisions that led toantitrust litigation over Microsoft's business practices. In the 1998United States v. Microsoft case, Gates gavedeposition testimony that several journalists characterized as evasive. He argued with examinerDavid Boies over the contextual meaning of words such as "compete", "concerned", and "we". Later in the year, when portions of the videotaped deposition were played back in court, the judge was seen laughing and shaking his head.[236]BusinessWeek reported:
Early rounds of his deposition show him offering obfuscatory answers and saying "I don't recall" so many times that even the presiding judge had to chuckle. Worse, many of the technology chief's denials and pleas of ignorance were directly refuted by prosecutors with snippets of e-mail that Gates both sent and received.[237]
Gates later said that he had simply resisted attempts by Boies to mischaracterize his words and actions. "Did I fence with Boies? ... I plead guilty ... rudeness to Boies in the first degree."[238] Despite Gates's denials, the judge ruled that Microsoft had committedmonopolization,tying and blocking competition, each in violation of theSherman Antitrust Act.[238]
Treatment of colleagues and employees
Some Microsoft employees, including key executives, have begun to act, speak, and sometimes look a bit like Gates. They may rock in their chairs, as if they were ready to go somewhere, or end each sentence by elongating the last word.
In my [early 1990s] BillG review meeting, the whole reporting hierarchy was there, along with their cousins, sisters, and aunts, and a person who came along from my team whose whole job during the meeting was to keep an accurate count of how many times Bill said theF word. The lower the f***-count, the better ... [After the meeting] "Four," announced the f*** counter, and everyone said, "wow, that’s the lowest I can remember. Bill is getting mellow in his old age." He was, you know, 36.
Gates had primary responsibility for Microsoft's product strategy from the company's founding in 1975 until 2006. He gained a reputation for being distant from others; an industry executive complained in 1981 that "Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls."[241] An Atari executive recalled that he showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 of 37 times. When they met again a month later, Gates "won or tied every game. He had studied the game until he solved it. That is a competitor".[242]
In the early 1980s, while business partner Paul Allen was undergoing treatments forcancer, Gates—according to Allen—conspired to reduce Allen's share in Microsoft by issuing himself stock options.[243][244][245] In his autobiography, Allen would later recall that Gates was "scheming to rip me off. It was mercenary opportunism plain and simple".[243] Gates says he remembers the episode differently.[244] Allen would also recall that Gates was prone to shouting episodes.[245]
By 1987Computerworld quoted an industry observer who said "Bill personifies Microsoft, and hotshots want to work for him".[239]Joel Spolsky recalled how, when presentingVisual Basic for Applications for approval in the early 1990s, Gates had in one night read thetechnical specification of 500 pages and written notes on every page: "You couldn’t bullshit him for a minute because he was a programmer. A real, actual, programmer".[240]
Gates has often been accused of bullying Microsoft employees.[246] Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers, and the managers described him as being verbally combative, berating them for perceived holes in their business strategies or proposals that placed the company's long-term interests at risk.[247][248]
Gates saw competition in personal terms; whenBorland'sTurbo Pascal performed better than Microsoft's own tools, he yelled at programming directorGreg Whitten "for half an hour" because, Gates believed, Borland'sPhilippe Kahn had surpassed Gates.[249] Gates interrupted presentations with such comments as "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard"[250] and "why don't you just give up youroptions and join thePeace Corps?"[251] The target of his outburst would then have to defend the proposal in detail until Gates was fully convinced.[250] Spolsky recalled being told after his presentation to Gates:[240]
Bill doesn’t really want to review your spec, he just wants to make sure you've got it under control. His standard M.O. is to ask harder and harder questions until you admit that you don’t know, and then he can yell at you for being unprepared.
Not all harsh language was criticism; a manager recalled that "You're full of shit. That's the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard" meant that Gates was amazed. "In the lore of Microsoft, if Bill says that to you, you're made".[252] When subordinates appeared to be procrastinating, he was known to remark sarcastically, "I'll do it over the weekend".[253][53][254]
Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
A 2019New York Times article reported that Gates's relationship with financierJeffrey Epstein started in 2011, just a few years after Epstein was convicted for procuring achild for prostitution, and continued for some years, including a visit to Epstein's house with his wife in the fall of 2013, despite her declared discomfort.[255] Gates said in 2011 about Epstein: "His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me".[209]
The depth of the friendship between Gates and Epstein is unclear though Gates generally commented that "I met him. I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him".[256] However, Gates visited Epstein "many times, despite [Epstein's] past".[255] It was reported that Epstein and Gates "discussed the Gates Foundation and philanthropy".[255] Gates stated "Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. I was never at any parties or anything like that. He never donated any money to anything that I know about."[256] In August 2021, Gates said the reason he had meetings with Epstein was because Gates hoped Epstein could provide money for philanthropic work, though nothing came of the idea. Gates added, "It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there."[246] Gates came under further scrutiny after it was revealed that he had travelled on Epstein's private jet, though further claims about Gates travelling to Little St James proved unsubstantiated.[257]
It has also been reported that Epstein and Gates met withNobel Committee chairThorbjørn Jagland at his residence inStrasbourg, France, in March 2013 to discuss theNobel Prize.[258] Also in attendance were representatives of theInternational Peace Institute which has received millions in grants from theGates Foundation, including a $2.5 million "community engagement" grant in October 2013.[259] In 2023, it was reported that Epstein threatened to expose an alleged affair Gates had with a Russianbridge player.[260]
Climate memo in 2025
In October 2025, Bill Gates issued a statement about climate change that some described as shocking. He said that climate change does not posean existential threat to civilization, and while it remains a serious problem, it is more important to give money to solve poverty and improve healthcare. Some scientists say much of the suffering Gates now deems a priority results from climate change. Prominent climate scientistKatharine Hayhoe reacted as follows: "Climate change is not a separate bucket...The reason we care about climate change is that it's the hole in every bucket." Others think Gates simply misses the point. According to prominent climate scientistMichael E. Mann: "There is no greater threat to developing nations than the climate crisis...He’s got this all backwards."[261][262]
Donald Trump reacted by posting he had "just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax" because Gates had "finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue." However, Gates said it is "a gigantic misreading of the memo". He toldAxios that he will actually increase his spending on climate and health.[263]
The memo came a day after the United Nations said humanity had missed the1.5-degree target, warning of "devastating consequences" some of which are linked totipping points, like inthe Amazon,Greenland,Western Antarctica, and coral reefs.[264] It was also released at the same timeHurricane Melissa, strengthened by climate change, struck the Caribbean islands[265] costingJamaica alone 30%-250% of its annual GDP.[266] The situation was worsened by the fact that migrants in the USA thatTrump wishes to send back now lack homes to return to,[267] and the storm could increase migration.[268] Approximately at the same time, a peer reviewed climate report warned that we are "hurtling toward climate chaos".[269] Generally, the number of scientific studies dealing with societal collapse from climate change is rising.[270][271]
Recognition
Bill and Melinda Gates being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then PresidentBarack Obama in 2016
Time also collectively named Gates, his wife Melinda and U2's lead singerBono as the 2005Persons of the Year for their humanitarian efforts.[273] In 2006, he was voted eighth in the list of "Heroes of our time" published byNew Statesman.[274]
Gates was listed in theSunday Times power list in 1999, named CEO of the year byChief Executive Officers magazine in 1994, ranked number one in the "Top 50 Cyber Elite" byTime in 1998, ranked number two in theUpside Elite 100 in 1999, and was also included inThe Guardian as one of the "Top 100 influential people in media" in 2001.[275]
Gates was elected a Member of the USNational Academy of Engineering in 1996 "for contributions to the founding and development of personal computing".[287]
In November 2006, he was awarded thePlacard of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, together with his wife Melinda who was awarded the Insignia of the same order, both for their philanthropic work around the world in the areas of health and education, particularly in Mexico, and specifically in the program "Un país de lectores".[293]
In 2020, Gates received theGrand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his contributions to Japan and the world in regard to worldwide technological transformation and advancement of global health.[304]
In 2021, Gates was nominated at the 11th annualStreamy Awards for the crossover for his personal YouTube channel.[305]
In 2022, Gates received theHilal-e-Pakistan, the second-highest civilian award in Pakistan for his social work in the country.[306]
2002:Nothing So Strange, a mockumentary featuring Gates as the subject of a modern assassination. Gates briefly appears at the start, played by Steve Sires.
1983: Steve Jobs hosts Gates and others in the "Macintosh dating game" at theMacintosh pre-launch event (a parody of the television game showThe Dating Game)[312]
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^abGates, Bill (September 26, 1997).Remarks by Bill Gates (Speech). San Diego. Archived fromthe original on April 20, 2008. RetrievedMarch 31, 2008.
^abSchwab, Tim (August 21, 2020)."Journalism's Gates keepers".Columbia Journalism Review.Archived from the original on August 21, 2020. RetrievedApril 5, 2021.
^Kass, Jason (November 18, 2013)."Bill Gates Can't Build a Toilet". Opinion Pages.The New York Times.Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. RetrievedMarch 24, 2015.
^Nguyen, Sophia (February 4, 2025)."Why Bill Gates buried a headline in his memoir's epilogue".The Washington Post. Archived fromthe original on February 5, 2025. RetrievedFebruary 5, 2025."Well, the word "autism" — or on the spectrum or ADHD — was not ever used when I was growing up. But if you pattern-match looking backwards, even today I have this rocking behavior that's kind of self-stimming that is a symptom of people who are on the spectrum. And [in elementary school] when I turn in a Delaware state report that's 200 pages and everybody else is turning in five pages, I was kind of embarrassed. Why did I go nuts over that thing?
^Ripple, William J.; Wolf, Christopher; Gregg, Jillian W.; Rockström, Johan; Mann, Michael E.; Oreskes, Naomi; Lenton, Timothy M.; Rahmstorf, Stefan; Newsome, Thomas M.; Xu, Chi; Svenning, Jens-Christian; Pereira, Cássio Cardoso; Law, Beverly E.; Crowther, Thomas W. (October 8, 2024)."The 2024 state of the climate report: Perilous times on planet Earth".BioScience.74 (12):812–824.doi:10.1093/biosci/biae087. RetrievedNovember 3, 2025.
^"Honorary doctors at KTH".About KTH. Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology.Archived from the original on April 17, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 19, 2015.
Manes, Stephen (1994).Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry and Made Himself the Richest Man in America.Touchstone Pictures.ISBN0-671-88074-8.
Kinsley, Michael, and Conor Clarke, Eds.Creative Capitalism: A Conversation with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Other Economic Leaders (Simon and Schuster, 2009).
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