Born in 1955, Bill Gates and his school-time friend Paul Allen founded and built the world’s largest software business-Microsoft. In 1973, Gates enrolled at Harvard, where he studied mathematics and computer science. However, he was more interested in pursuing career in coding and dropped out of Harvard without finishing his course.
Bill and Paul founded Microsoft in 1976 when they formed a contract with a Mexico based company, MITS to develop a basic operating system for their new microcomputers.
The enormous break for Microsoft came in 1980 when IBM moved toward them for another BASIC working framework for its new PCs. In the mid-1980s, IBM was by far the biggest name in personal computing producer. Microsoft created the PC DOS operating system which they delivered to IBM in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000.
In 1990 Microsoft released its first version of Windows. It soon became a best seller and was able to capture the majority of the operating system market share, followed by 1995’s release Windows 95 which actually set new standards and features for operating systems. As of 2015, Bill Gates has a net worth of US $79.3 billion.
Over the next few years he gradually transferred his duties to others at Microsoft and started spending more time in philanthropic works. Bill and Melinda Gates jointly received India's third highest civilian honor Padma Bhushan in 2015 for their foundation's philanthropic activities in India.
From 2008 Gates has worked full time on his philanthropic interests. It is estimated Gates and his wife Melinda have given away $28 billion via their charitable foundation – including $8 billion to improve global health.
Time magazine named Gates one of the most influential people of the 20th century.
