Bill Gates

About Bill Gates

Bill Gates diversified his fortune from software firm Microsoft into dozens of holdings, including waste disposal firm Republic Services and tractor maker Deere & Co.

Gates, a computer enthusiast from a young age, dropped out of Harvard to cofound Microsoft with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975, hoping to capitalize on the spread of personal computers.

As of March 2020, when Gates stepped down from the Microsoft board, he owned about 1.3% of the software and computing company's shares.

After Bill donated Microsoft shares worth billions to the trust that funds the Gates Foundation in 2022, his Microsoft stake is now less than 1%, Forbes estimates.

In May 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates each announced on Twitter they were ending their marriage after 27 years. He is now the sole chairman of the charitable Gates Foundation.

To date, Gates has donated more than $59 billion to the Gates Foundation, including a $20 billion gift announced in July 2022. Most of his early donations were gifts of Microsoft stock.