Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author and chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. It is consistently ranked among the richest people in the world and was the richest set of 1995 to 2009, with the exception of 2008 when it was ranked third. During his career at Microsoft, Bill Gates has held positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8 percent of the shares. He is also the author or coauthor of several books.

Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a number of industry experts criticize his business tactics, which they consider anti-competitive, a view that in some cases upheld by the courts. In the latter stages of his career, Gates has done a number of philanthropic endeavors, donating large sums of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created in 2000 .

Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be the transition from full-time job at Microsoft to work part time and work full time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie, chief software architect and Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy director. Gates last day full time at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. Microsoft remains as non-executive chairman.