Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. His father, William Henry Gates II, was a corporate lawyer, and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates, served on the boards of several major American companies.

Gates attended Lakeside School, a private prep school in Seattle. He developed a keen interest in programming and spent countless hours in the school's computer lab. By the time he was 15, he had already written his first computer game, "Tic-Tac-Toe."

Despite his academic success, Gates initially struggled with subjects like grammar and civics. His parents became concerned and briefly enrolled him in therapy.

In 1975, Gates learned about MITS's Altair 8800 microcomputer. He and his high school friend, Paul Allen, contacted MITS and offered to write a BASIC interpreter for the machine. Their software was a huge success, and Microsoft was officially founded in 1976.

Over the next few years, Microsoft grew rapidly. Gates and Allen negotiated a licensing deal with IBM for MS-DOS, an operating system that quickly became the industry standard for personal computers. In 1985, Microsoft released Windows, a graphical user interface that revolutionized the computing experience.

By the late 1980s, Microsoft was one of the largest software companies in the world. Gates became a multi-billionaire and was recognized as one of the most influential people in the technology industry.

In 1989, Gates founded Corbis, a company that licensed images and multimedia for commercial use. He also established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which became the largest private foundation in the world. The foundation's mission is to improve healthcare, reduce poverty, and promote education.

In 2008, Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft but remained involved as chairman. In 2020, he retired from the company's board of directors to focus on his philanthropic endeavors.

Gates has been consistently ranked among the richest people in the world. As of 2023, his net worth is estimated at $134 billion. He is widely recognized for his pioneering contributions to the technology industry and his commitment to global health and development.

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