Bill Gates is an American business magnate, founder and former chairman and CEO of Microsoft. For over 20 years Bill Gates remained the richest person in the world. He has been the second richest person in the world since July 2007 when he was overtaken by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bill Gates has an estimated net worth of $146 billion.
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Bill Gates now owns less than 1.3% of Microsoft. He has sold tens of billions of dollars worth of Microsoft shares over the years. The proceeds of his sales have funded Cascade Investmen LLC, the vehicle Gates uses to invest in hundreds of other companies.
Bill Gates Early Life
Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. When he was 13, he enrolled in the private Lakeside prep school and he wrote his first software program. On June 15, 2006, Gates announced that he would transition out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft over the next two years to dedicate more time to philanthropy. On March 13, 2020, Gates announced he would step down as Microsoft’s chairman.