Bill Gates

Bill Gates is an American businessman and co-founder of the technology corporation Microsoft. He was born in Seattle, Washington State, in 1955 and from an early age showed interest in developing computer software. He studied pre-law, mathematics and graduate-level computer sciences at Harvard before dropping out in 1975 to start his own company. Microsoft was registered as a trade name in 1976 and developed the Windows operating system, first released in 1985. Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda, co-run the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, through which they plan to donate 95 per cent of their $138 billion-plus fortune to help solve global issues.