William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is the co-founder, chairman, and chief software architect of Microsoft Corporation, the world's largest computer software company. According to Forbes magazine, Gates is the world's wealthiest person, with a net worth of approximately US$58 billion, as of 2008.Gates is one of the best-known entre-preneurs of the personal computer revolution and has become an iconic figure of late-20th century capitalism. While widely respected for his intelligence, foresight, and ambition, he is also sometimes accused of using ruthless, illegal or monopolistic business practices.
Since amassing his fortune, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic endeavours, donating huge amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, founded in 2000. He, along with his wife Melinda Gates and U2's lead singer Bono, were named by Time as the 2005 Persons of the Year. That same year he was given the honour of Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Even if Bill Gates’ currently estimated $58 billion fortune is down from its heady peak nearly a decade ago, the Harvard dropout and Microsoft leader is hardly hurting. After the proposed merger with Yahoo fizzled out and shares dropped in the dominant company he cofounded, he’s probably not losing sleep. He is no doubt looking forward to stepping back from his current role at Microsoft and devoting more time to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, currently $38.7 billion strong.
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