Bill Gates

Key facts

Born

28 October 1955, Seattle

State of birth

Seattle

Sector

Business & industry

Profession

American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (born 1955)

Gender

Male

Biography

William Henry Gates III is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Following Microsoft's initial public offering in 1986 and the subsequent increase in its stock price, Gates became the world's then-youngest billionaire in 1987, at age 31. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's wealthiest person in their The World's Billionaires list for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007. Gates became the first centibillionaire in 1999, when his net worth briefly surpassed US$100 billion. According to Forbes, as of July 2026, his net worth stood at US$106.5 billion, making him the 19th-wealthiest individual in the world.

Summary based on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), reviewed by the RochakDuniya editorial team.

Timeline

1. 1955Born in Seattle
2. 1975Becomes chief executive officer
3. 1992Awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation
4. 1994Awarded the Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society
5. 1994Awarded the Financial Times Person of the Year
6. 1998Awarded the American Library Association Honorary Membership
7. 2002Awarded the honorary doctor of Royal Institute of Technology
8. 2002Awarded the honorary doctor of Stockholm University
9. 2005Awarded the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
10. 2006Awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry
11. 2007Awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle
12. 2007Awarded the Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania
13. 2007Awarded the honorary doctor of the Tsinghua University
14. 2007Awarded the honorary doctor of Harvard University
15. 2008Awarded the Honorary Doctor at Karolinska Institutet
16. 2009Awarded the Cross of Recognition
17. 2010Awarded the J. William Fulbright Prize
18. 2010Awarded the Silver Buffalo Award
19. 2010Awarded the United Nations Population Award
20. 2010Awarded the Bower Award for Business Leadership
21. 2010Awarded the Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science
22. 2013Awarded the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award
23. 2013Awarded the NAS Public Welfare Medal
24. 2013Awarded the Bambi Award
25. 2015Awarded the Padma Bhushan
26. 2016Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
27. 2017Awarded the Commander of the Legion of Honour
28. 2020Awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
29. 2025Awarded the Bintang Jasa Utama