Bill Gates was born in 1955 in Seattle to a lawyer father and bank director mother. He attended prestigious schools and co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. Gates had a vision of putting a computer in every home and dropped out of Harvard to focus on growing Microsoft. Though he stepped down as CEO in 2000, Gates remains influential through his philanthropic Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated over $38 billion to improve healthcare and reduce poverty globally. Rather than leave his $68 billion fortune directly to his children, Gates has pledged to donate the majority to his foundation to make a positive global impact.