Bill Gates is an American business magnate and philanthropist who co-founded Microsoft, the world's largest PC software company. He showed an early interest in computers and pursued programming through college. Along with his friend and business partner Paul Allen, Gates started Microsoft and built it into the largest software business through technological innovation and aggressive business tactics. Gates became one of the richest people in the world and used his wealth to establish the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which focuses on global health and development issues.

1.  William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born 28 October 1955) is an
American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer
programmer, and inventor. Gates originally established his
reputation as the co-founder of Microsoft, the world’s largest PC
Software company, with Paul Allen. Since then he has served as a
long term CEO and chairman of the company.

2. Bill Gates was born William Henry Gates III on
October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington.
Gates began to show an interest in computer
programming at the age of 13 at the Lakeside
School. He pursued his passion through
college. Striking out on his own with his friend
and business partner Paul Allen, Gates found
himself at the right place at the right time.
Through technological innovation, keen
business strategy and aggressive business
tactics, he built the world's largest software
business, Microsoft. In the process, Gates
became one of the richest men in the world.

3. Bill Gates grew up in an upper middle-
class family with two sisters: Kristianne,
who is older, and Libby, who is younger.
Their father, William H. Gates Sr., was a
promising, if somewhat shy, law student
when he met his future wife, Mary Maxwell.
She was an athletic, outgoing student at
the University of Washington, actively
involved in student affairs and leadership.
The Gates family atmosphere was warm
and close, and all three children were
encouraged to be competitive and strive for
excellence. Bill showed early signs of
competitiveness when he coordinated
family athletic games at their summer
house on Puget Sound. He also relished in
playing board games (Risk was his
favorite) and excelled at Monopoly.

4. In 1975, before graduation Gates left
Harvard to form Microsoft with his
childhood friend Paul Allen. The pair
planned to develop software for the newly
emerging personal computer market.Bill
Gate's company Microsoft became famous
for their computer operating systems and
killer business deals. For example, Bill
Gates talked IBM into letting Microsoft
retain the licensing rights to MS-DOS an
operating system, that IBM needed for their
new personal compiuter. Gates proceeded
to make a fortune from the licensing of MS-
DOS.
On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel
in New York City, Microsoft Corporation
formally announced Microsoft Windows, a
next-generation operating system.

5. After being named one of Good Housekeeping '​s "50 Most Eligible
Bachelors" in 1985,Gates married Melinda French on January 1, 1994.
They have three children: daughters Jennifer Katharine (b. 1996) and
Phoebe Adele (b. 2002), and son Rory John (b. 1999). The family resides
in the Gates's home, an earth-sheltered house in the side of a hill
overlooking Lake Washington in Medina. According to King County public
records, as of 2006 the total assessed value of the property (land and
house) is $125 million, and the annual property tax is $991,000.