Gates, Bill

US computer entrepreneur. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975, with school friend and fellow entrepreneur Paul Allen, and succeeded in converting a passion for computers into a globally dominant software business. Gates and Allen adapted a version of BASIC, an early computer language, and licensed the operating system MS-DOS to IBM for its first personal computer (PC) in 1981. US magazine Forbes estimated his net worth at US$56 billion in 2007, making him the richest man in the world.

By 1983 MS-DOS was the dominant operating system, and Gates was able to use his enormous royalties to fund the development of the Windows graphical user interface, the mouse, and Microsoft applications (including Word and Excel) in the 1990s. However, Microsoft's position in the software market led to an antitrust court action in 1996, and the company was eventually forced to pay penalties for breaking US competition laws in 2001.

In 2000 he established the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support health and educational initiatives, including providing funds for college scholarships for minorities, and for the prevention of AIDS and diseases prevalent in third world countries. According to Forbes magazine in 2004 Gates gave away over $29 billion to charities from 2000 onwards, and his donations are credited with encouraging philanthropy among the very rich.