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Gates meets Allen
Gates is enrolled in the Lakeside School, an exclusive private school in Seattle, where he befriends Paul Allen. The two students share an interest in computers and programming. The school notices his knack for technology and asks him to create a computerized schedule of classes. Gates’ 2005 keynote speech at Lakeside School. -
Gates goes to Harvard
Gates enters Harvard as a pre-law major, but soon shifts focus. He quickly runs through the university’s most rigorous mathematics and graduate level computer science courses. -
Gates creates Altar Software
From his dorm room, Gates calls MITS, the maker of the world’s first personal computer. He offers to develop software for the MITS Altair. MITS eventually accepts and buys his language for $3,000 plus royalties. Gates takes his first leave of absence from school to start working on the software venture he refers to as Micro-Soft. -
Gates and Allen register Microsoft
Gates and Allen register the trademark “Microsoft.” Gates writes an open letter to computer hobbyists, condemning the early adopters for sharing, rather than paying for, software. Gates’ “Open Letter.” -
Gates gains ground
Microsoft’s year-end sales exceed $1 million. Gates gains a reputation for being tough, but focused. -
Gates creates MS-DOS
Microsoft incorporates and buys the rights to the operating system “DOS” from Seattle Computer Products. The system is modified and renamed MS-DOS, and the company licenses it to IBM for the company’s new personal computer. -
Allen leaves company
Allen leaves Microsoft after developing Hodgkin’s disease. Microsoft announces Windows as an extension of its MS-DOS operating system. -
Gates joins the billionaire club
At age 31, Gates becomes the youngest billionaire ever. He meets his future wife, Melinda French, at a Microsoft event in New York. -
Gates gets got
The Federal Trade Commission begins an investigation into possible collusion between IBM and Microsoft.The FTC charges that IBM and Microsoft collaborated to divvy up the market for operating systems in an anticompetitive way, with IBM’s OS/2 capturing the high-end of the market and Microsoft’s Windows covering the low-end of the market. -
Gates shows his charitable side
Gates weds French; the couple goes on to have three children. The Gateses consolidate their charitable giving under the William H. Gates Foundation, named for Gates’ father, who agrees to manage the foundation. It is later absorbed into the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. -
Gates becomes richest man alive
In July, at age 39 and with a fortune of $12.9 billion, Gates becomes the world’s richest man. Later that summer, Microsoft introduces Internet Explorer to the world, as part of Windows 95. The Road Ahead, Gates’ book about his vision for the digital future, holds the No. 1 spot on The New York Times best-seller list for seven weeks. Gates begins to shift Microsoft’s focus toward the emerging Internet. -
Gates takes a step away
Gates steps down as CEO of Microsoft. Gates’ former Harvard dorm-mate and right-hand man Steve Ballmer takes over the helm, while Gates becomes chief software architect. Federal District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson concludes Microsoft misused its monopoly power, and orders the company be split in two parts, one to produce the operating system and the other to produce other software components -
Gates catches a break
Judge Penfield’s 2000 decision is overturned on appeal. The DOJ announces that it is no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty. An agreement is reached between the DOJ and Microsoft on Nov. 2. -
Sir Bill Gates
Queen Elizabeth II bestows an honorary knighthood on Gates for his contributions to the United Kingdom. Time names him a “Person of the Year,” along with Melinda Gates and Bono, for what the magazine called his “good Samaritan” work. -
Gates steps down further, to focus on his charity
Gates announces that his role as an executive at Microsoft will be phased out over the following two years. His intention, he says, is to spend more time working with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Shortly after his announcement, Warren Buffet donates $31 billion, most of his fortune, to the foundation. -
Gates finally graduates
Gates “graduates” from Harvard; the university awards him with an honorary degree. Gates gives the commencement speech, encouraging the graduates to strive for social change. “Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries,” Gates says to the class, “but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.” -
Gates is no longer no.1
Though his fortune continues to grow, Gates loses his spot as the richest man on the planet. After 13 years in the No. 1 spot on the Forbes’ list, Gates’ is surpassed by his friend Warren Buffet and Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim Helu. Gates retires from day-to-day duties at Microsoft on June 27, but stays in the role of chairman and adviser on important development projects -
Gates predicts the future
In an interview that was held at the TED conference in March 2015, with Baidu's CEO, Robin Li, Gates said he would "highly recommend" Nick Bostrom's recent work, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. During the conference, Gates warned that the world was not prepared for the next pandemic, a situation that would come to pass in late 2019 when the COVID-19 pandemic began. -
Gates dedicates all his time to his philanthropy
On March 13, 2020, Microsoft announced Gates would be leaving his board positions at Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft to dedicate his efforts in philanthropic endeavors such as climate change, global health and development, and education.
