50 Fun Facts About Bill Gates

Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with which childhood friend?

Allen coined the name Micro-Soft, a blend of microcomputer and software; the hyphen lasted about a year.

Gates was born in 1955 in which city?

The family home in Sand Point was damaged by a rare tornado when he was seven.

Gates is known in his family as "Trey" because he is the what of his name?

His father, a prominent lawyer, carried the II suffix, so the son became William Gates III.

Gates's parents originally wanted him to pursue which career?

His father Bill Gates Sr. was a prominent lawyer; his mum sat on the boards of a bank and United Way.

At which private school did Gates meet his future co-founder and start programming?

The Mothers' Club bought a Teletype terminal and computer time with rummage-sale proceeds.

Gates's first computer program was an implementation of which game?

It ran on a General Electric system in BASIC and let users play against the computer.

Why did CCC ban the teenage Gates and friends from its PDP-10 one summer?

They later offered to find bugs in exchange for more time; Gates spent hours studying the system's programs.

Gates's best friend and first business partner Kent Evans died in their junior year how?

They had been automating the school's class schedules; Gates turned to Allen to finish it and called it one of the saddest days of his life.

Gates and Allen's teenage venture Traf-O-Data built what?

They were based on the Intel 8008 processor.

What did Gates score on the SAT out of 1600?

He also served as a congressional page in 1972 and was a National Merit Scholar.

Which notoriously hard Harvard course did Gates take?

He never stayed long enough to choose a concentration, but did meet Microsoft's future second CEO there.

Gates's Harvard-era algorithm for which combinatorics problem held the speed record for over 30 years?

He wrote it up with Christos Papadimitriou; the successor algorithm is faster by only 2 percent.

Which 1975 machine, featured in Popular Electronics, prompted Gates and Allen to start their company?

They told MITS they had a BASIC interpreter for it before writing any code, then built an emulator and the interpreter in a few weeks.

Microsoft's first office was in which city, home of MITS?

The company registered its trade name with the New Mexico secretary of state on November 26, 1976, and moved to Bellevue in 1979.

Who was the first employee Gates and Allen hired?

He was one of the four schoolboy programmers who had been banned from CCC's mainframe.

Gates's 1976 Open Letter to Hobbyists said over what share of Altair BASIC users hadn't paid?

The letter was unpopular with hobbyists but set out his lifelong view that software should be paid for.

Who first mentioned Microsoft to IBM's CEO John Opel, leading to the 1980 IBM PC deal?

Mary Gates sat on the United Way board with Opel.

When IBM first asked about an operating system, Gates referred them to which company?

Talks over CP/M went poorly, so Microsoft bought in 86-DOS from a small local firm instead.

The operating system Microsoft adapted for the IBM PC, 86-DOS, was written by whom?

Gates kept the copyright, betting correctly that others would clone IBM's hardware and need MS-DOS.

Gates's co-founder left Microsoft in early 1983 after being diagnosed with what?

The partnership was already strained by an equity dispute; the two later reconciled and stayed friends until Allen's death in 2018.

Microsoft launched its first retail version of Windows on November 20 of which year?

It was a response to the Macintosh's graphical interface.

Microsoft went public in which year?

Gates kept 44.9 percent and was a billionaire by 1987, the youngest self-made one ever at 31.

How old was Gates when he became the world's youngest billionaire in 1987?

Forbes listed him at $1.25 billion in its first America's richest issue.

Gates became the world's first "centibillionaire" in which year?

Forbes ranked him the world's richest person for 18 of the 24 years from 1995 to 2017.

Who succeeded Gates as Microsoft CEO in 2000?

Gates became chief software architect until 2008; Nadella took over from Ballmer in 2014.

Gates stepped down as Microsoft chairman in 2014 to become technology adviser to which new CEO?

He left the board altogether in 2020.

With which lawyer did Bill Gates spar over the meaning of 'compete' in his 1998 antitrust deposition?

The judge was seen laughing and shaking his head as clips played; Gates later pleaded "rudeness to Boies in the first degree."

Where did Gates meet Melinda French in 1987?

She had joined Microsoft about four months earlier; they married on New Year's Day 1994.

Bill and Melinda Gates married in 1994 on the 12th hole of a golf course on which Hawaiian island?

The Manele course was designed by Jack Nicklaus; the couple divorced in 2021 after 27 years.

How many children do Bill and Melinda Gates have?

Jennifer is a paediatrician and show-jumper, Rory a PhD student and Phoebe a fashion-tech founder.

Gates's earth-sheltered mansion in Medina, Washington, is nicknamed what by biographers?

The 66,000-square-foot estate has a 60-foot pool with an underwater music system.

In 1994 Gates paid $30.8 million at auction for the Codex Leicester, a notebook by whom?

Four years later he reportedly paid $30 million for the painting Lost on the Grand Banks, then a record for American art.

The ceiling of Gates's home library is engraved with a quotation from which novel?

He also enjoys bridge, golf and tennis, and flew economy until buying a private jet in 1997.

Until which year did Gates fly economy class on commercial flights?

His days are scheduled minute by minute, like a president's.

Gates and his wife merged three family foundations in 2000, donating stock worth how much?

He had studied Carnegie and Rockefeller and credits David Rockefeller's philanthropy as a major influence.

Gates co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 with which investor?

Signatories promise at least half their wealth to philanthropy; Buffett gave Gates's foundation $48 billion between 2006 and 2025.

Gates's nuclear reactor design company, building a sodium reactor in Wyoming, is called what?

It develops travelling-wave reactors; the Wyoming project is with Buffett's PacifiCorp.

Through Cascade Investment, Gates is the largest private owner of what in the United States?

About 242,000 acres across 19 states, making him the 49th largest private landowner overall.

Gates's 1989 digital imaging company, later renamed Branded Entertainment Network, was called what?

It began life as Interactive Home Systems.

Time named Gates, Melinda Gates and which rock star its Persons of the Year for 2005?

The honour recognised their humanitarian work.

Which president gave Bill and Melinda Gates the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016?

Queen Elizabeth II had made him an honorary KBE in 2005.

Gates's 1995 book, co-written with Nathan Myhrvold and Peter Rinearson, is titled what?

It summarised the implications of the personal computing revolution.

Gates's 2025 memoir, the first of three planned volumes, is titled what?

In it he wrote that he believes he is autistic; he had revealed in 2016 that he is colour-blind.

Which honorary British title did Gates receive from Queen Elizabeth II in 2005?

As an American he cannot be called Sir, but may use the letters after his name.

In 2023 Gates confirmed he was dating the widow of which tech executive?

Paula Hurd's late husband ran Hewlett-Packard and later Oracle.

After his ex-wife quit as co-chair in 2024, who was left to chair the renamed foundation?

The 2024 change also dropped 'Bill & Melinda' from the name, leaving it the Gates Foundation.

Which company surpassed Gates as the world's richest person in 2018, ending his long run at the top?

Gates had topped the Forbes 400 from 1993 to 2007 and again in 2009 and 2014-17.

Gates's eldest daughter Jennifer married which Olympic equestrian in 2021?

She is a paediatrician and professional show-jumper herself; they have two daughters.

Gates has often recommended which Nick Bostrom book about the risks of artificial intelligence?

He raised the recommendation at TED in 2015 and has repeatedly warned about superintelligence in Reddit AMAs.

On what date did Microsoft move its headquarters from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington?

The company had become independent of MITS in late 1976, and the relocation brought Gates back to the Seattle area where he grew up.