Bill Gates

Biography:

Bill Gates is a world famous and iconic business magnate, investor, programmer, inventor and philanthropist. Gates is the former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen.

He is consistently ranked in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third; in 2013 he was the wealthiest American and the world's second wealthiest person. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires List, Gates is the world's richest person in 2013, a position that he last held on the list in 2007.

During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock. He has also authored and co-authored several books. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work, and full-time work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Bill Gates, the world's most generous person, says that as long as he helps eradicate deadly diseases like polio and malaria, he doesn't care if he's forgotten after his death. Not that there's any chance of that: Gates has already given more than $28 billion, but said in his fifth annual letter for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that the total amount invested is less important than precise measures of impact, like child mortality rates. Gates has been spreading his gospel to other billionaires near and far: he and good friend Warren Buffett recently added 12 non-Americans to their Giving Pledge, including the U.K.'s Richard Branson and India's Azim Premji, bumping the total to 105 high net worth individuals. He also partnered with Carlos Slim to build a new $25 million agricultural research center in Mexico. Gates' net worth increased $6 billion to $67 billion in the past year - with no help from the company he cofounded, Microsoft, in which he still has a 5% stock. Most of his fortune these days is spread across private equity, bonds, and stocks like hygiene tech firm Ecolab, Mexican TV broadcaster Televisa, and Latin America's largest beverage company FEMSA. In February of 2013, Gates said the only thing left on his bucket list was, "Don't die."