20 Mind Blowing Facts About Billionaire Bill Gates

Who is Bill Gates?

You know, apart from all the conspiracies.

In today’s volatile social media environment, it’s more important than ever to separate the facts from the baseless claims about Bill Gates.

His life is curious enough without the crazy conspiracies. The Microsoft co-founder started creating software at the young age of 13. He was the richest person in the world for a very long time and donated a lot of his wealth to charity. 

This is only a small part of the stats about Bill Gates you'll find below.

We, here at Hosting Tribunal, tried to send you all these fascinating facts about Bill Gates directly to the secret Microsoft nano chip in your vaccinated shoulder.

(Un)fortunately, vaccines don’t work like that, so you’ll have to read our list.

Some Fascinating Facts About Bill Gates

• Bill Gates wrote his first software program at the age of 13.
• His first program was a version of tic-tac-toe, which you could play against the computer.
• In 1975, Gates dropped out of Harvard to pursue his business.You’ve probably heard of it—Microsoft.
• In 2014, Gates stepped down as Microsoft's chairman to focus on charitable work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• He partnered with the Chinese Ministry of Health to help fight the tuberculosis epidemic in China.
• Bill Gates’s worth as of 2021 is $131 billion, making him the fourth-richest person in the world.
• He has donated over $50 billion to support charitable causes.

Bill Gates’ Biography and Personal Life

Who is Bill Gates? How much do we really know about the billionaire/software developer/philanthropist, etc.?

The whole world knows him as Bill Gates, but that isn’t his real name.

Well, not exactly.

1. Bill is short for William.

(Source: Britannica)

Bill Gates’ birth name is William Henry Gates III. He was named after his grandfather William Henry Gates I.

He was born October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. This means that, at the time of writing, Bill Gates’s age is 66.

2. The young Bill Gates was supposed to be a lawyer.

(Source: E Notes)

Bill Gates’ early life could easily be turned into a series, starting from his childhood home in Seattle and leading up to his success story. As a kid, he got bullied a lot, but that didn’t stop him from aiming high.

His plans didn’t always coincide with those of his parents, though. Bill Gates’s family wanted to send him to law school, which would fit perfectly in the family history—his father was a lawyer.

3. Bill Gates started coding at 13.

(Source: Business Insider)

Bill Gates started writing software as a kid. Even before he graduated high school, it was obvious he wasn't like the other children. At the age of 13, he made a version of tic-tac-toe on a General Electric computer.

As a comparison, at the age of 13, I had just found out that ripped jeans are ripped on purpose. What were you doing at 13?

4. Bill Gates has three kids.

(Source: Hollywood Life)

Bill and his now ex-wife Melinda Gates have three kids—Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. A fun fact is that they weren't allowed to have a phone until the age of 14.

They also won't inherit their dad's entire fortune. We don’t feel too bad about them, though.

Bill Gates—the Epitome of Business

5. Ahead of the curve—Bill Gates founded Microsoft in 1975.

(Source: Yahoo!Finance)

The year was 1975. Bill Gates and his partner and childhood friend Paul Allen founded software company Microsoft—and the rest is history. When he stepped down from the company in 2020, however, he owned just about 1% of its shares.

So, who is the owner of Microsoft now? According to Yahoo! Finance, the largest shareholder as of 2022, is Vanguard Group, Inc., with 8.2%. No single individual has a majority interest in the company.

6. He was a Harvard dropout after enrolling in 1973.

(Source: Biography)

Bill Gates was on the road to higher education. He enrolled at Harvard University in 1973, pursuing a career in law. However, in 1975, Bill Gates dropped out of college to pursue his business idea.

I am tempted to think that his father told him in a furious lecture: "What are you going to become now?! A window maker like the neighbor kid"?

Of course, that’s probably not what happened, but it’s fun to imagine.

7. Bill Gates has seven hours of sleep.

(Source: Go Banking Rates)

What did Bill Gates do to succeed? He invested his time and followed his passion.

You have probably heard this cliche success story a thousand times, but it really worked out great for this guy. The young entrepreneur Bill Gates invested all his time, energy, and creativity into building his tech business.

However, in a 1990 interview, he shared that he needs to get enough sleep to be able to stay creative.

8. Paul Allen left Microsoft in 1982.

(Source: Goalcast)

Bill Gates is the well-known face of the company, but he wasn’t alone in his endeavors. He revolutionized the computer world with his partner Paul Gardner Allen.

But while their business was thriving, their friendship deteriorated. Once best friends, their relationship became strained, and Allen left Microsoft in 1982.

Still, Gates wilfully acknowledges the huge impact Paul had on the world of personal computing. They became close again before Paul Allen died in 2018.

9. Bill and Melinda Gates created the Gates Foundation in 2000.

(Source: Gates Foundation)

At the turn of the century, the Gates family started a project guided by the belief that every life has equal value. The task ahead of them—tackling the greatest inequities in the world.

This means that in addition to Microsoft, Bill Gates owns part of the charitable foundation.

10. He gradually began stepping down from his role at Microsoft in 2000.

(Source: Biography)

In 2000, Gates stepped down from the day-to-day operations at his company in order to focus on his foundation. However, he remained chairman of the board and positioned himself as chief software architect.

Six years later, Gates reduced his workload even more so he could spend more time doing what he was really passionate about. Bill stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in 2014 and positioned himself as technology adviser.

The Richest Man in the World

11. Bill Gates' net worth is estimated at $134 billion.

(Source: Bloomberg)

As of October 2021, Bill Gates' net worth is estimated at $132.7 billion. To illustrate how rich Bill Gates is, imagine you make $132K on an annual basis. Even if you don't spend any of it, you'll need a million years to reach that number.

12. Bill Gates makes about $11 million a day.

(Source: Don't Die Wondering)

Put simply, Bill Gates has about two million times more money than the median US household income. It's estimated that Gates is making about $11 million a day, and that's not even the peak of his earnings. At one point, he had more than $150 billion.

13. Gates reigned as the world’s richest man until 2017.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Bill Gates held the money title belt almost every year from 2000 to 2017. The only exception was the 2010-2013 period when Jeff Bezos gave him a run for his… well, money.

As of 2022, Gates is the fourth richest person in the world after Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Bernard Arnault. If you wonder who that last guy is—he’s the chairman and CEO of the French conglomerate LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton).

14. Bill Gates donated more than $50 billion to charitable causes.

(Source: USA Today)

Yes, you read that right—$50 billion!

How did Bill Gates get rich?

He made the majority of his fortune through Microsoft. At some point, he realized he makes more than he could possibly spend and started giving back to people.

Something more—in 2010, his wife Melinda and him joined forces with billionaire investor Warren Buffett and founded “Giving Pledge.” This movement encourages other billionaires to donate to the unprivileged too.

Needless to say, since the start of the COVID pandemic, the Gates family has pledged billions of dollars for efforts to fight the virus. This has brought a lot of attention to him and sparked countless conspiracy theories.

More Interesting Facts About Bill Gates

We saved the best for last—some of these facts are not just interesting, they are plain crazy!

15. Bill Gates became a billionaire at the age of 31.

(Source: INC)

Bill Gates became a millionaire in 1981 at the age of 26, thanks to Microsoft's IPO. In 1987, at the age of 31, he became a billionaire. At the time, he was the youngest billionaire ever until Mark Zuckerberg stole that title from him in 2008 when he was just 23.

16. He partnered with the Chinese Ministry of Health to fight tuberculosis in 2009.

(Source: Gates Foundation)

The goal of the partnership was to improve the detection and treatment of the estimated 1.5 million tuberculosis cases that occur each year in China.

The Gates Foundation donated $33 million to help China with diagnostic tests, drug regimens, patient monitoring, and health delivery approaches.

Without a doubt, the partnering with China sparked a new batch of conspiracies about Bill Gates when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

17. Bill Gates donated $10 billion for vaccine research back in 2010.

(Source: Philanthropy News Digest)

In January 2010, Gates donated about $10 billion to vaccine research for the next ten years. As for the COVID-19 vaccines, Gates said that the virus is just one of the many diseases mRNA vaccines will be able to tackle over the next five years.

He also talked about a coronavirus outburst back in the day—something scientists have been doing for years, especially in South Korea. However, because of this and since Bill Gates is famous for his support of vaccines, numerous speculations about his role in the pandemic followed.

18. Bill Gates also entered the battle against dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

(Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK)

In 2017, Gates announced he is investing $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund—a private-public partnership focused on Alzheimer's research. This is the first time he has made a commitment to a non-communicable disease.

19. He has been a ladies' guy since high school.

(Source: NYTimes)

When young Billy's school noticed his talent in coding, they let him write a program for scheduling classes. He wrote the code in a way that "accidentally" placed him in classes with the girls he found to be most interesting—clearly, a brilliant mind in the making.

Rumor has it that he brought this habit into his workplace. Although these aren’t facts but only rumors about Bill Gates, several sources point to his questionable behavior at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. Allegedly, he occasionally pursued and even had relationships with women who worked for him.

Now that we spilled the tea, let’s end on a more positive note.

20. Bill Gates reads 50 books a year.

(Source: The New York Times)

We all know reading enriches your life and culture, gives you a new perspective, and even changes your worldview. And if someone ever dismisses its importance by saying, “Who has time for reading?” or “No one ever became rich by reading.”—well, tell them about a guy called Bill Gates. He reads 50 books a year!

Also, contrary to some popular beliefs, he wasn’t a bad student in school. He scored 1590/1600 on his SATs. He dropped out because he wanted to follow his true passion. I guess that’s the key to real success, after all.

Wrap Up

Did you enjoy these facts and stats about Bill Gates?

Hopefully, we helped you understand how he gained his fortune and changed the world. Or maybe we even inspired you to become the next Bill Gates, who knows?

Share these Bill Gates facts with your friends and let them know how reading more books can make you rich.