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Birth
William Henry Gates III was born in Seattle Washington -
He is enrolled to Lakeside school
It was a private school in Seattle, and when he was age 13 he started showing interests towards computer programming. This is where he met Paul Allen, his friend and business partner. -
College
He enters Harvard as a pre-law major but then change courses to doing rigorous mathematics and graduate level computer courses -
His first venture
Gates took his first leave of absence from school to start working on his first software venture, which he refers to as Micro-soft. -
Microsoft was created
Gates and Allen registered their trademark -
Set up Microsoft
Microsoft is set up in Albuquerque, where MITS is headquarted -
$1 million margin
Microsoft's year ends sales exceed 1 million -
Relocated
Microsoft HQ is relocated in Seattle in a small suburb named Bellevue -
Youngest billionaire
At age 31 Gates become the youngest billionaire ever. He also meets his future wife Melinda French. -
Corbis
Gates founds Corbis, an archive of art and photography from public and private collections. Corbis later becomes one of the largest collections of visual information in the world. -
Marriage
Gates marries Melinda French -
Richest man in the world
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. -
Book published
Gates publishes a best selling book called, "Business @ the Speed of Thought". -
New chapter
Gates steps down as CEO of Microsoft, and become the chief software architect. Bill & Melinda foundation is formed. -
Honorary Knighthood
Queen Elizabeth II bestows an honorary knighthood on Gates for his contributions to the United Kingdom. Time names him a “Person of the Year". -
Future endeavors
Gates announces that his role as an executive at Microsoft will be phased out over the following two years, and that he will be focusing more on his foundation -
Graduation
Gates finally graduates from Harvard and he also gives the commencement speech. -
Retires Microsoft
Gates retires from Microsoft, but stays in the role of chairman and adviser on important development projects -
Still the richest man in the world
Bill Gates up to this date is still the richest man in the world, and his net worth sits at 87.4 billion.
