Bill Gates

Born William Gates III in 1955 in Seattle, Washington, he was one of three children born to Mary (Maxwell) Gates and William Henry Gates Jr. Mary Gates was a former teacher and a member of the University of Washington Board of Regents and several corporate boards. William Henry Gates Jr. is a partner in a prominent law firm.

Bill Gates attended Lakeside School, a private institution known for its high academic standards. Gates became hooked on a Digital training computer terminal at the school's computer center and soon formed an alliance with three fellow computer buffs, including Paul Allen, future cofounder of Microsoft: "From the beginning, Gates saw the enormous potential of computers, and he even boasted to one of his teachers that he would be a millionaire one day" (Current, 1991, p. 238). Gates was 12-years-old at the time.

Gates and his pals soon branched out from developing computer programs for Lake

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that status. Gates owns about 30 percent of Microsoft and claims that 90 percent of his net worth is in the company--he owns more than 140 million shares (Elmer-Dewitt 1995; Brandt 19940. Much has been written about Gates's multi-million dollar, three-acre estate that he is building in suburban Seattle, complete with 25-foot vaulted ceilings, underground parking, and an elaborate conference room. Gates defends this extravagance by pointing to the estate's simultaneous function as a technology showcase and a meeting place for Microsoft. Gates has been characterized as a workaholic. He is a hands-on executive who is intimately involved with the daily operations and long-term planning of Microsoft. Between 1978 and 1984 he reportedly took only six days vacation (Current, 1991, p. 240). Gates recently married fellow co-worker, Melinda French the company's Marketing Manager. Marriage has slowed Gates's pace, but not by much. According to Gates, "I go home by midnight almost every night now" (Brandt, 1994, p. 58). Microsoft software products have achieved near universal acceptance in the marketplace. An estimated eight out of 10 of the world's personal computers use Microsoft operating system software (Elmer-Dewitt, 1995
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Approximate Word count = 1743
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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