Interesting facts about Bill Gates #1:
His father was a successful lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for several companies. Gates’ maternal grandfather was a very successful banker.
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #2:
Gates was small and was bullied as child. His parents wanted him to become a lawyer and encouraged competition, offering rewards for winning.
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #3:
He read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in his teenage years. Imagine now trying to read every Wikipedia page there is!
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #4:
Young Bill had an early advantage when it came to computers. In 1968, a teenage Gates attended Lakeside School which was only one of the few schools in the United States to have a computer at that time.
He wrote his first computer program at the age of 13. A Lakeside teacher enlisted Gates to automate the class scheduling system in exchange for computer time.
To read about another of the most successful innovators of all time who didn’t even go to school, read my post about the career of Pablo Picasso
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #5:
He scored a near perfect SAT (1590 out of 1600), and then enrolled in Harvard to study computer science. He dropped out after two years.
His parents were supportive after seeing how much he wanted to start his own company.
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #6:
Gates’ schedule is planned minute by minute, but he still finds the time to read at least 50 books each year. He posts about his favourite ones on his website.
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #7:
An Atari executive showed Gates a game and defeated him 35 out of 37 times they played. The next time they met Gates:
“won or tied every game. He had studied the game until he solved it. That is a competitor”
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #8:
He could be tough on his employees and used to interrupt presentations at Microsoft with
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #9:
When the Microsoft went public in 1986, the stock price skyrocketed. 12,000 millionaires were created by the company’s success overnight!
To read about another entrepreneur who made billions from the dot-com boom, read my post on the career of Peter Thiel, Founder of PayPal
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #10:
His house is worth $150m, it has a dining room of 1,000 square metres! He is happy to pay taxes, commenting:
“I’ve paid more tax than any individual ever, and gladly so… I’ve paid over $6 billion in taxes.”
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #11:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation allows benefactors to access information showing how its money is being spent, unlike many other charitable organizations.
Despite the fact that he is worth tens of billions of dollars, he and Melinda have signed up to The Giving Pledge. This means they will give away 95% of their wealth to charity.
Interesting facts about Bill Gates #12:
His children will also only inherit $10m each. He thinks it is not a good thing to pass on too much money to your kids.
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