What You Should Know About Bill Gates, Co-Founder of Microsoft

Steph Curry does a job interview with Bill Gates 1:29

(CNN) -

Here's a glimpse into the life of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, with whom Andrés Oppenheimer will speak in a special #OppenheimerPresenta issue.

Don't miss the details of this conversation on Sunday, February 14 at 9 PM Miami time.

Personal information

Date of birth:

October 28, 1955

Place of birth:

Seattle, Washington

Birth name:

William Henry Gates III

Father:

William Henry Gates II, attorney

Mother:

Mary (née: Maxwell) Gates, teacher

advertising

Wife:

Melinda (née: French) Gates (January 1, 1964-present)

Children:

Phoebe Adele, 2002;

Rory John, 1999;

Jennifer Katharine, 1996

Education:

Attended Harvard University, 1973-1975

LOOK: OPINION |

Bill and Melinda Gates: Covid-19 will forever change the way the world thinks about health

Other data

He was ranked No. 1 on the Forbes World's Billionaires List for 12 consecutive years from 1995 to 2007.

Since 2019, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded charitable causes totaling $ 54.8 billion.

Microsoft is the largest software company in the world.

Timeline of the life of Bill Gates

1968 -

Begins programming computers at the age of 13.

1972 -

Still in school, co-founded Traf-O-Data, a company that analyzes local traffic patterns.

Summer 1972 -

Page of Congress for the US House of Representatives

1975 -

Leaves Harvard and co-founds Microsoft (formerly Micro Soft) with Paul Allen.

1977-1982 -

President of Microsoft.

1980 -

Develops MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) for IBM.

Until 1984, two million copies were sold, and at the beginning of the 1990s, more than 100 million copies were sold.

1981-2014 -

Chairman of the Microsoft Board of Directors.

1985 -

Gates introduces the Microsoft Windows operating system to compete with Apple.

Mid to late 1980s -

Begins to develop and promote CD-ROM technology.

1987 -

Becomes the youngest American billionaire, with a fortune valued at $ 1.25 billion at age 31.

1989 -

Founder of Corbis, a digital imaging company.

May 1998 -

The United States Department of Justice, 20 states, and the District of Columbia file lawsuits accusing Microsoft of illegal, anti-competitive and exclusionary practices.

January 2000 -

Resigns as CEO of Microsoft and takes over as Chief Software Architect.

Microsoft reaches an agreement with the Department of Justice in the antitrust case.

Nine states agree to the deal, but nine other states and the District of Columbia find the penalties too lenient.

November 2002 -

Federal Trial Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly approves most of the settlement between Microsoft and the proposed Department of Justice, and issues a ruling against the nine dissenting states and the District of Columbia.

March 2, 2005 -

Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

December 18, 2005 -

Time magazine names Bill Gates "Person of the Year" along with his wife Melinda and musician Bono.

June 15, 2006 -

Announces that he will be setting aside his day-to-day duties at Microsoft from July 2008 to focus on his humanitarian and educational interests.

June 7, 2007 -

Delivers keynote address at Harvard University, the university he dropped out of in 1975. He also receives an honorary degree.

March 2008 -

Drops to third place on Forbes billionaires list after 12 consecutive years at the top.

June 27, 2008 -

Gates retires from his day job at Microsoft to focus on philanthropy.

April 1, 2009 -

Gates announces collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Health to help fight a tuberculosis epidemic in China with a $ 33 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

LOOK: Elon Musk is tied with Bill Gates for second place on the list of richest men in the world

January 29, 2010

- The Gates Foundation announces that it will donate $ 10 billion to vaccine research over the next 10 years.

February 4, 2014 -

Bill Gates retires from his position as Chairman of the Microsoft Board of Directors.

November 30, 2015 -

Assists with the launch of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition fund during the

2015

United Nations climate change conference. The private fund has more than 28 investors, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg;

and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

The fund is created with the purpose of mobilizing and multiplying investments in carbon-free and alternative energy solutions.

November 22, 2016 -

Bill Gates and his wife receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

November 13, 2017 -

Gates announces that it will invest $ 50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund, a public-private partnership focused on Alzheimer's disease research.

This is the first time that Gates has committed to a noncommunicable disease.

LOOK: Bill Gates predicts 2,000 deaths per day in the US before the vaccine arrives

March 13, 2020 -

Gates is reportedly leaving the Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway Boards of Directors in order to "spend more time on his philanthropic priorities."

March 18, 2020 -

It ranks No.

2 on Forbes' Billionaires List, with a net worth of $ 98 billion at press time.