surprising facts about Bill Gates
1. As a young teenager at Lakeside Prep School, Gates wrote his first computer program on a General Electric computer.
It was a version of tic-tac-toe, where you could play against the computer.
2. Once his school realized Gates' proclivities for coding, they let him write the school's computer program for scheduling students in classes.
He even slyly altered the code so he was placed in classes with a "disproportionate number of interesting girls."
3. Like many other successful tech entrepreneurs, Gates was a college dropout.
He left Harvard University in 1975 to fully devote himself to Microsoft.
4. Gates was once arrested in New Mexico, in 1977.
He was driving without a license and ran a red light.
5. He used to fly coach until 1997.
Now, he has his own plane. He calls that his "big splurge."
6. One of Gates' biggest splurges, besides his plane, was the Codex Leicester, a collection of writings by Leonardo da Vinci.
He acquired the codex at a 1994 auction for $30.8 million.
7. Gates doesn't know any foreign languages.
That, he says, is his biggest regret in life thus far.
8. He used to memorize the license plates of his employees at Microsoft.
Gates wasn't exactly a chill boss. Back in the day, he had a fanatical work ethic that he expected his employees to replicate by working all the time. “I knew everybody’s license plates so I could look out in the parking lot and see when did people come in [and] when were they leaving,” he told the BBC.
9. Gates says if Microsoft hadn't worked out, he probably would've been a researcher for artificial intelligence.
But, despite his deep interest in AI, Gates says he is "in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence." That camp also includes notable leaders in science in technology, including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk.
10. His favorite band? Weezer.
He also calls U2 a "favorite," and says he's still "waiting for Spinal tap to go back on tour."
11. Gates reads 50 books a year.
He says that keeping his nose in a book keeps him sharp. "Reading is still the main way that I both learn new things and test my understanding," he says. These are his favorite books from last year.
interesting facts about Bill Gates
-To start with the latest information first, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates have ended their marriage after 27 years of being with one another. “We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives,” Gate’s official Twitter post reads. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives,” he adds.
-Bill Gates and Melinda Gates meet each other after she started working at Microsoft as a product manager in 1987. The Gateses were married in 1994 in Hawaii.
-The couple established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle about a decade ago in 2020. The foundation primarily focuses on public health, education and climate change.
– While at Harvard, Gates and his friend from high school Paul Allen started working on a version of computer language called BASIC for the first microcomputer – MITS Altair. Gates dropped out of college after two years of writing BASIC and moved on to establish Microsoft.
– During his teenage, Bill Gates read the entire ‘World Book Encyclopedia’ series.
– Gates scored 1590 out of 1600 on his SATs or Statutory Assessment Tests carried out by schools.
-Gates in a past interview said that he used to memorise employees’ license plates to keep tab on their punch-ins and punch-outs. “Eventually, I had to loosen up, as the company got a reasonable size,” he said.
– Gates says that he regrets one thing is life, that’s he can speaks only one human language, English.
– Back in 1975, Gates and Allen started ‘Micro-soft’ from a rented apartment in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Later in 1977, the company was registered and it became ‘Microsoft’.
– Bill Gates was only 31 when he became a billionaire.
– In his initial years at Lakeside Prep School, Gates created the first computer program on a General Electric computer.
1. Bill Gates is continuously standing number 1 as world billionaire in the world by Forbes magazine. His IQ Test score is 160 IQ, Bill Gates is a billionaire who always contribute to the world and do charity frequently.
- His all-time favorite business book is Business Adventures by New Yorker's John Brooks, published in 1969.
- Gates was arrested in 1977 for driving without a license in New Mexico.
- In 1994, he was asked by a TV interviewer if he could jump over a chair from a standing position. Gates promptly took the challenge and leapt over the chair like a boss.
- Also in 1994, he purchased Leonardo Da Vinci's Codex Leicester for $30 million US.
- He flew coach until 1997, even though his net worth was already well into the double-digit billions.
- Media attempted to create a new title for Gates--"centibillionaire"--during the dot-com boom, when his net worth briefly surpassed $101 billion.
- Gates predicted (inaccurately) in 2004 that within two years, email spam would be obliterated.
- Queen Elizabeth of England knighted Gates with the KBE Order in 2005, in recognition of his charitable contributions worldwide.
- Gates earned an honorary degree from Harvard in 2007, thirty-two years after dropping out.
- In 2010, Gates and his friends Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffett signed the "Gates Giving Pledge," promising to give half of their wealth to charity.
- No one was immune from the #IceBucketchallenge craze in 2014--not even Gates, who accepted the challenge from Mark Zuckerberg.
- Gates believes that telemarketers, accountants, auditors and retail salespeople will all become obsolete in 20 years as robots take over their jobs.
- Bill Gates doesn't believe in leaving children a ton of money as inheritance; his three kids (daughters Jennifer and Phoebe and son Rory) are set to inherit just $10 million each of his multi-billion dollar fortune.
- The 66,000 sq ft. Gates estate in Washington took seven years and $63 million to build. Half a million board-feet of lumber went into the construction of the opulent property, which features a trampoline room with a 20-foot ceiling, a reception hall to accommodate up to 200 guests, 24 bathrooms, six kitchens and more.
- Gates is no longer the largest individual shareholder in Microsoft--he relinquished that title in 2014.
- Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had a complex relationship. Jobs once kept Gates waiting for an hour out of spite, but kept a letter from Gates beside his bed as his condition worsened before his death.
- What's on Bill's bucket list? Just don't die.