He's been making headlines for decades as one of the richest men in the world, but there's
a lot about Bill Gates the average Microsoft user doesn't know. In light of the news of
his impending divorce, here's the untold truth of the man who's a billionaire 130 times over.
Future Microsoft co-owner Paul Allen met Bill Gates in high school. One summer, when Allen
was back in Seattle from college and Gates was still a high school senior, they started
a business. You know, just normal teenage boy shenanigans.
They created a minicomputer to track the flow of traffic. Though that sounds incredibly
boring, it could be very useful to cities wanting to know where to place new traffic
signals or stop signs or make road alterations or repairs. Gates came up with the name "Traf-O-Data"
and Gates and Allen had a working prototype two years and $1,500 later.
Unfortunately for the data duo, nobody cared. They did no market research, so they didn't
realize that getting the local government to invest money in anything is a real pain.
According to Newsweek, after six years of trying, Traf-O-Data lost $3,494 and was soon
dragged to the Recycle Bin of history. Obviously, that didn't deter the pair from their commercial
ambitions, and they went on to create Microsoft -- probably to get revenge on those who didn't
appreciate their cool traffic-related ideas.
Bill Gates doesn't seem like a guy with a long rap sheet. But looks can be deceiving.
In 1977, Gates was arrested in New Mexico, though his exact crime wasn't recorded. Could
it be some kind of computer-related scheme?
No, it was just a traffic violation, funnily enough, and since the authorities didn't record
what specifically led to his arrest, the details of Gates' small-time criminal act have seemingly
been lost to time. Though the specifics about the incident may be sketchy, it definitely
happened, and the city of Albuquerque has the smiling mug shot to prove it.
Way back in 1976, Bill Gates wrote an "Open Letter to Hobbyists" to discourage people
from using his software without paying. The technology was so new it wasn't clearly covered
under copyright law. Gates was adamant that the "share and share alike" culture of the
time would discourage programmers from bothering to make new software if they knew it would
only be stolen.
Gates thought the letter would be the end of it, since open letters asking people to
start paying for stuff they can get for free are usually very effective. But copyright
law remained cloudy. In 1979, a federal court ruled that one company selling an exact copy
of another company's computer chess game was not a violation of the law, according to Michael
B. Becraft's Bill Gates: A Biography. By 1980, Gates had to speak out again about unlicensed
software usage. In an interview with 80 Microcomputing magazine, Gates detailed the importance of
software copyright and said this:
"There's nobody getting rich writing software that I know of."
This was true at the time, and with the licensing issues and completely uncharted territory
of the software world, Gates had no reason to think he'd wind up one of the richest men
in the world. Talk about a reversal of fortune.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen had a long history of working together. After the Traf-O-Data
failure, the two pressed on, working feverishly to create software needed for the upcoming
computer world. According to the Guardian, it was Allen, in fact, who came up with the
name Microsoft.
Gates had a lot of respect for Allen. In fact, he dropped out of Harvard his sophomore year
to join Allen in New Mexico to grow their business. But he didn't always treat him as
an equal. When they debuted their first major project, the programming language BASIC, Gates
spent hours double-checking all of Allen's work. Turns out, it was error-free.
Despite Allen's major contributions to Microsoft, in 1982, he overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer,
who ran the business side of the company, talking about Allen's diminishing contributions,
conspiring about how they could dilute his equity, according to Business Insider. But
Allen wasn't just slacking off. He had cancer.
Allen called them out and quit the company a while later. Gates wanted to buy Allen out
of his stock holdings at $5 a share. Allen wanted $10, Gates said "no thank you," so
Allen kept his stock, and made almost $20 billion.
Though Bill Gates had his share of difficulties, he's been rewarded for his software genius
with a net worth of $124 billion as of 2021. He's not known for splashing out on crazy,
expensive purchases. Unlike Paul Allen — who owned the Seattle Seahawks, had a collection
of vintage war planes, and made a Rock 'n' Roll museum in Seattle that contains lots
from his personal collection — Gates doesn't have any such hobbies. But, he did go all
out on an insane house.
Sitting on Lake Washington, the 66,000-square-foot property is called "Xanadu 2.0." Sadly, it's
not because Gates is a big Olivia Newton-John fan; it's actually named after the fictional
mansion of Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane. Though he doesn't seem like a gym rat,
Gates built a 2,500-foot fitness center, complete with a trampoline room.
The coolest part is that Xanadu 2.0 has crazy smart home technology that none of us will
have for another 40 years. Every guest who enters is given a pin. That pin interacts
with sensors around the house that will adjust your surroundings based on your taste of music
and lighting. Gates was already ahead of the curve with touchpad technology, since he's
had a pad in every room to control the temperature since 1995.
Plus, within the walls of the mansion is the Codex Leicester, Leonardo da Vinci's notebook,
which Gates bought for $30.8 million. If only everyone could grow up to live out every child's
dream of owning a 16th-century genius' scribbles.
"They're unbelievable contributions to science."
Despite his lavish home, Bill Gates really does give a lot of his money away. Prior to
their 2021 divorce announcement, Bill and Melinda Gates often topped the Forbes list
of most philanthropic people. In just one typical year, the husband-and-wife foundation
gave away $2.65 billion toward fighting malaria, polio, and other diseases while donating tons
to the World Health Organization. They also gave $50 million to the International AIDS
vaccine initiative.
The Gates foundation also gives away millions in college scholarships and other educational
causes. He's given nearly a billion dollars out in scholarships to minority students and
recently set up a Cambridge scholarship program with a trust of $210 million. All in all,
Bill and Melinda Gates have donated nearly $30 billion. It's nice to see all those billions
aren't just going to trampoline maintenance.
Now that he's stepped down from running Microsoft, Bill Gates has time for the little things
in life, like Reddit AMAs. His 2017 Ask Me Anything was full of absolutely crucial facts,
like that his favorite sandwich is a cheeseburger, he loves going to Australia for vacation,
and that apparently, he doesn't have a lot of parenting advice to share.
When a father-to-be asked him for dad tips, Gates replied,
"Melinda is very creative about helping me find chances to spend time with the kids.
Even just driving them to school is a great time to talk to them."
Gates seemed to take the Q&A seriously and even filmed a sketch to promote it. Clearly
a viewer of Saturday Night Live, Gates did a David Pumpkins sequel, as "Christmas Pumpkins."
Though his dancing leaves something to be desired, it's good that Gates chose to keep
the Tom Hanks voice and do some fine lip syncing work.
"Any questions?"
When they aren't busy talking to their dad in cars, the Gates kids must be getting ready
for their sick billion-dollar inheritance, right? Well, Bill doesn't think his kids should
get the majority of his wealth after he's gone. His three children won't have to work
at McDonald's necessarily, but they aren't going to waste away in their own Xanadu-style
mansions. Gates told ITV,
"They are never going to be poorly off. Our kids will receive a great education and some
money ... but they'll go out and have their own career. It's not a favor to kids to have
them have huge sums of wealth. It distorts anything they might do, creating their own
path."
Gates says each child will get $10 million. Luckily, his kids reportedly agree with his
thrifty inheritance plan and are happy that the money will go to help those in much greater
need. Though his children may not be able to have a house with 24 bathrooms, somehow,
they'll get by.
Bill Gates doesn't seem to be the sportiest chap around, but that doesn't mean he completely
lacks physical ability. In an interview with Connie Chung in 1994, she pulled out the hard
questions, asking,
"Is it true you can leap over a chair from a standing position?"
First of all, that's a classic example of some real gotcha journalism. Regardless, Gates
happily admitted that the rumor is true and that he can indeed easily jump over chairs,
though he did specify, quote, "it depends on the size of the chair." To illustrate this
talent, Gates was happy to jump over a regular ol' office chair on national TV.
In his 2017 Reddit AMA, Gates said this isn't something he can do anymore. When asked, "Can
you still jump over an office chair from a standing position?", Gates responded,
"No. Perhaps a small chair - a stool. I do exercise and ski, but my main sport is tennis,
which doesn't involve jumping. Some people jump over the net, but that isn't part of
the sport."
Looks like there's an opening for "famous billionaire chair jumper." Your move, Elon
Musk.
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