Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates hardly needs an introduction.
But the tech giant's wife - who helped create the world's largest charitable organization - is
equally impressive. From a middle class childhood to a multi-billion-dollar fortune,
this is the untold truth of one of Forbes' Most Powerful Women, Melinda Gates.
Melinda Gates was a curious child who was raised in Dallas, Texas.
As one of four children, she always loved math. But it was at the all-girls school,
Ursuline Academy, that her love for technology really began to grow. All thanks to the Apple
II and Apple III computers her father bought for the family. But to afford those luxuries, Gates
told Fortune that she and the rest of the family spent many weekends earning the money, explaining,
"That meant scrubbing floors and cleaning ovens and mowing the lawns."
Gates' computer teacher once said of her pupil,
"[Melinda was] a well-rounded student who joined the drill team and helped
other students learn programming. […] [She] was one of the best students I ever had."
Gates went on to become valedictorian of her class, which got her into Duke University.
"What can we expect over the next few years? Well, a machine on every desktop."
It may come as a complete surprise that the wife of the cofounder of Microsoft
and a former Microsoft employee herself didn't use the company's software as a kid.
Instead, Melinda learned to love computers from chief rival,
Apple. She fondly remembers interacting with the Apple II as a child, telling Fortune,
"I finagled it to be in my bedroom so I could play
games on it. […] And [I] taught it to other kids during summer vacations."
When she was a teen, Gates' dad brought home the Apple III,
which only heightened her love of computers. Gates revealed to Popular Mechanics,
"A computer changed my life. Even now, as we run our foundation, the Apple III is a
symbol of our conviction that innovation makes the future better for everyone."
Even before she married Bill, Melinda worked her way up in the Microsoft organization,
as a talented leader.
"I just thought, oh my gosh, I have to work at this company. They are changing the world."
One of her most notable early projects was as lead developer for the then-groundbreaking software,
"Microsoft Bob." The program - which famously flopped - aimed
to make it easier for regular users at home to interact with their personal computers.
Gates penned a summary on LinkedIn of her experience on the project, writing,
"I understood that flops like this were part of the process - in fact,
we used to joke that you had to have a major failure to get your first promotion."
But the worst part of the failure was the negative feedback from the press.
But despite the heat, Gates pushed forward and even addressed the media wearing, as she recalled,
"A T-shirt that had a Microsoft Bob logo on the front […] and then, when I turned around,
a bright red target on the back."
Bits and pieces of the program still exist today - most notably,
the Comic Sans font that will probably never go away.
So, where does someone go to meet an eligible bachelor and future billionaire?
According to Fortune, four months into her job at Microsoft, Melinda took her
first trip to New York City for a trade show. And during the visit,
"She went to a group dinner and sat next to the CEO."
Claiming Bill had a much better sense of humor than she ever expected him to have,
Bill also noticed Melinda's good looks. Once they were back in Seattle, the couple crossed
paths in a parking lot, and according to Melinda, Bill asked her out - very far in advance.
"I said two weeks from Saturday night? How could you
possibly know what you're doing. My schedule doesn't go out that far."
Apparently, according to The Seattle Times,
"Gates preferred to play the field, but the relationship turned serious by mid-1992, long
after his late mother, Mary Gates, had complained that he was taking too long to settle down."
By 1994, Bill and Melinda finally got married. And, true to form,
Bill spontaneously calculated how big each slice of cake should be to feed all their guests.
Right after the couple tied the knot, Fortune reported that Melinda said she had a, quote,
"personal crisis." This so-called crisis was about the house her spouse planned to build
outside Seattle, Washington. Apparently, even a billionaire bachelor still has the similar
tendencies of any ol' regular new husband. As Melinda put it, the home Bill envisioned was…
"A bachelor's dream and a bride's nightmare. […] 40,000 square feet with several garages,
a trampoline room, an indoor pool, a theater with a popcorn machine, and enough software
and high-tech displays to make a newlywed feel as though she were living inside a video game."
"It's chaos."
As the voice of reason, Melinda expressed a completely different vision of a dream home - and
one where they would raise their family. It didn't take long to convince her husband.
In about six months she hired a new architect to completely overhaul the project, and reportedly,
"Create intimate spaces, an office for her, and staff quarters out
of sight and on the periphery." Even though he was once the richest
man in the world, that doesn't mean Bill Gates can win at everything.
And this is especially true when it comes to Melinda, who consistently outperforms her husband.
"Whoa. She has a lot of credibility. She knows what she's talking about."
First, let's talk education. Bill is famously, quote, "Harvard's most celebrated dropout,"
according to Fortune, while Melinda graduated with a double major in computer science and economics,
plus an MBA from Duke University. Second, Melinda also kicks his butt at sports. She reportedly
runs at a speedy seven miles-per-hour and exercises about five days a week,
while still dealing with the demands of leading the Gates Foundation. According to the outlet,
"[Melinda] has completed the Seattle marathon and climbed,
with ropes and crampons, to the peak of 14,410-foot Mount Rainier."
"Melinda always has me go first 'cause she doesn't like cobwebs."
At least she gave a little credit to her husband when she admitted
that he had picked up a bit of a running habit in the last year.
Still, Melinda even has a leg up in board games. She revealed to The Cut,
"I beat Bill twice at Clue, and he couldn't believe it. We still
do races with puzzles for fun. I still beat him pretty often."
Sure, Gates is one of the most powerful women in the world. But she's also a deeply
devoted mother of three, to Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe. She told Fortune,
"On the day I die, I want people to think that I was a great mom and a great family
member and a great friend. I care about that more than I care about anything else. […] And
I always have to remember that, at the end of the day, my kids come first."
"Our kids see Bill and I work very hard. We don't have to work anymore,
I mean, but we do. We work hard every single day."
Gates told CNBC a story of once struggling with parenting duties,
particularly in finding time to drop her first daughter off at kindergarten.
She convinced Bill to drive their daughter to school twice a week - and the other parents
took notice. Melinda recalled that one of the other moms said to her,
"We went home with our hands on hips and said,
'If Bill Gates can drive his kids to school, then by gosh, you can too!'"
"There were times when I had to name, at home, what I needed."
Gates knows first-hand what it takes to be a strong, driven woman in the workplace.
So, when she started her philanthropic work, one of her main missions was to support and progress
gender equality throughout the world. In 2019,
Gates pledged $1 billion to gender equality, which she detailed in an article for TIME, writing,
"Equality can't wait, and no one in a position to act should either."
"When we stop holding women back, everyone benefits. Equality can't wait."
During a podcast discussion for the Harvard Business Review,
Gates elaborated on exactly why the cause is so important to her, saying,
"And as I started to look at those issues more systematically I realized that we had to look
at the gender piece and we had to start making investments there or we just wouldn't get very
far in much of our work. […] When we stand together, that is when you create change."
"Every single child in the United States deserves a great education."
By being married to Bill and contributing billions of dollars to charitable causes,
Melinda has - of course - made some amazing friends.
One of those is billionaire investor Warren Buffett [BUFF-it], known as "The Oracle of
Omaha." And he has his own close circle of high-level buddies. Melinda told Fortune,
"One of the things I was most impressed about when Bill and I met Warren Buffett very early on was he
introduced us to his friends. And Warren has the most high quality set of friends you could meet,
and these are friends that he has had over his lifetime. […] It really got me thinking,
'Wow, I better cultivate my friends.'"
"If you get to be 65 or 70, and the people that you wanna have love you actually do love you,
you're a success."
Buffett likewise has nice things to say about Bill and Melinda. He told the outlet,
"[Bill is] smart as hell, obviously. […] But in terms of seeing the whole picture,
[Melinda is] smarter."
Outside of the billionaires club, the Gates enjoy a few other high-profile connections. For example,
Bill asked former president Barack Obama to create a special message for Melinda's book launch. As
recounted by The Oprah Magazine, Bill joined his wife on stage for the last night of her book tour
and surprised her with the video. Melinda shared the video on Instagram, captioning the post,
"An unforgettable end to an unforgettable experience."
How would you spend the day as one of the most powerful people in the world?
Melinda told The Cut,
"As a working mom with three busy children, married to a working dad,
I've learned that calendars are important. […] I'm a morning person. I like to get up
around 6:30 a.m., and I spend that first hour in 'quiet time' […] meditation, some stretching,
yoga, and I always do some kind of spiritual reading."
Even in the notoriously dreary Seattle weather, she tries her best to go outside to her garden
or nearby lake. Before heading to the offices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and
managing billions of dollars, she makes sure to enjoy some simple pleasures. She revealed,
"I'm from Texas, so about once a week I'll eat huevos rancheros, which is my all-time favorite."
Thankfully, her hard work doesn't go unnoticed by her husband. Fortune reported that Melinda
once had a particularly long day, filled with visiting her children's school,
and hosting a charitable dinner. Later that evening, she began worrying about a speech she
was set to give the next day, so Bill offered the sage advice, quote, "Just go to bed!"
For all their philanthropic work, Bill and Melinda Gates have received a few extraordinary honors.
First, in 2016, then-President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom - the highest possible honor for civilians - to the Gates couple
for their charitable foundation. A presenter said during the ceremony,
"Bill and Melinda Gates continue to inspire us with their impatient optimism, that together,
we can remake the world as it should be."
Then, the following year, the French government awarded the couple the French Legion of Honor
medal. As reported by the Daily Mail, the French President presented the Gates with the highest
national award for their incredible impact through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
"We're giving our money away because we believe that we can
make the world a better place and we should do that while we're here."
Life isn't too shabby when you're married to one of the wealthiest men in the world.
As of mid 2020, Bill Gates was worth around $115 billion, making him the second richest
man in the world, according to Forbes. And, according to Celebrity Net Worth,
Melinda is worth an estimated $70 billion herself, making her one of the world's wealthiest wives.
"We are incredibly privileged and lucky to have the resources
we have from Microsoft. That is that, full stop."
And with all this dough, it's no surprise the pair have picked up a few luxury items along the way.
The Chicago Tribune reported in 2018 that the power couple allegedly purchased a $1.25 million
home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. This also added to
speculation that their son Rory would be attending the University of Chicago - which,
according to Fox News, was where he was set to enroll after he graduated high school in 2018.
But despite their literal billions,
it appears the Gates have remained relatively modest with their purchases. Even early on,
Melinda was not one to flaunt her financial status. According to The Seattle Times,
"She paid less than $20,000 for her wedding dress and reception ensemble,
far less than many society brides."
For this couple, that's barely a drop in the bucket.
"If you grow up in a society where you can create a business that amasses that much wealth,
it should go back to society, either your own or somewhere in the world."
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