Born on October 28, 1955, William H. Gates III (also known as Bill) grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. William H. Gates II, their father, is a Seattle attorney. Mary Gates, their late mother, was a school teacher, University of Washington regent, and the chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There at age 13, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computer.

Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman in 1973, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, who is now Microsoft's chief executive officer. Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair, while at Harvard,.

Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft in his junior year. Microsoft is a company he had begun in 1975 with a childhood friend named Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing the software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and vision for personal computing have been central to the success of his company Microsoft and the rest of the software industry.

Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers under Gates' leadership. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of $4 to 5 billion on research and development in the current fiscal year.

Bill Gates is chief software architect and chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in Internet technologies, software, and services for personal and business computing. Microsoft had revenues of nearly 30 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2002, and employs more than 50,000 people in 78 countries and regions.

Chairman Bill Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

Gates is also interested in biotechnology. He sits on the board of ICOS, a company that specializes in protein-based and small-molecule therapeutics, and he is an investor in several other biotechnology companies. Gates also founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the world. Also Gates has invested with cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw in Teledesic, which is working on an ambitious plan to employ hundreds of low-orbit satellites to provide a worldwide two-way broadband telecommunications service.

Gates was married on January 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. The couple nowhas three children. Gates enjoys playing golf, bridge, and is an avid reader.