Bill Gates is an American business tycoon and philanthropist known for his founding role and leadership at Microsoft. Gates was CEO of the company from 1975 until 2000 as it grew to become the world's leading software business with its Windows operating system and Office productivity suite.

From 2000 to 2008, Gates served as Microsoft's Chief Software Architect and was the chairman of the company until 2014. As the largest individual investor in Microsoft until 2014, Gates has been included on the Forbes list of the world's richest people since 1987 and has topped the list eighteen times in the last twenty-four years.

Gates is now most prominent for the philanthropic group he and his wife founded, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the world's largest charitable organisation. The foundation focuses on improving access to quality healthcare and education around the world, empowering the world's poorest people to rise out of poverty, and combating infectious diseases including malaria, polio and HIV.