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World top billionaires
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William
Henry Gates III (born 28 October 1955) is an
American entrepreneur, software executive, philanthropist,
the world's third richest man (as of 2008) and chairman of
Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen.
During his career at Microsoft he has held the positions of
CEO and chief software architect, and he remains the largest
individual shareholder with more than 9 percent of the
common stock.
Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal
computer revolution. Although he is admired by many, a large
number of industry insiders criticise his business tactics,
which they consider anti-competitive, an opinion which has
in some cases been upheld by the courts. In the later stages
of his career, Gates has pursued a number of philanthropic
endeavors, donating large amounts of money to various
charitable organizations and scientific research programs
through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in
2000.
The annual Forbes magazine's list of The World's
Billionaires ranked Gates as the richest person in the world
from 1995 to 2007; recent estimates of his net worth are in
excess of US$58 billion. When family wealth is considered,
his family ranks second behind the Walton family, heirs of
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton.
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