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Bill Gates, the man who founded and built Microsoft into the dominant software company in the world, announced Thursday that he would end his day-to-day duties with the company by 2008 to devote more time to his charitable work.


Gates, 50, said he wants to focus on global health and education work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The company announced a two-year transition "to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates' daily responsibilities." It said Gates would continue to serve as the company's chairman and an adviser on "key development projects" after he steps down at the end of the transition period in July 2008.

"This was a hard decision for me," Gates said. "I'm very lucky to have two passions that I feel are so important and so challenging. As I prepare for this change, I firmly believe the road ahead for Microsoft is as bright as ever."

Gates gave up CEO job in 2000

Gates hasn't been Microsoft's CEO since 2000, when he relinquished the role to Steve Ballmer.

In the ensuing six years, Gates has served as the company's chief software architect. He will give up that job immediately.

Gates founded Microsoft with childhood friend Paul Allen back in 1975, building it into a software empire that is now worth $225 billion US. Microsoft's Windows operating system now runs 90 per cent of the world's computers.

Along the way, Gates also faced many legal challenges from governments and rival companies who accused Microsoft of not competing fairly.

Gates is worth $50 billion US, making him the richest person in the world — a title he's held for many years. He's donated billions to charity and his foundation is worth $29 billion US.

Trytostaydead wrote:Good for him. He wants to spend more time with his foundation as opposed to the company. With his name and wealth, he can really make an impact somewhere.

Count Dooku wrote:

Trytostaydead wrote:Good for him. He wants to spend more time with his foundation as opposed to the company. With his name and wealth, he can really make an impact somewhere.

He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

Praxis wrote:

Count Dooku wrote:

Trytostaydead wrote:Good for him. He wants to spend more time with his foundation as opposed to the company. With his name and wealth, he can really make an impact somewhere.

He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

That's, what, 3% of his wealth?

Sriad wrote:

Praxis wrote:

Count Dooku wrote: He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

That's, what, 3% of his wealth?

What it is, is approximately $4 billion more than you or I will ever donate to charity, Dr. Snide.

Praxis wrote:

Count Dooku wrote:

Trytostaydead wrote:Good for him. He wants to spend more time with his foundation as opposed to the company. With his name and wealth, he can really make an impact somewhere.

He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

That's, what, 3% of his wealth?

Ace Pace wrote:

Praxis wrote:

Count Dooku wrote: He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

That's, what, 3% of his wealth?

Far more, more like he's promised most of his money to charity.

Praxis wrote:

Count Dooku wrote:

Trytostaydead wrote:Good for him. He wants to spend more time with his foundation as opposed to the company. With his name and wealth, he can really make an impact somewhere.

He's donated over $4 billion of his own money in the last decade. IIRC, most of the money went to vaccinations for the poor in 3rd world countries. I also remember hearing something about him buying computers for dozens of inner city schools or something.

That's, what, 3% of his wealth?

InnocentBystander wrote:I wonder how much he'll end up giving away, maybe he'll give it all away like Carnegie?

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:Bill Gates used to have a reputation for being a stingy son of a bitch, but now he's become a model rich person. I especially admire the work he's done on the AIDS crisis. I can't help but wonder if this change in his personality is also responsible for him feeling uncomfortable with Microsoft's tactics, and that's the real reason he's stepping down, but I cannot substantiate this.

In any case, there are two ways this could go. The company benefits from the removal of Gates and his often dogmatic approach to new ideas, or the company loses out because it has no unifying vision and possibly because someone incompetent takes the reigns. Either way, it's potentially good for consumers. If the company improves, we all win since we all use their products. If the company bites the dust, new and innovative companies will take its place and we win. Of course, if it declines and still holds onto its market share, we lose.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Is that the "DEVELOPERS!!" x16 guy?

WSJ wrote: Gates Foundation Giving
June 16, 2006

With an endowment of $29.1 billion, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, based in Seattle, is the largest charitable foundation in the country. Since 1994, the it has committed $10.5 billion in grants, more than half dedicated to global health causes such as solving malaria and HIV/AIDS. The quest for a workable AIDS vaccine is a major mission for the foundation.

The foundation gives away about $1.5 billion each year and focuses on three areas of giving in addition to global health: education, libraries and the Pacific Northwest. In 2005, about 70% of the foundation's grants went toward global efforts, with the rest focused on the U.S. The foundation's co-chairs are Bill and Melinda Gates and Mr. Gates' father, William H. Gates Sr. Its chief executive officer is Patty Stonesifer.

See a 2004 page-one WSJ article on the foundation's AIDS efforts, and a 2001 page-one article on how Mr. Gates used his business tactics to vaccinate the world's poor.

Recently announced donations
• Tuberculosis, May 2006: $104 million into the nonprofit Global Alliance for TB Drug Development to expand and speed the pipeline for new drugs to treat tuberculosis, a lung infection that remains the world's second-biggest infectious-disease killer, after AIDS. The foundation has targeted TB since standard treatments are 40 years old and take six months to cure the disease. In January, the foundation said it would triple its funding commitments for tuberculosis research to $900 million over the next decade.
 
• Malaria, October 2005: Pledged $258.3 million for a multipronged attack on what Mr. Gates called the "forgotten epidemic" of malaria, a major killer of African children. The money would fund research and development on a promising vaccine, new drugs and improved tools for mosquito control.
 
• AIDS, February 2005: Promised as much as $360 million over five years to support initiatives to speed up the search for an AIDS vaccine.
 
• Polio, January 2005: $10 million in new grants to the World Health Organization and Unicef to fund development and distribution of an improved polio vaccine during 2005. The eventual goal of the effort was to stop the spread of polio world-wide.
 
• Childhood vaccinations, January 2005: Pledged a $750 million grant over 10 years to support the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, a Geneva-based partnership funding childhood vaccination in poor countries. The new money came atop a prior $750 million grant in 1999 and two smaller grants, bringing the total Gates commitment to GAVI to a little more than $1.5 billion.
 
• AIDS, TB, Malaria, July 2004: Announced a $50 million grant to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
 
• Tuberculosis, February 2004: $82.9 million grant to the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation for the development of newer and better vaccines against tuberculosis.
 
• Malaria, September 2003: $168 million in grants to projects devoted to the treatment and prevention of malaria in Africa.
 
• Education, June 2003: $22 million to the NewSchools Venture Fund, a San Francisco nonprofit organization that promoted charter schools and other education initiatives.
 
• Global Health, January 2003: Foundation said it would give $200 million to establish the "Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative," to be administered by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, a nonprofit organization related to the NIH. The initiative would bring together top scientists to tackle global health problems.
 
• Education, October 2000: $210 million to fund scholarships for graduate students, particularly those from developing countries, at the University of Cambridge in England.
 
• Education, September 1999: Announced a $1 billion college scholarship fund for minority students, to be funded by the foundation with annual grants of $50 million.
 


--Sarah Rubenstein

Count Dooku wrote:I though Gates' had donated $4 billion to charity, but according to my google searches, he's given away $21.8 billion. That's a LOT of money!

Erik von Nein wrote:Some things Gates has done with his foundation:

WSJ wrote: Gates Foundation Giving
June 16, 2006

See a 2004 page-one WSJ article on the foundation's AIDS efforts, and a 2001 page-one article on how Mr. Gates used his business tactics to vaccinate the world's poor.

*snip*

--Sarah Rubenstein

Sriad wrote:

Count Dooku wrote:I though Gates' had donated $4 billion to charity, but according to my google searches, he's given away $21.8 billion. That's a LOT of money!

I was also thinking a much higher number, (a big chunk went to endow the Gates foundation, and hasn't been all-the-way given away yet if one were to pick nits) but brevity is the soul of wit.

Or the effluent of laziness. Oh well, win-win.