Bill Gates

• Chart pointers (PVNR): Gemini lagna 26°22′; lagna lord Mercury in own sign Virgo (~23°21′ — the keynote of a wealth-by-intellect chart); Moon in Pisces; Venus + exalted Saturn together in Libra. Used as a wealth / Arudha validation: by PVNR's longitude-based Arudha the 11th-from-Arudha falls on Libra (Venus in own sign + exalted Saturn) = a very strong "many planets on the 11th from AL = great financial success" signature.

• Kind of work: software entrepreneur and technologist — built a fortune out of pure intellect and code (operating systems, business software) rather than inherited capital or physical industry. A Mercury-in-own-sign (Virgo) signature: analytical, voracious, detail-obsessed.
• Fame: global household name for forty years; the archetypal figure of the personal-computer revolution and, later, of mega-philanthropy.
• Position / power: founder-CEO who controlled Microsoft through its rise to total dominance of PC software; chairman, chief software architect; co-creator of the Giving Pledge and chair of the world's largest private foundation.
• Wealth: colossal. Became the youngest self-made billionaire ever at 31 (1987); the world's richest person for 18 of the 24 years 1995–2017 (incl. 13 straight, 1995–2007); fortune peaked at ~$129 billion (2022); ~$107 billion (Forbes, early 2026). Has given away tens of billions and pledged the bulk of the rest.
• Legal / negative: the long U.S. antitrust case (1998–2001) — Microsoft ruled a monopoly, ordered broken up, the breakup reversed on appeal; his evasive 1998 deposition; the Jeffrey Epstein association (2011–2014), which he calls a "grave error in judgment" and which strained his marriage. Two minor 1970s traffic arrests (the famous mugshot).
• Health: no major chronic illness on the public record.
• Death: n/a (living).

• 1955-10-28 — born William Henry Gates III ("Trey") in Seattle; father a prominent attorney, mother a businesswoman/board member; affluent, prominent family.
• 1968 — at 13, enrolled at the exclusive Lakeside School; learns BASIC on a Teletype terminal; writes his first program (tic-tac-toe).
• 1970 — studies source code at Computer Center Corporation until the firm folds.
• 1973 — graduates Lakeside a National Merit Scholar (SAT 1590/1600); enters Harvard that autumn; meets Steve Ballmer.
• 1975-04-04 — leaves Harvard and co-founds Microsoft with Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico (near MITS, maker of the Altair 8800); first product a BASIC interpreter for the Altair.
• 1975 / 1977-12-13 — minor traffic arrests in New Mexico (speeding; running a stop sign, no licence) — the origin of the famous mugshot.
• 1980-11 — IBM awards Microsoft the OS contract for the IBM PC; Microsoft buys 86-DOS for under $100,000, rebrands it MS-DOS, and crucially keeps ownership.
• 1981-08 — IBM PC ships with PC DOS; the licensing terms make Microsoft.
• 1985-11-20 — releases Windows 1.0.
• 1986-03-13 — Microsoft IPO at $21/share, closing at $27.75; Gates (30) keeps a ~45% stake worth ~$350 million; the IPO eventually mints ~12,000 employee millionaires.
• 1987 — becomes a billionaire at 31 — then the youngest self-made billionaire ever.
• 1990–95 — Windows 3.0, then Windows 95, cement near-total PC dominance.
• 1991-07-05 — meets Warren Buffett; a lifelong friendship and (later) the largest charitable partnership in history.
• 1994-01-01 — marries Melinda French on Lanai, Hawaii.
• 1995 — becomes the world's richest person (~$12.5B); publishes The Road Ahead.
• 1996-04 — daughter Jennifer born; 1999-05 — son Rory born; 2002-09 — daughter Phoebe born.
• 1998-05-18 — U.S. DOJ + 20 states file the antitrust suit; 1998-08-27 — his damaging videotaped deposition.
• 1999 — fortune peaks near $90B, briefly tops $100B (first "centibillionaire"); publishes Business @ the Speed of Thought.
• 2000-01-13 — steps down as CEO (Steve Ballmer succeeds him); becomes Chairman and Chief Software Architect.
• 2000 — founds the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
• 2000-04-03 / 2000-06-07 — court rules Microsoft an illegal monopoly and orders a breakup.
• 2001-06-28 — appeals court reverses the breakup; case settled later that year (approved 2002).
• 2006-06 — Buffett pledges ~$30B+ in Berkshire shares to the Foundation.
• 2008 — steps back from day-to-day Microsoft work for the Foundation.
• 2010-12-09 — Gates, Melinda and Buffett launch The Giving Pledge.
• 2011–2014 — meets Jeffrey Epstein roughly a dozen times (global-health fundraising context); ends contact late 2014.
• 2014 — steps down as Microsoft chairman (~$76B net worth).
• 2015 — founds Breakthrough Energy (clean-energy investing, $1B committed); March TED talk warning the world is unprepared for a pandemic.
• 2016 — receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom (with Melinda).
• 2017-10 — surpassed by Jeff Bezos as world's richest.
• 2020-03-13 — leaves the Microsoft board.
• 2020 — frequent public voice on COVID-19; Foundation funds vaccines, testing, treatments.
• 2021-05 — announces divorce from Melinda after 27 years; finalised August 2021.
• 2021 / 2022 — publishes How to Avoid a Climate Disaster and How to Prevent the Next Pandemic.
• 2022 — personal peak net worth ~$129B; Gates + Melinda give the Foundation a record $20B.
• 2025-02-04 — publishes memoir Source Code: My Beginnings.
• 2025-05 — announces the Foundation will wind down by ~2045, giving away virtually his whole fortune.
• 2026-06 — interviewed by the U.S. House Oversight Committee about Epstein; calls the association a "grave error in judgment."

Nature & personality

Famously analytical, intensely competitive, detail-obsessed and a voracious reader — a textbook Mercury-in-own-sign (Virgo) mind. As a boy his parents worried he was bored and withdrawn; channelled into computing at 13, that restlessness became a forty-year obsession. Built his fortune out of pure intellect and software, not inherited money or factories.

Profession, fame & status

Co-founded Microsoft (1975) and steered it to total dominance of the personal-computer software market. The IBM-PC DOS deal (1980) — keeping ownership of the operating system — was the master stroke. CEO until 2000, then Chairman and Chief Software Architect; left day-to-day work in 2008 and the board in 2020. The defining figure of the PC era, and later of large-scale philanthropy.

Wealth & money

The headline of this chart. Multimillionaire overnight at the 1986 IPO; billionaire by 1987 (youngest self-made ever); world's richest for 18 of 24 years (1995–2017), peaking ~$129B in 2022 and ~$107B by early 2026. Through the Foundation (with Buffett's ~$30B+ pledge) and the Giving Pledge he has committed to giving away essentially all of it — announcing in 2025 that the Foundation will spend down to near zero by ~2045. Foundation outlays exceed $100B over its first 25 years, credited with cutting polio ~99% since 1988 and helping immunise 760M+ children.

Marriage, relationships & children

Married Melinda French on 1 January 1994; three children — Jennifer (1996), Rory (1999), Phoebe (2002). Announced their divorce in May 2021 after 27 years; finalised August 2021. Both have linked the strain to his Epstein association.

Health (and accidents)

No major chronic illness is documented in the public record.

Legal troubles / controversies

The U.S. v. Microsoft antitrust case dominated 1998–2001: ruled an illegal monopoly, ordered broken up (June 2000), the breakup reversed on appeal (June 2001), then settled. His 1998 videotaped deposition was widely seen as evasive and arrogant. Separately, his Epstein contacts (2011–2014) became a lasting controversy; he told Congress Epstein tried to use knowledge of his infidelities to pressure him. Two trivial 1970s traffic arrests round out the picture.

• Used Gates as a wealth / Arudha case study. With the standard Arudha Lagna in Virgo, the 11th from AL (Cancer) carries only modest aspect; with PVNR's longitude-based Arudha the 11th-from-AL falls on Libra, occupied by Venus (own lord) + exalted Saturn — a far stronger "many planets influencing the 11th from AL = great financial success" signature, fitting the world's richest man.
• PVNR's honest verdict: the longitude method fits Gates "better than standard, but not as overwhelmingly as Dhirubhai Ambani" — the A10 (career-pada) still lands awkwardly in the 12th from AL ("signal with some noise").

PVNR SJC Lesson 159 (BPHS Ch.29 Arudha; wealth validation). Life events from the public record.