Famous people of America
American entrepreneur and social activist, philanthropist, one of the founders (together with Paul Allen) and former major shareholder of Microsoft. Until June 2008 he was head of the company, after leaving the office remained in its non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. It is also co-chair of the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Between 1996 and 2007, and in 2009 - the richest man in the world by the magazine Forbes. His condition in September 2012 according to Forbes magazine estimated at 66 billion dollars, an increase of $ 7 billion in relation to the same month last year. It's 19 times in a row made it the richest American and the second in the world (it walked 8 billion. Carlos Slim and his family). May 17, 2013, rated Bloomberg regained the title of the richest man in the world.
Bill Gates is one of the champions of the size of the funds transferred to charity: in the period from 1994 to 2010, he invested in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation more than $ 28 billion. In February 2010, Gates made a proposal to all billionaires to transfer half of their states for charity.