Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation.

Bill Gates. Word.

William Henry "Bill" Gates III (born October 28, 1955 in  Seattle USA) is an American business magnate, philanthropist, author, founder and chairman of Microsoft (a multinational computer technology corporation), the software company he founded with Paul Allen on April 4 1975 in Albuquerque. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder with more than 8 percent of the common stock. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution.

The name Microsoft (a portmanteau of microcomputer and software), hyphenated in its early incarnations, was first used in a letter from Gates to Allen on November 29, 1975,and on November 26, 1976 the company was registered under that name with the Secretary of State of New Mexico. The company's first international office was founded on November 1, 1978, in Japan, entitled "ASCII Microsoft" (now called "Microsoft Japan"), and on November 29, 1979, the term, "Microsoft" was first used by Bill Gates. On January 1, 1979, the company moved from Albuquerque to a new home in Bellevue, Washington. Steve Ballmer joined the company on June 11, 1980, and would later succeed Bill Gates as CEO.The company restructured on June 25, 1981, to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington (with a further change of its name to "Microsoft, Inc."). As part of the restructuring, Bill Gates became president of the company and Chairman of the Board, and Paul Allen became Executive Vice President.

The company, Microsoft Corporation has now become widely successful.  Way to go Bill, sir!