Entrepreneurs
...and some of its greatest entrepreneurs. The three entrepreneurs that I have researched are Bill Gates, Master P, and Ben & Jerry. I will be looking at their backgrounds, financial assets, beginnings, and contributions.
DISCUSSION
Bill Gates
Background
Born on October 28, 1955, Gates and his two sisters grew up in Seattle. Their father, William H. Gates, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent and chairwoman of United Way International. Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he began his career in personal computer software, programming computers at age 13.
Financial Assets
Today, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world, worth over $100 billion. He is chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation, the leading provider, worldwide, of software for the personal computer. Microsoft had revenues of $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ending June 1998, and employs more than 27,000 people in 60 countries.
Beginning
While at Harvard, Gates developed the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer the MITS Altair. In his junior year, Gates dropped out of Harvard to devote his efforts to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers.
Contributions
To date, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $300 million to organizations working in global health; more than $300 million to improve learning opportunities in the United States and Canada; more than $54 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $29 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.
Master P
Background...
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