We all know Bill Gates as the co-founder and former C.E.O. of Microsoft and one of the richest people on the planet. With a net worth around $81.1 billion dollars, Bill Gates managed to make a fortune in his life time and has amassed so much wealth that he can virtually buy anything. But we all know that right? What about the things that we don’t know about one of the leaders in the field of computers and software? We are going to take a look at ten things that you probably never knew about Bill Gates.
10. He demolished the SAT’s
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but Bill Gates did a pretty good job on his SAT test back in 1973. He graduated high-school with honors and managed to score a 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT’s. This effectively allowed him to attend nearly any college, which leads us to our next fact:
9. He never graduated from college
You would think that a man that has established many business, invited many products, while making a fortune would have graduated from college right? Well actually no. Despite getting into Harvard University and attending classes there for a bit, Bill Gates actually dropped out. He joins a long list of ultra-successful people to drop out from Harvard, like Mark Zuckerberg. Gates dropped out in 1975 to form Microsoft which worked out to be a pretty good move.
8. He essentially lives in a resort
Now obviously you would expect Bill Gates to have an incredible home, but his $63 million dollar home on Lake Washington is jaw dropping; it is essentially a resort. The 66,000 square-foot home reportedly took a little over seven years to be fully built and it offers so much. There is a sixty-foot swimming pool with an underwater music system, a 1,000 square-foot dining room, a 2,500 square-foot gym, twenty-four bathrooms, and much more. The house is tricked out with futuristic technology like an air system that changes the temperature depending on who is in the room. Apparently Gates pays over $1 million dollars each year in just property taxes, which for him is nothing.
7. He likes Porsches
When you’re as rich as Bill Gates, you can essentially buy and sports car or super car ever. You’d think he would own some ultra insane car like a Pagani Huayra, however he really likes Porsches. Gates has always favored the Porsche brand and it is known that he has a 911 Carrera, a 930, and a 959 coupe.
6. He has been arrested three times
You probably also didn’t know that Bill Gates has been arrested three times. Well as I previously just stated, he really likes his Porsches and driving fast. Back in 1975 Gates was arrested in Albuquerque for speeding and driving without a license. Then in 1977 he was arrested again for driving through a stop sign…without a license. Finally he was arrested in 1989 for apparently drunk driving, however the charge was later reduced.
5. He donated over $28 billion to charity
Aside from the long list of accomplishments and achievements that Bill Gates has acquired over his life, he is also a well-known philanthropist. His charity, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, have donated over $28 billion dollars to combat hunger and poverty, improve medical advances, and improve education for children. He has also pledged that most of his earning to be donated to charity when he dies.
4. He dropped over $30 million on a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript
When you are as wealthy as Bill Gates is, you can purchase nice things. Gates has often said that da Vinci has inspired him in many ways, which is why he picked up one of his manuscripts. Known as the Codex Leicester, this over 500 year-old manuscript documents many of da Vinci’s diagrams and scientific work. Gates paid $30.8 million for it back in 1994.
3. He sold his first piece of software when he was 17
Bill Gates quickly developed a nack for computing at a young age. He was so prominent that his own high school commissioned him to build a timetabling system for them. When he completed his work, the school paid him $4,200. Not to bad for a seventeen year-old.
2. He went on double dates with Steve Jobs
Microsoft and Apple are definitely major competitors, however both Gates and Jobs have often stated they have had mutual admiration for each other. When the personal computing industry took off, Gates and Jobs were known to interact with each other. Apparently it has even been reported that they went on a few double dates back in the 1980’s.
1. His “hourly rate” is millions of dollars
Back in 2013 Bill Gates made $11.5 billion dollars that year. When you break that number down, it works out to be about $33.3 million per day, around $1.38 million per hour, and around $23,148 dollars per second. Yeah that’s how absurdly rich he is.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
