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Gates III was born October 28, 1955 in Seattle, Washington. His dad, William H. Gates II is an attorney, and his 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 discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13 (Microsoft, 2011). As young teenagers Bill Gates and his childhood friend, Paul Allen, ran a small company called Traf-O-Data and sold a computer to the city of Seattle that could analyze local traffic patterns. In January 1975, Paul Allen read an article about the Altair 8800 microcomputer in Popular Electronics magazine. He showed the article to Bill Gates who called MITS, the makers of the Altair, and offered his and Paul Allen's services to write a version of the new BASIC programming language for the Altair. In eight weeks, Allen and Gates were able to demonstrate their program to MITS, who agreed to distribute and market the product under the name of Altair BASIC. The Altair deal inspired Gates and Allen to form their own software company, Microsoft Inc., which was started on April 4, 1975, with Bill Gates as the first
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He approached the Ben Franklin company directors about cutting their margins in half to maximize discount marketing but the company declined. It was then that Walton decided to take his idea and open his own store. In 1962, the first Wal-Mart was opened. The store became such as success that Walton was able to open more stores across the country and expand the business. As the stores grew, so did Sam's aspirations. In addition to bringing new approaches and technologies to retail, he also experimented with new store formats—including Sam's Club and the Walmart Supercenter—and even made the decision to take Walmart into Mexico. Sam's fearlessness in offering lower prices and bringing Walmart's value to customers in the U.S. and beyond set a standard for the company that lives on to this day. His strong commitment to service and to the values that help individuals, businesses and the country succeed earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 (Walmart,
He approached the Ben Franklin company directors about cutting their margins in half to maximize discount marketing but the company declined. It was then that Walton decided to take his idea and open his own store. In 1962, the first Wal-Mart was opened. The store became such as success that Walton was able to open more stores across the country and expand the business. As the stores grew, so did Sam's aspirations. In addition to bringing new approaches and technologies to retail, he also experimented with new store formats—including Sam's Club and the Walmart Supercenter—and even made the decision to take Walmart into Mexico. Sam's fearlessness in offering lower prices and bringing Walmart's value to customers in the U.S. and beyond set a standard for the company that lives on to this day. His strong commitment to service and to the values that help individuals, businesses and the country succeed earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President George H. W. Bush in 1992 (Walmart,