$ cat ./records/gates-gives-up-4-of-microsoft-to-recruit-steve-ballmer-1980.txt
Gates Gives Up 4% of Microsoft to Recruit Steve Ballmer
[RECORD.TXT] · cat --full
In 1980, Bill Gates persuaded his Harvard friend Steve Ballmer to drop out of Stanford's business school and join the young Microsoft as its first business manager — parting with about 4% of the company to do so. It proved one of the most consequential hires in business history: Ballmer became Gates's round-the-clock partner, later succeeded him as CEO, and the 4% stake he still held when he left in 2014 was worth well over $100 billion, making him one of the world's richest people. The deal showed Gates's willingness to give up equity to secure talent he believed Microsoft needed.
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/bill-gates-got-steve-ballmer-to-quit-school-join/486932
Free forever · No ads · Solo developer
If this was worth a read, help make the next entry possible.
Every entry in this archive was researched, verified, and written by one person — for free. No corporate funding. No ad revenue. Just a developer who believes verified history should be accessible to everyone. Your donation directly funds new entries.
Crypto accepted · No subscription required
← Previous
Microsoft's First Hardware Product, the Z-80 SoftCard, Becomes a Surprise Hit
Next →
In Microsoft's Early Days, Gates Memorized Employees' License Plates to Track Their Hours
[CROSS_REFERENCES] · grep --category='Business'
Related Accomplishments
2026
Gates Foundation Trust Sells Off the Last of Its Microsoft Stock
In the first quarter of 2026, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust sold its remaining Microsoft shares, fully exiting a position in the very company that created Gates's fortune — capping a long, deliberate diversification away from the stock. The endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy, managed separately from its grant-making through Cascade, is now anchored instead by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, railroads, and heavy-equipment makers. The sale underscored how thoroughly Gates's giving had decoupled from Microsoft's day-to-day fortunes.
2026
Gates's Charitable Endowment Is Now Led by Berkshire, Not Microsoft
By 2026, the publicly disclosed stock portfolio of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust — the endowment that funds Gates's philanthropy — was led not by Microsoft but by Berkshire Hathaway, Waste Management, Canadian National Railway, Caterpillar, and Deere. Decades of diversification, plus Warren Buffett's stock gifts, left it concentrated in railroads, waste, heavy equipment, and Buffett's conglomerate, while Microsoft — the source of the original fortune — had largely been sold down. The unglamorous, value-oriented mix reflects the long stewardship of Gates's money manager, Michael Larson, through Cascade Investment.
[ARCHIVE_FUNDING] · INDEPENDENT · NO ADS
One developer. >300 verified entries. Zero ads. Forever free.
No sponsors, no paywall, no algorithm. If this archive has been useful to you, reader support is what keeps it running.