Stepped down as Microsoft CEO — passing the role to Steve Ballmer
Gates resigned as Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer after 25 years and handed the role to Steve Ballmer, assuming the title of Chief Software Architect. The transition came as Microsoft's market capitalization briefly touched $586 billion — the highest of any publicly traded company at that time. Gates retained the non-executive chairmanship of the board until 2014 and continued to influence technical direction until his full-time departure in 2008.
Source: https://news.microsoft.com/2000/01/13/bill-gates-to-become-chief-software-architect/
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Founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — the world's largest private charity
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Awarded $2 million to the International Rescue Committee to expand refugee health programs globally
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January 2024
Gates Uses Shell Companies to Quietly Accumulate $113 Million Nebraska Farmland Portfolio
A January 2024 investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News revealed that entities connected to Bill Gates's Cascade Investment had used a network of limited liability companies — including Cottonwood Ag Management — to quietly purchase approximately 20,588 acres of Nebraska farmland valued at roughly $113 million, without disclosing the beneficial owner to local sellers or county officials. The acquisitions were part of Gates's wider strategy to become the largest private farmland owner in the United States, with holdings exceeding 269,000 acres across 18 states, managed through Cottonwood Ag Management and its parent Leading Harvest, which develops regenerative agriculture certification standards.
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