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Global HealthLatest Entry

August 25, 2020

Africa certified polio-free; Gates Foundation credited as primary funder of eradication effort

The World Health Organization certified the African continent free of wild poliovirus — a milestone Gates has pursued for over 25 years. The Gates Foundation contributed over $4 billion to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Wild poliovirus cases across Africa dropped from 75,000 per year in 1988 to zero in 2020, one of the most significant public health achievements in history.

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Committed over $4 billion to global polio eradication

Global Health

2012

Committed over $4 billion to global polio eradication

The Gates Foundation became the single largest funder of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, committing over $4 billion toward wiping out poliovirus worldwide. Gates treated the effort as a personal mission, meeting repeatedly with heads of state to maintain immunization campaigns in high-risk regions including Afghanistan and Pakistan. Wild poliovirus cases fell by more than 99.9% from an estimated 350,000 annual cases in 1988 to fewer than 20 in recent years.

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Global Health

December 2008

Gates Foundation Commits $40 Million Challenge Grant to Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program

On December 5, 2008, the Gates Foundation announced a $40 million challenge grant — the largest in Carter Center history — comprising an $8 million outright gift and a 1:1 matching grant of up to $32 million for the Guinea Worm Eradication Program. At the time, fewer than 5,000 cases remained globally. The grant accelerated surveillance, water treatment, and case containment; only 13 human cases were reported worldwide in 2022 — down from 3.5 million in 1986 — making Guinea worm the first parasitic disease on the verge of eradication without a vaccine or medicine.

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Judge Jackson orders Microsoft broken into two companies — Gates's biggest legal defeat

Business

June 28, 2000

Judge Jackson orders Microsoft broken into two companies — Gates's biggest legal defeat

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued a sweeping remedy order requiring Microsoft to be split into two separate companies: one selling the Windows operating system and one selling all other software products. Jackson had previously ruled that Microsoft had illegally maintained its Windows monopoly and unlawfully tied Internet Explorer to the OS. The breakup order was the most severe antitrust remedy sought against a technology company since the AT&T split of 1984 and is widely cited as a key catalyst in Gates's decision to step down as CEO.

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Personal

January 1, 1994

Married Melinda French

Bill Gates married Melinda French, a Microsoft product manager he had met at a company dinner in 1987, on New Year's Day on the Hawaiian island of Lanai. Gates famously chartered every helicopter on the island for the weekend to prevent photographers from accessing the ceremony. Their marriage produced three children — Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe — and became the foundation for decades of shared philanthropic work through the Gates Foundation.

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Business

1987

Became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 31

At the age of 31, Bill Gates became the youngest self-made billionaire in history, according to Forbes magazine, with a net worth of approximately $1.25 billion derived almost entirely from his Microsoft equity stake. Gates had kept his own salary deliberately modest while allowing Microsoft's market capitalization to compound following its 1986 IPO. The milestone made him a global symbol of entrepreneurial success in the technology industry.

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All Accomplishments

All Events

Africa certified polio-free; Gates Foundation credited as primary funder of eradication effort

Committed over $4 billion to global polio eradication

Gates Foundation Commits $40 Million Challenge Grant to Carter Center Guinea Worm Eradication Program

Judge Jackson orders Microsoft broken into two companies — Gates's biggest legal defeat

Married Melinda French

Became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 31