Contrary to popular myth, he's NOT a rags-to-riches story. His father was a prominent lawyer and his great-grandfather founded a bank, later ran by his grandfather who reportedly set up a million-dollar trust fund for him when he was a child.
As a sophomore in college he solved a complicated math problem for sorting pancakes that was published in an academic journal and remained the top way to solve that math problem for about 30 years.
Bill Gates likes to wash the dinner dishes himself and does so most nights. "Other people volunteer but I like the way I do it," he explains.
Bill Gates calls his private airplane his "guilty pleasure" and "his big splurge." His jet is HUGE and must be expensive to maintain and fly.
During his days at Microsoft, Gates was notorious for f-bomb filled rants in meetings and emails. But they were not directed at people. One guy who worked with him back then remembers, "Bill could be scathing, but I personally never saw him attack anyone personally--only ideas."
He used to collect Porches which he drove like a maniac. Gates got so many speeding tickets during his young days at Microsoft that he was forced to hire a traffic attorney. He once crashed into a car in the employee parking lot, and left his business card telling the employee to contact him about fixing the damage. A meme around Seattle became famous: "send the bill to Bill."
The young Bill Gates was fearless. In the 1980's when Gates and Allen were late catching a plane at San Francisco International Airport, Gates starting pushing buttons on the jet way control. Instead of getting arrested, the plane came back and picked them up.
Bill Gates has a huge sense of humor although it leans toward geeky jokes. For instance, he once posted a YouTube love video about Reddit that was filled with jokes like a web programming reference to the color red.
And last year, he did a "viral" video with Jimmy Fallon that did indeed go viral. He still links to it from his personal blog website.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/3ye_W7ZsRYM?rel=0
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