ECONOMICS (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Inspired by the January cover of Popular Electronics magazine, friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft – sometimes Micro-Soft, for microprocessors and software – to develop software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer.

Detailed explanation-2: -Gates led the company as chairman and CEO until stepping down as CEO in January 2000, succeeded by Steve Ballmer, but he remained chairman of the board of directors and became chief software architect. During the late 1990s, he was criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1986, when Microsoft went public, Allen owned 25% of the company. The IPO gave the software company a market capitalization of $777 million, making Allen’s stake worth $194 million. By 2000, his stake had dipped below 5%. Allen resigned from Microsoft’s Board of Directors in 2000 due to his deteriorating health.

Detailed explanation-4: -That company, of course, would become Microsoft and Gates never finished his degree (though, he was granted an honorary one in 2007). Gates and Allen had worked together as computer programmers at software company Honeywell in the summer of 1974 following Gates’ freshman year at Harvard.