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: -In 1975 Gates, then a sophomore at Harvard University, joined his hometown friend Paul G. Allen to develop software for the first microcomputers. They began by adapting BASIC, a popular programming language used on large computers, for use on microcomputers.

Detailed explanation-3: -On April 4, 1975, at a time when most Americans used typewriters, childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft, a company that makes computer software.

Detailed explanation-4: -During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), president and chief software architect, while also being the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. He was a major entrepreneur of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.

Detailed explanation-5: -Bill Gates still owns more than 1% of Microsoft’s shares, worth around twenty billion dollars. Gates has a lot of his financial investments held by a family office known as Cascade Investments. He also has substantial real estate holdings and an extensive collection of collectibles.