THE GATES EFFECT

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Co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen at age 19 — Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1975Wrote his first computer program at age 13 on a GE-225 mainframeMicrosoft's first product: a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800IBM licensed MS-DOS from Microsoft in 1980 — the deal that built an empireMicrosoft went public at $21 per share on March 13, 1986Became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 31 in 1987Net worth peaked at $101 billion during the dot-com boom of 1999Held the title of world's richest person for 13 of 16 years between 1995 and 2009Windows 95 sold 7 million copies in its first five weeksPredicted the internet's commercial rise in 'The Road Ahead' — 1995Predicted a global pandemic in a 2015 TED Talk — five years before COVID-19Predicted smartphones, social media, and price-comparison shopping in 1999Co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000The Gates Foundation is the world's largest private charitable foundationHas donated over $59.5 billion through the Gates Foundation since 2000Signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 — committed to donating 95% of his wealthThe Foundation has helped vaccinate over 1 billion children worldwideStepped down as Microsoft CEO in January 2000 to focus on softwareLeft the Microsoft board entirely in March 2020Co-founded TerraPower in 2006 to develop next-generation nuclear reactorsTerraPower broke ground on its first commercial reactor in Wyoming — 2023Co-founded Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to accelerate global clean energy investmentAwarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama — November 2016Received India's Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian honor — 2015Harvard gave Gates an honorary degree in 2007 — 32 years after he dropped outReads approximately 50 books per yearHas made over 25 documented predictions that have proven correctMicrosoft surpassed a $500 billion market cap in 1999The Gates Foundation has committed over $21 billion to global health programsAuthored three books: The Road Ahead · Business @ the Speed of Thought · How to Avoid a Climate DisasterCo-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen at age 19 — Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1975Wrote his first computer program at age 13 on a GE-225 mainframeMicrosoft's first product: a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800IBM licensed MS-DOS from Microsoft in 1980 — the deal that built an empireMicrosoft went public at $21 per share on March 13, 1986Became the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 31 in 1987Net worth peaked at $101 billion during the dot-com boom of 1999Held the title of world's richest person for 13 of 16 years between 1995 and 2009Windows 95 sold 7 million copies in its first five weeksPredicted the internet's commercial rise in 'The Road Ahead' — 1995Predicted a global pandemic in a 2015 TED Talk — five years before COVID-19Predicted smartphones, social media, and price-comparison shopping in 1999Co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000The Gates Foundation is the world's largest private charitable foundationHas donated over $59.5 billion through the Gates Foundation since 2000Signed the Giving Pledge in 2010 — committed to donating 95% of his wealthThe Foundation has helped vaccinate over 1 billion children worldwideStepped down as Microsoft CEO in January 2000 to focus on softwareLeft the Microsoft board entirely in March 2020Co-founded TerraPower in 2006 to develop next-generation nuclear reactorsTerraPower broke ground on its first commercial reactor in Wyoming — 2023Co-founded Breakthrough Energy in 2015 to accelerate global clean energy investmentAwarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama — November 2016Received India's Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian honor — 2015Harvard gave Gates an honorary degree in 2007 — 32 years after he dropped outReads approximately 50 books per yearHas made over 25 documented predictions that have proven correctMicrosoft surpassed a $500 billion market cap in 1999The Gates Foundation has committed over $21 billion to global health programsAuthored three books: The Road Ahead · Business @ the Speed of Thought · How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Society✓ Verified CorrectPredicted 1999Verified 2010

People Would Read News and Follow Sports Online Instead of in Print

What He Predicted

Gates predicted in 1999 that online news and real-time sports scores would displace print newspapers and sports programming on television, as consumers preferred the immediacy and interactivity of digital formats.

What Actually Happened

Newspaper circulation fell from 62 million in 1998 to under 25 million by 2018 — a 60% collapse. ESPN.com, Twitter, and mobile apps made real-time sports data universally accessible. Major publications like Newsweek abandoned print entirely.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_at_the_Speed_of_Thought

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