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

Health✓ Verified CorrectPredicted 2011Verified 2019

Vaccination Programs Would Be the Highest-Return Investment in Global Development

What He Predicted

Gates argued in his 2011 Annual Letter that childhood vaccination was the single highest-return investment in global development — preventing diseases that were killing and impoverishing families across the developing world, and generating economic returns many times greater than the cost.

What Actually Happened

A 2019 study in Health Affairs found that vaccine programs between 2001–2020 prevented 20 million deaths in 73 low-income countries. The WHO documented a $44 return for every $1 invested in childhood immunization — one of the highest measured ROIs in the history of public health.

Source: https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/annual-letters/annual-letter-2011

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