Person 4 :
Well, companies and brands are created by people. The better the people, better the ideas and better the brand.

Person 2 :
Oh yes, Bill Gates is the man behind the huge success of Microsoft. Like Apple, they believed in the potential of personal computers even when the experts of that time didn't.

Person 3 :
Well, although most people just know Bill Gates as the successful tech entrepreneur, he was a child prodigy. At the age of 13, he had developed a game in his prep-school.

Person 1 :
Yeah, that was a funny instance. Although people were impressed with is coding skills and assigned him the task of allocating classes to students, he was quite a naughty boy. He assigned himself the classes with the most girls :)

Person 2 :
He was smart. There's no doubt. If I'm not mistaken, he scored 1590 out of 1600 in his SATs. I'm just glad that he isn't appearing for CAT this year.

Person 4 :
But, that naughty boy founded Microsoft in 1975. He wanted to be a millionare by the time he turned 30. But, luck had other things in store for him. At 31, he was already a billionare.

Person 2 :
In the initial 5 years of Microsoft, he personally checked each and every line of code written and corrected/edited it. That demands a lot of dedication.

Person 3 :
Oh, its not an easy task being the richest man in the world for more than 17 years in a row. Just imagine, great investors like Warren Buffet, internet giants like Jeff Bezos (Amazon) weren't able to even come close. Things are different, though.

Person 1 :
But, he is putting his money to good use, isn't he?

Person 2 :
Oh yes, in his wedding with Melinda, he had booked every goddamn room in the hotel! Every goddamn room. He even ensured all neighbouring helicopters on the island were hired by him, so that he got the required privacy from the media.

Person 4 :
That man is worth $83 billion, he is richer than 120+ countries. He does earn at an unbelievable rate! He earns $300 every second, $1 million almost every hour. He can purchase 5 North Koreas before he goes to sleep today.

Person 1 :
His home must be so big and grand with lots of swimming pools, na. It must have an integrated OS making it into a smart home.

Person 3 :
Definitely, that must be ordinary for him. I heard that he pays at least $1 million as property tax for his home. Just imagine how much income tax must he be paying!

Person 4 :
That's beyond our imagination. The IRS has a separate, special computer to calculate his taxes, just imagine the complex calculations from so many different businesses.

Person 2 :
But, he did have a 'Tony Stark' moment once. At the age of 21, he was arrested for speeding and driving. And at that point of time, he had more than enough money to pay his bail.

Person 1 :
Bill Gates also has a Honorary Knighthood from the Queen of England. Although he can't keep the title Sir (since he's not a British citizen), he uses KBE (Knight of the British Empire).

Person 4 :
I'm sure, he must have spoken to the Queen about computers!

Person 1 :
In fact, he did.

Person 4 :
But, he's quite humble. Until the time he was worth $27 billion, he travelled by coach/economy. Never flew business at all. This is the speciality of self-made people. They stay rooted.

Person 3 :
But, there is a lot that not everyone knows about him. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does so much philanthropic activity.

Person 2 :
Yes, isn’t Bill the first person to donate 95% of his total wealth to charity?

Person 1 :
Yes, along with his wife, they started 'The Giving Pledge' for rich people. They promise to donate 99% of their wealth to charity. In fact, Bill proclaimed that his children shall only get $10 million each, which is nothing when compared to his great empire.

Person 1 :
Even Warren buffet has a similar pledge, they both feel that it is better that their children create their own identities.

Person 3 :
I really don't understand. Does so much charity actually have impact at the grass roots level? Or, is it just another way to make the rich richer and create a good image?

Person 4 :
Oh no, it does help people all over the world. Through their vaccination program, it is esmitated that more than 5 million lives have already been saved.

Person 2 :
And he is good at heart. There's no doubt about it. When Steve Jobs was on his deathbed, he wrote Steve a letter which Jobs kept on his bedside. They even met quite a few times. Although they were competitors, each respected other and their respective contributions to the field of technology. That's something that is missing in today's entrepreneurs.

Person 1 :
In fact, when Apple was almost courting bankruptcy in 1997, Steve Jobs came to him for help. At that point, Bill invested $150 million, which became Apple's lifeline.

Person 4 :
But, weren't they both stealing ideas from each other?

Person 3 :
Well, they both stole ideas from Xerox. In one conversation between them, he remarked: 'Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it.'

Person 1 :
But, now their technology and innovation is beyond stealing. Bill Gates, for example, has already patented a 'Weather Control Machine'.

Person 2 :
Is this for military use in times of distress or for combating climate change?

Person 4 :
I think this is the one where lots of water is pumped into the ocean and due to this pumping of very cold water, the sea temperature changes and the hurricane is made less destructive.

Person 1 :
Absolutely true. The other invention that Bill invested is very funny, disgusting actually. His came up with a machine that converts human excreta into drinking water. Yuck!

Person 3 :
Yes, not the most clean ideas, but, that man has taste. He is in possession of Leonardo Da Vinci's original notes. He purchased them at $31 million at an auction. But, look at his greatness, he first digitalised the copy and published it online so that everyone can see it for free.

Person 4 :
These books of Da Vinci are also on a global tour, I guess. Bill Gates had wanted the whole world to admire them.

Person 2 :
But, we've been continously talking of Bill Gates. What about Microsoft, the company? There are a lot of learnings there, too.

Person 1 :
Let's keep that for another time. We shall discuss the valuation, growth and future of Microsoft later. Is that fine?

Person 3 :
Yes, let's keep that discussion for another time.