Bill Gates was a person.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ( or the Gates Foundation , abbreviated as BMGF ) is a private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates . William Henry Gates III ( born October 28 , 1955 ) is the co-founder of Microsoft and is an American business magnate , investor , author and philanthropist . Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000 , but he remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect for himself . He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014 , taking on a new post as technology adviser to support the then newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella .