Microsoft

Gates, who is chairman of Microsoft, is the wealthiest person in the world. He founded (1994) the William H. Gates Foundation (focusing on health issues in developing countries) and the Gates Learning Foundation (1997), renamed the Gates Library Foundation (providing education assistance). In 1999 he merged the foundations into the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropy that was worth more than $32 billion by 2003, making it the world's wealthiest foundation. It emphasizes grants for projects relating to global health care, education and libraries, and the Pacific Northwest.