Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has died aged 65 from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Paul Allen had revealed the disease’s return only two weeks ago, after previously being treated for it in 2009.
His friend and former business partner, Bill Gates, said: “I am heartbroken by the passing of one of my oldest and dearest friends… Personal computing would not have existed without him.”
In a statement confirming Paul Allen’s death on October 15, his sister Jody described the businessman as a “remarkable individual on every level”.
The statement said: “Paul’s family and friends were blessed to experience his wit, warmth, his generosity and deep concern. For all the demands on his schedule, there was always time for family and friends.
“At this time of loss and grief for us – and so many others – we are profoundly grateful for the care and concern he demonstrated every day.”
Paul Allen made his fortune alongside school friend Bill Gates, after they co-founded technology giant Microsoft in 1975.
He left the company in 1983 following his first diagnosis of the blood cancer Hodgkin’s disease, but recovered to become a successful venture capitalist with his media and communications investment firm, Vulcan that he set up in 1986.
Paul Allen’s investment firm confirmed news of his death on October 15.
Vulcan CEO Bill Hilf said in a statement: “Millions of people were touched by his generosity, his persistence in pursuit of a better world, and his drive to accomplish as much as he could with the time and resources at his disposal.”
Paul Allen is estimated to have donated more than $2 billion to philanthropy throughout his life including science, education and wildlife conservation causes, the Associated Press report.
He was also an avid sports fan, owning both the Portland Trail Blazers basketball team and Seattle Seahawks NFL team, who won the US SuperBowl in 2013.
In 2010, Paul Allen pledged to give the majority of his fortune to charitable causes after his death.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has announced he will donate his $32 billion personal fortune to philantropy.
The 60-year-old nephew of King Salman is one of the world’s richest people.
Prince Alwaleed said he had been inspired by the Gates Foundation, set up by Bill and Melinda Gates in 1997.
The money would be used to “foster cultural understanding”, “empower women”, and “provide vital disaster relief”, among other things, he said.
Bill Gates praised the decision, calling it an “inspiration to all of us working in philanthropy around the world”.
Prince Alwaleed is at number 34 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people.
The money will go to the prince’s charitable organization, Alwaleed Philanthropies, to which he has already donated $3.5 billion.
Prince Alwaleed, who does not hold an official government position, is chairman of investment firm Kingdom Holding Company.
The company owns stakes in hotels The Four Seasons, Fairmont and Raffles, as well as News Corp, Citigroup, Twitter and Apple.
“This is very much separate from my ownership in Kingdom Holding,” he said at the announcement.
“Philanthropy is a personal responsibility, which I embarked upon more than three decades ago and is an intrinsic part of my Islamic faith,” he added in a statement.
Prince Alwaleed said he hoped the gift would “help build bridges to foster cultural understanding, develop communities, empower women, enable youth, provide vital disaster relief and create a more tolerant and accepting world”.
His announcement comes during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are encouraged to give charity and help the needy.
Prince Alwaleed said the donation would take place over several years and would be overseen by a board of trustees, which he will head.
Bill Gates is back on top of Forbes’ annual ranking of global billionaires, reclaiming the title of world’s richest person from telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, who ranked No. 1 for the past four years.
Microsoft founder’s total net worth was estimated at $76 billion this year, up from $67 billion in 2013.
His rise in wealth knocked Mexican telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim off the top spot into second place.
In total, there were a record 1,645 billionaires, according to Forbes magazine.
The funds needed to make it into the top 20 ranking are now $31 billion, up from $23 billion last year, Forbes said.
Bill Gates has been top of the list for 15 of the last 20 years, according to Forbes.
Technology firms featured heavily in the list, with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg becoming the biggest gainer in net worth.
Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune more than doubled to $28.5 billion, boosted by a sharp rise in the price of the social network’s shares.
The social network’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, also made the list for the first time.
WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton entered the list at number 202 and 551 respectively, thanks to Facebook’s $19 billion purchase of the messaging app.
The world’s largest economy, the US, continues to have the most billionaires, with 492.
By region, Europe boasted the most billionaires outside the US, with 468 in total, closely followed by Asia, which had 444 billionaires.
The list suggested that wealth was spreading, with four new countries featuring for the first time – Algeria, Lithuania, Tanzania and Uganda.
Nigeria’s Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, became the first African to be listed in the top 25, with a net worth of $25 billion.
Satya Nadella will be Microsoft’s next chief executive, the technology giant has announced.
Indian-born Satya Nadella is currently Microsoft’s head of Cloud and Enterprise, which builds and runs the firm’s computing platforms and developer tools.
Satya Nadella takes over from Steve Ballmer who announced plans to step down last year.
Company’s founder Bill Gates said there was “no better person to lead Microsoft”.
Bill Gates is stepping down as chairman, it was also announced, but will take up a new role as a technology adviser and will also retain a seat on Microsoft’s board.
Microsoft’s lead independent director John Thompson will take over as chairman.
“Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn’t be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company,” said Satya Nadella.
“The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly.”
Satya Nadella will be Microsoft’s next chief executive
Satya Nadella, 46, is Microsoft’s third chief executive. The Hyderabad-born executive joined the company in 1992 and has degrees in electronics, computer science and business administration.
He previously led its server and tools business before being put in charge of the unit that built Microsoft’s Cloud OS service, which powers products such as Bing, Skype and Xbox Live.
“During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella,” said Bill Gates.
“Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together. His vision for how technology will be used and experienced around the world is exactly what Microsoft needs as the company enters its next chapter of expanded product innovation and growth.”
Bill Gates’ appointment as a technology adviser is seen as significant, suggesting he may again take a more hands-on role in the company he founded nearly 40 years ago.
Satya Nadella’s appointment ends months of speculation over who would succeed Steve Ballmer, who announced his intention to stand down in August last year.
At one stage incoming chairman John Thompson said more than 100 possible candidates had been identified.
Rumored to be among them were the boss of car giant Ford, Alan Mulally, and Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop.
Investors have been calling for new leadership at the Microsoft, saying it needs a significant shakeup in order to become more innovative and profitable.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates plans to spend his fortune for the eradication of poliomyelitis, a viral disease that has taken a countless number of lives.
Worth an estimated $65 billion, Bill Gates, 57, a college dropout, says he wants to do more for others and sees this as one way of giving back to the world that made him so successful.
“I’m certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes,” Bill Gates told the Telegraph in London.
“Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point. Its utility is entirely in building an organization and getting the resources out to the poorest in the world.”
Bill Gates will deliver the BBC’s Dimbleby Lecture later this month, using the value of young human beings as his central theme.
In that speech Bill Gates will talk about every child having the right to a healthy and productive life. He will also explain how technology and innovation can help the world reach that goal.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates plans to spend his fortune for the eradication of poliomyelitis, a viral disease that has taken a countless number of lives
So far Bill Gates and his wife Melinda, 48, have given away $28 billion of their fortune through their charitable foundation, with more than $8 billion of it to improving global health.
“My wife and I had a long dialogue about how we were going to take the wealth that we’re lucky enough to have and give it back in a way that’s most impactful to the world,” Bill Gates told the Telegraph’s Neil Tweedie.
“We’re focused on the help of the poorest in the world, which really drives you into vaccination. You can actually take a disease and get rid of it altogether, like we are doing with polio.”
Some 12 million children under the age of five died ten years ago in 1992, while in 2011 the number of child deaths was just under seven million, or 19,000 per day, according to statistics from the United Nations.
The leading causes of death are pneumonia at 18%, pre-birth complications at 14%, diarrhoea at 11%, complications during birth at nine per cent and malaria at 7%.
A September report from the United Nations Children’s Fund stated that four-fifths of “under-five deaths” in 2011 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
“Given the prospect that these regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, will account for the bulk of the world’s births in the next years, we must give new impetus to the global momentum to reduce under-five deaths,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in the report.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will spend another $1.8 billion in the next six years to accomplish the couple’s goal.
“All you need is over 90% of children to have the vaccine drop three times and the disease stops spreading,” said Bill Gates.
“The number of cases eventually goes to zero.
“When we started, we had over 400,000 children a year being paralyzed and we are now down to under 1,000 cases a year. The great thing about finishing polio is that we’ll have resources to get going on malaria and measles.”
Mansa Musa I of Mali, an obscure king who ruled West Africa in the 14th century, has been named the richest person in history in a new inflation-adjusted list of the world’s 25 wealthiest people of all time.
Spanning 1,000 years and with a combined fortune of $4.317trillion, only three of the list’s 25 are alive today; none of them are women and 14 of them are American.
Using the annual 2199.6% rate of inflation, where $100 million in 1913 is equal to $2.299.63 billion in 2012, Celebrity Net Worth’s list includes familiar names like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett; but sitting at number one is Mansa Musa I of Mali.
The West Africa king, the richest person in history, and the ruler of the Malian Empire which covered modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali in West Africa, had a personal net worth of $400billion at the time of his death in 1331.
The list also includes the man who gave America Wal-Mart, another who developed mail-order shopping around 1870, as well as a few nobles who helped with the Norman conquest of England in the Battle of Hastings nearly one thousand years ago.
The Rothschild family, second on the list, are the richest people on earth today with assets that total at least $350 billion – their wealth divided amongst mining, banks, private asset management, mixed farming, wine, and charities.
Meanwhile John D. Rockefeller, third on the list, is the richest American to have ever lived, worth $340 billion in today’s USD at the time of his death in 1937.
In comparison, the poorest man on the list is 82-year-old Warren Buffett, who at his peak net worth, before he started giving his fortune to charity, was $64 billion.
1. MANSA MUSA I – $400 BILLION (BORN 1280)
Mansa Musa I, the richest person in history, had a personal net worth of $400b illion at the time of his death in 1331.
Born in 1280, Mansa Musa I ruled West Africa’s Malian Empire which covered modern day Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali.
His country’s production of more than half the world’s supply of salt and gold contributed to Musa’s vast wealth, which he used to build large mosques that still stand today.
According to the writings of Arab-Egyptian scholar Al-Umari, Mansa Musa I inherited his throne through a practice of appointing a deputy after the king goes on his pilgrimage to Mecca; later naming the deputy as heir.
Musa was appointed deputy of the king before him, who had reportedly embarked on an expedition to explore the limits of the Atlantic ocean, and never returned.
Just two generations after his death, however, Musa’s world record net worth was diminished after his heirs were not able to fend off civil war and invading conquerors.
Mansa Musa I of Mali has been named the richest person in history
2. ROTHSCHILD FAMILY – $350 BILLION (BORN 1744)
3. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER – $340 BILLION (BORN 1839)
4. ANDREW CARNEGIE – $310 BILLION (BORN 1835)
5. TSAR NICHOLAS II OF RUSSIA – $300 BILLION (BORN 1868)
6. MIR OSMAN ALI KHAN – $236 BILLION (BORN 1886)
7. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR – $229.5 BILLION (BORN 1028)
8. MUAMMAR GADDAFI – $200 BILLION (BORN 1942)
9. HENRY FORD – $199 BILLION (BORN 1863)
10. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT – $185 BILLION (BORN 1794)
11. ALAN RUFUS – $178.65 BILLION (BORN 1040)
12. BILL GATES – $136 BILLION (BORN 1955)
13. WILLIAM DE WARENNE – $146.13 BILLION (BIRTH UNKNOWN)
14. JOHN JACOB ASTOR – $121 BILLION (BORN 1763)
15. RICHARD FITZALAN – $118.6 BILLION (BORN 1306)
16. JOHN OF GAUNT – $110 BILLION (BORN 1340)
17. STEPHEN GIRARD – $105 BILLION (BORN 1750)
18. ALEXANDER TURNEY STEWART – $90 BILLION (BORN 1803)
19. HENRY DUKE OF LANCASTER – $85.1 BILLION (BORN 1301)
20. FRIEDRICH WEYERHAUSER – $80 BILLION (BORN 1834)
21. JAY GOULD – $71 BILLION (BORN 1836)
22. CARLOS SLIM – $68 BILLION (BORN 1940)
22. STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER – $68 BILLION (BORN 1764)
Technology titan Bill Gates has been listed by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest American for the 19th year in a row, with a fortune of $66 billion, up $7 billion from last year.
There was no change in the order of the top five richest from a year earlier.
The total wealth of the US super-rich grew 13% to $1.7 trillion, with the top 400 worth an average $400 million more in 2012.
The group’s assets are worth as much as one eighth of the US economy, and grew much faster than the economy at large.
Bill Gates has been listed by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest American for the 19th year in a row
According to the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America, the average net worth of a person on the list was $4.2 billion.
In second place with a fortune of $46 billion was investment guru Warren Buffett, who is chairman and chief executive of the insurance conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway.
He was followed by Larry Ellison, head of software maker Oracle Corp, worth $41 billion.
David and Charles Koch of the energy and chemical business group Koch Industries were tied in fourth place with $31 billion.
The majority of those on Forbes‘ list became richer in 2012. Two hundred and forty-one members of the group saw their wealth increase, while just 66 saw it shrink.
Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and financier George Soros dropped from the ranks of the top 10 into 12th place compared with a year ago.
But the biggest drop was seen by Facebook founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who fell from 14th to 36th place in the wake of a disappointing stock market listing of his company.
He lost nearly half his fortune, which is now worth an estimated $9.4 billion.
Four members of one family – the heirs to the Walmart fortune – are in the top 10.
Top 10 Forbes list:
1. Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, $66 billion
2. Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway, $46 billion
3. Larry Ellison, co-founder and chief executive of Oracle, $41 billion
4. Charles Koch, chairman and chief executive of Koch Industries, $31 billion
5. David Koch, co-owner and executive vice-president of Koch Industries, $31 billion
Bill Gates’ charitable organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is looking for future loos that can improve sanitation around the world.
At the Reinvent the Toilet fair, hosted at its Seattle campus this week, designs included a lavatory that used microwave energy to turn poo into electricity.
Another turned excrement into charcoal, while a third used urine for flushing.
In total 28 designs were shown off at the fair and the winner was a team from the California Institute of Technology.
At the Reinvent the Toilet fair, hosted at its Seattle campus this week, designs included a lavatory that used microwave energy to turn poo into electricity
Led by Prof. Michael Hoffman, the toilet they designed was solar-powered and generated hydrogen gas and electricity. They won a $100,000 prize.
“We couldn’t be happier with the response that we’ve gotten,” Bill Gates said at the event.
The project challenged inventors to come up with a toilet that operated without running water, electricity or a septic system. It needed to operate at a cost of no more than 5 cents a day and would ideally capture energy or other resources.
Walter Gibson, from a team of scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, showed off a toilet that used black soldier fly larvae to process waste and create environmentally-friendly animal feed.
The toilet is already being field tested in South Africa.
Traditional flush toilets waste tons of drinking water and are often impractical in many areas of the developing world.
The UN estimates that disease caused by unsafe sanitation is responsible for half of the hospitalizations in the developing world. About 1.5 million children die each year from diarrhoeal disease.
The Gates Foundation has committed $370 million to its future toilet initiative and hopes to field test the prototypes within three years.
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