As tech giant Microsoft celebrates its 50 Anniversary, co-founder Bill Gates shared a bunch of his old photographs during the early days of the company.
Gates, who also served as its CEO until 2000, shared a series of rare throwback pictures, which he reminded are from his “awkward photo shoots” days.
The billionaire shared a reel on his official Instagram account that opens to show him sitting on a couch, capturing a selfie. It also has a text that reads, “Unfortunately, I’ll never feel cool again because this was me in the early Microsoft days.”
“Happy 50th birthday, @microsoft. Thanks for the memories-and awkward photo shoots,” Gates wrote in his sweet message for the company.
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The video shows Bill Gates from his younger days.
About Bill Gates
Born William Henry Gates III in 1955 in Seattle, he began writing software programs while a 13-year-old schoolboy.
Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to start Microsoft with Allen.
The childhood friends created MS-DOS operating system, since renamed Windows, which went on to dominate office work.
Gates built a reputation as a formidable and sometimes ruthless leader.
Critics argue he unfairly wielded Microsoft’s clout in the market, and the US pressed a winning antitrust case against the company in the late 1990s.
In 2000, Gates ceded the CEO job to Ballmer, whom he befriended while the two were students at Harvard.
Gates chose to devote himself to a charitable foundation he established with his then-wife, Melinda.
He resigned from Microsoft’s board of directors in 2020 — shortly after the firm acknowledged the existence of an “intimate” relationship with an employee in the past.
All about Microsoft
Created in 1975 by childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft today is one of the five Big Tech titans.
It was shaped by Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer and Satya Nadella over the course of the last half-century.
On its 50th anniversary, Microsoft has launched new pages on its website to highlight its journey over the past five decades. The pages detail the company’s growth, milestones, and innovations. It also offers a vision for the next 50 years, during which, Microsoft plans to continue turning its innovation into enduring value for its users, the company said.