World's Billionaires - #3

© REMI OCHLIK/Maxppp/Landov

• Harvard dropout and Microsoft visionary no longer the world's richest man.
• Blame Yahoo!: Microsoft shares have fallen 15% since the company boldly attempted to merge with the search engine giant to better fight Google for Internet dominance.
• Gates is preparing to give up day-to-day involvement in the company he co-founded 33 years ago to spend more time focused on his philanthropic endeavors.
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has $38.7 billion in assets, donates to causes aimed at bringing financial tools to the poor, speeding up the development of vaccines (for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis), bettering America's lagging high schools.
• Sells 20 million Microsoft shares every quarter, proceeds going to private investment vehicle Cascade; more than half of net worth now outside of Microsoft.
• Company spent $6 billion to land Web ad company Aquantive last May.
• Would-be rival to Apple's iPod, the Zune, not yet a hit.
• Believes Microsoft's far-flung bets, including 10-year affair with Internet-based television, may soon pay off; says next 10 years will be the "most interesting" in software history.

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