How Bill Gates' mom helped Microsoft get a deal with IBM in 1980 – and it propelled the company's huge success
August 05, 2020 at 12:29 PM EDT
Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard University in 1975 to start Microsoft, the software company that would make him a billionaire by age 31. According to Gates, part of his success is due to his parents – in fact, his late mother, Mary Gates, was said to be instrumental in a seminal deal with IBM.