AGE: 52
OCCUPATION: Chairman of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 8
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 3
PRO: What do you do after creating the world's most successful computer company? For Gates, the answer is slowly remove yourself from day-to-day operations so you can focus on philanthropy and distributing your wealth to the causes — AIDS, infectious diseases, struggling high schools — that need it.
CON: The EU rejected Microsoft's appeal of a 2004 ruling that fined the company $1.3 billion for violating its competition laws. Also, here are some words not to say around Gates, no matter how far he is from the office: "Yahoo." "Zune." "Vista." "Google."