Bill Gates is the chairman of Microsoft and a renowned philanthropist. He dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to start Microsoft, which became hugely successful with its Windows operating system being installed on billions of PCs worldwide. After stepping down as CEO, Gates took on the role of Chief Technology Officer to guide Microsoft's technical direction before retiring to focus full-time on his philanthropic work through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims to improve global health, education, and access to information.

11. Sold a million copies in four days