Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft's board of directors to focus on philanthropic work - advocates digitally tagging people

[Delicieuxz]

 

Bill Gates - Focusing My Time

Quote

I have made the decision to step down from both of the public boards on which I serve – Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway – to dedicate more time to philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and my increasing engagement in tackling climate change. The leadership at the Berkshire companies and Microsoft has never been stronger, so the time is right to take this step.

 

With respect to Microsoft, stepping down from the board in no way means stepping away from the company. Microsoft will always be an important part of my life’s work and I will continue to be engaged with Satya and the technical leadership to help shape the vision and achieve the company’s ambitious goals. I feel more optimistic than ever about the progress the company is making and how it can continue to benefit the world.

 

 

Microsoft announces change to its board of directors

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“It’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to have worked with and learned from Bill over the years. Bill founded our company with a belief in the democratizing force of software and a passion to solve society’s most pressing challenges. And Microsoft and the world are better for it. The board has benefited from Bill’s leadership and vision. And Microsoft will continue to benefit from Bill’s ongoing technical passion and advice to drive our products and services forward. I am grateful for Bill’s friendship and look forward to continuing to work alongside him to realize our mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

 

 

End of an era? Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board

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Having stepped away from Microsoft’s day-to-day operations in 2008 and resigned as the company’s chairman of the board in 2014, Gates has gradually removed himself from an active role in the tech giant, and has lately been a more frequent sight at various global conferences, speaking on issues such as climate change, poverty and sustainable development, among others. While he remains one of Microsoft's top shareholders – owning 1.36 percent of the company, according to FactSet – he has slowly sold off shares in recent years.

 

I'm curious what Bill Gates' contribution at Microsoft was like in recent years and what he contributed to Windows 8's and Windows 10's directions and designs, including whether he was a driving force or supportive behind any of the things like the move to pervasive data-harvesting, the removal of the start menu, live tiles, and Windows 10's flat look, Microsoft Store, Windows 10 as "the last version" of Windows, the bi-annual major update cycle, US government contracts and projects like JEDI and PRISM, of if he was hands-off on all of that stuff.

 

 

March 18 update:

 

In a new AMA, Bill Gates mentioned his support for digitally tagging people with a chip implant or tattoo.

 

[TempestCatto]

Gonna be totally honest, I had no idea he was still working there. I thought he retired a long long time ago now. Doesn't feel any different to me (at least, not yet I guess).

[Sauron]

7 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

I'm curious what Bill Gates' contribution at Microsoft was like in recent years and what he contributed to Windows 8's and Windows 10's directions and designs

He probably had a say in the matter but the design details don't usually concern the board of directors. It's not like Gates could just say "uhm no Metro is a stupid idea, redesign everything" and just have it done (though Ballmer probably could). Also his track record doesn't necessarily suggest he would have been able to tell that it was a bad idea.

[DrMacintosh]

Bill-millions of unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

[givingtnt]

15 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions or unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

That's low, even for you.

[TetraSky]

35 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions or unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

Bill Gates is actually pushing for higher taxes... And last we heard, he paid 10 billion in taxes like 2 years ago. (he in under no obligation to disclose his taxes)

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/2/27/18243183/bill-gates-foundation-reddit-ama-billionaire-taxes

 

The way tax laws are written in the US, capital gain taxes are lower(up to 20%) than earnings taxes(up to 37%).

Most of Bill Gates's money comes from capital gain these days. (Stocks, properties, etc etc)

Also, take note that we're talking about a "gain" here.

Simply owning said stocks and properties with a high value =/= taxable gains.

And the whole value of the stock isn't taxable either.

It's Sell value - Basis (what you've paid to buy it in the first place+fees and what not) = taxable capital gain.

So lets say you've bought 50$ in stocks and resell it at 75$, your capital gain is 25$ (not really, there's fees and what not involved, but that's basically it), and you'd only pay taxes on that 25$...

So if he had bought like a billion dollar worth of stocks, then it doubled in value and he takes out the two billion dollar, he would only pay taxes(20%) on that 1 billion... 

Then there's the whole Charity tax deductible donation thing and that's a whole other can of worm...

[SenKa]

27 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions of unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

Bill Gates (specifically the Gates Foundation) donates more to the research for a cure to HIV/AIDS than some developed countries are worth, and had a very heavy hand in eradicating polio in some countries. The Gates Foundation has actually funded global health more than 4x the WHO themselves.

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions of unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

As the others have pointed out, not only have you made an erroneous assumptions but you have seriously misunderstood his character and contributions to the world.

[DrMacintosh]

9 minutes ago, mr moose said:

As the others have pointed out, not only have you made an erroneous assumptions but you have seriously misunderstood his character and contributions to the world.

I understand Bills character completely and have made no assumptions about him. I’ve only said that he isn’t paying his fair share of taxes. People defend billionaires like this because they get distracted by the all the PR and saving face that they do. 

[mr moose]

6 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I understand Bills character completely and have made no assumptions about him. I’ve only said that he isn’t paying his fair share of taxes. People defend billionaires like this because they get distracted by the all the PR and saving face that they do. 

You said he had millions in unpaid taxes and that is untrue unless you have evidence. Fair is not a defining condition of tax, and you cannot claim what he has paid as being unfair unless you know how much he paid, how much he earnt and what he should have paid.   You also made comments about philanthropy en devours as if it has some value or lack of value pertaining to the level of tax he paid.    All of that are assumptions of character.

[Techstorm970]

Just now, mr moose said:

You said he had millions in unpaid taxes and that is untrue unless you have evidence. Fair is not a defining condition of tax, and you cannot claim what he has paid as being unfair unless you know how much he paid, how much he earnt and what he should have paid.   You also made comments about philanthropy en devours as if it has some value or lack of value pertaining to the level of tax he paid.    All of that are assumptions of character.

I appreciate your efforts to persuade him, but he's a socialist.  This is about his political/economic agenda and opinions.  You're going to get nowhere.

 

As for myself, I'm glad Gates is pursuing philanthropy so wholeheartedly.  He is and will continue to do more good through his philanthropy than paying more taxes ever would.

[mr moose]

38 minutes ago, Techstorm970 said:

I appreciate your efforts to persuade him, but he's a socialist.  This is about his political/economic agenda and opinions.  You're going to get nowhere.

 

As for myself, I'm glad Gates is pursuing philanthropy so wholeheartedly.  He is and will continue to do more good through his philanthropy than paying more taxes ever would.

I think he is the basic example of what most people should strive for, sufficiently capitalist to drive and develop both the economy and standards of living while sufficiently egalitarian to want to make everyone's life better without running headfirst into dangerous ideologues. 

[Uttamattamakin]

To put Bill Gates in perspective look at this.  This is an ad not for Microsoft or Microsoft Windows 3.1.  This is an ad for NASDAQ.  When a stock index wanted to show how important the stocks in it were, at a time when the Dow Jones Industrial average maybe had IBM and Standard Oil in it they used Bill Gates. 
 

 

Doesn't that ad make Windows 3.1 look breathtaking and revolutionary.  Get it and your 486SX with a SoundBlaster will play you Bach while you fly through spreadsheets and create impressive Word 4.0 documents.   

[Brooksie359]

4 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

I understand Bills character completely and have made no assumptions about him. I’ve only said that he isn’t paying his fair share of taxes. People defend billionaires like this because they get distracted by the all the PR and saving face that they do. 

DrMacintosh talking crap about Bill Gates? Seems like an ulterior motive to me. Stop with your apple propaganda smear campaign. 

[xtroria]

23 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions of unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

The guy probably spends more to pursue philanthropy than what the tax he's charged with.

 

I would prefer him spending the money to make sure kids in Africa are alive than fueling the over-sized military and trump's weekly trip to his resort using tax money

[Guest]

I never really had a problem with the removal of the start menu, nor the perpetual Windows 10, I think it’s a great concept, now you buy a computer and it can just be updated forever, no need to worry about buying a new copy of Windows a few years down the line to have the latest stuff.

 

of course concepts and what really happens are seperate things.

 

The Microsoft store is really just an Apple store competition that sucks. 

[mr moose]

22 hours ago, Techstorm970 said:

I appreciate your efforts to persuade him, but he's a socialist.  This is about his political/economic agenda and opinions.  You're going to get nowhere.

 

As for myself, I'm glad Gates is pursuing philanthropy so wholeheartedly.  He is and will continue to do more good through his philanthropy than paying more taxes ever would.

And its very hypocritical/ironic that someone so staunchly in favor of apple would aim tax avoidance and philanthropic accusations at someone who is (if nothing else) the embodiment of everything that apple isn't when it comes to giving money to make people who live in poverty both healthier and happier.

[suicidalfranco]

7 hours ago, mr moose said:

And its very hypocritical/ironic that someone so staunchly in favor of apple would aim tax avoidance and philanthropic accusations at someone who is (if nothing else) the embodiment of everything that apple isn't when it comes to giving money to make people who live in poverty both healthier and happier.

Apple is more philanthropic: they auction from time to time old tech touched by jobs. Whilst also paying all of the taxes they owe to every country they operate in without having states sue them to get it

 

/s

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, suicidalfranco said:

Apple is more philanthropic: they auction from time to time old tech touched by jobs. Whilst also paying all of the taxes they owe to every country they operate in without having states sue them to get it

 

/s

 

Bill gate's idea of philanthropic endeavors is developing technology that will allow 3rd worlds to work themselves into 1st worlds. 

 

Apple's idea of philanthropic endeavors is putting up nets to foil suicide attempts at their factories.

[schwellmo92]

On 3/14/2020 at 7:47 AM, mr moose said:

You said he had millions in unpaid taxes and that is untrue unless you have evidence. Fair is not a defining condition of tax, and you cannot claim what he has paid as being unfair unless you know how much he paid, how much he earnt and what he should have paid.   You also made comments about philanthropy en devours as if it has some value or lack of value pertaining to the level of tax he paid.    All of that are assumptions of character.

He was also cofounder of the giving pledge and is a signee. As of the end of 2018 he has donated $45.5b to charities.

[Guest willies leg]

Bummer, he's getting old.

I thank him and Microsoft for so many years fixing their crap at work. Kept us all busy and paid! Lots of overtime too. In fact, sent my kids to college, debt free, with the money I made doing all that overtime patching Y2K! Couldn't have done it without you, Bill!

Now he's taking the time and giving it back. Love him!

[RonnieOP]

On 3/13/2020 at 6:28 PM, DrMacintosh said:

Bill-millions of unpaid taxes-Gates decides to pursue philanthropy. 

In one month hes probably paid more in taxes then you do a normal year.

 

And then if you wanna talk about charity work and funding projects hes probably spent more then most of us will make in a life time.

 

The rich are already paying the vast majority of taxes. Theres literally no moral way to say they are not paying enough.

[Fnige]

6 hours ago, RonnieOP said:

In one month hes probably paid more in taxes then you do a normal year.

 

And then if you wanna talk about charity work and funding projects hes probably spent more then most of us will make in a life time.

 

The rich are already paying the vast majority of taxes. Theres literally no moral way to say they are not paying enough.

some try to dodge taxes im sure

[RonnieOP]

6 minutes ago, SlimyPython said:

some try to dodge taxes im sure

Of course.

 

Thats not exclusive to the rich though. You think the middle class and lower arent finding ba ways to pay less tax?

 

You ever claimed a craiglist/ebay purchase at the end of the year so they can collect taxes? Lol

[Delicious Cake]

Tax evasion and tax avoidance are two different things.