Bill Gates

Perhaps the most world changing business deal in history happened in the autumn of 1980, in the town of Boca Raton, Florida. At 24 years old, Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard to start a software company with his friend, Paul Allen. His software was for the microprocessor that had come to define the meaning of modern computing.

But the deal at Boca Raton sealed his fate as the soon-to-be richest man in the world. On that day, he met with IBM computers and emerged from the interaction with the sole right to produce the operating system for the IBM PC. He also ensured that he retained full control of the source code, and the rights to sell his software to other manufacturers. It was a deal unprecedented in scope, and allowed Microsoft to become a monopoly.

Eventually, the antitrust law suits started pouring in, and unusually  the tech entrepreneur,  decided to step away from the company and to focus on philanthropy.

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