Bill Gates owned about 45 percent of Microsoft when the company went public in 1986.
Microsoft’s initial public offering took place on March 13, 1986. Gates’s large ownership stake made him a major shareholder and helped establish the personal fortune for which he later became widely known.
The company had been founded in 1975 by Gates and Paul Allen, initially developing software for microcomputers. By the time of the IPO, Microsoft had become a significant software company, particularly through products for IBM-compatible personal computers.
The figure is usually reported as approximately 45 percent because ownership changed through stock issuance, employee holdings, and corporate transactions. It should not be confused with Gates’s later percentage: he steadily sold or donated shares, so his ownership declined substantially over subsequent decades.