Who was the first CEO of Microsoft?

Bill Gates was the first CEO of Microsoft.

Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, initially to develop and sell programming-language software. Gates served as the company’s CEO from its founding, while Allen became executive vice president and vice chairman after Microsoft incorporated in 1981.

The main source of confusion is Microsoft’s later succession. Steve Ballmer replaced Gates as CEO in 2000, and Satya Nadella succeeded Ballmer in 2014. Paul Allen was Microsoft’s co-founder, but he was not its first CEO.

Gates’s early leadership helped shape Microsoft’s strategy as personal computing expanded. He remained chairman after stepping down as CEO and later focused much of his time on philanthropy through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.