Bill Gates brand change: from computer geek monopolist to public health “philanthropist”

Who is Bill Gates and why should you care?  A man who has gone from monopolising computer software to monopolising global health. [Part 1, 2, 3]

On May 18, 1998 US regulators “launched one of the biggest antitrust assaults of the century, accusing Microsoft Corp. of using its dominance in computer software to drive competitors out of business”.  Microsoft lost the case against the government with a verdict handed down in November 2002. [1, 4]

Following appealing the decision, Microsoft settled “the case with the Department of Justice in November of 2001 by agreeing to make it easier for Microsoft’s competitors to get their software more closely integrated with the Windows operating system…hardly on the same level as a forced breakup”. [7]

Then from 1999, Gates began to reposition his brand from computer geek monopolist to public health and education “philanthropist” by forming the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) which officially launched in 2000.