Bill Gates

Lagna Cancer · Moon in Pisces · Uttara Bhadrapada nakshatra

Atmakaraka (soul planet)

Saturn

Highest-degree planet; in Jaimini the significator of the soul's central pursuit.

Yogakaraka

Mars

Owns both a quadrant and a trine for this lagna - a natural Raja-Yoga giver.

Navamsha (D9) lagna

Leo

The D9 ascendant - the chart's inner strength and marriage indicator.

Sect

Night birth (nocturnal)

Day/night sect of the chart.

1. 1955-10-28

   William Henry Gates III is born in Seattle to attorney William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. source

   Born in the closing balance of the Saturn mahadasha (1955-1958). Saturn is the chart's exalted Atmakaraka in the 4th house, forming the Sasa great-person yoga - so the very first planetary period is the one that defines the soul's lifelong work of building disciplined systems.

   Bill Gates was born in October nineteen fifty-five into the final stretch of a Saturn period - and Saturn, exalted and forming a great-person yoga in his chart, is the planet of structure and system-building that would shape the whole arc of his life.

2. 1968

   At Seattle's Lakeside School the 13-year-old Gates writes his first computer program, a tic-tac-toe game, on a time-sharing machine, igniting a lifelong fascination with software. source

   Mercury mahadasha (1958-1975). Mercury is exalted in Virgo in the 3rd house of skill, the hands and self-driven learning - the planet of logic, calculation and code at its very strongest, running precisely through his school years.

   As a teenager in nineteen sixty-eight, deep in the long period of Mercury - exalted in his chart as the planet of logic and code, sitting in the house of skill and the hands - Gates wrote his first program and discovered the craft that would become his life.

3. 1972

   Gates and Paul Allen launch their first venture, Traf-O-Data, building a small computer to analyse Seattle traffic data and earning roughly $20,000. source

   Still the Mercury mahadasha (1958-1975). Exalted Mercury sits in the 3rd house of enterprise and short ventures; under it, the analytical mind turns its first data-crunching idea into a small commercial venture.

   In nineteen seventy-two, under his exalted Mercury - sitting in the house of enterprise and self-made effort - Gates and Paul Allen turned a clever idea about traffic data into their first real business.

4. 1975-04-04

   Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft to write BASIC for the Altair 8800, and Gates soon leaves Harvard to run it. source

   Ketu mahadasha (1975-1982). Ketu sits in Taurus in the 11th house of gains, large networks and ambitions; Ketu's nature favours sudden, unconventional and detaching beginnings - here, walking away from Harvard to start a company in the house of gains.

   In nineteen seventy-five, just as a Ketu period began - Ketu placed in his eleventh house of gains and great ambitions, the planet of sudden, unconventional breaks - Gates left Harvard behind and founded Microsoft.

5. 1980-11-06

   Microsoft signs the pivotal contract with IBM to supply the operating system that became MS-DOS for the IBM Personal Computer - the deal that launched its rise. source

   Ketu mahadasha (1975-1982), with Ketu in the 11th house of gains and powerful alliances. The 11th house governs exactly this kind of network-expanding partnership, and Ketu's knack for arriving at the right unconventional turn delivered the defining deal of the era.

   In nineteen eighty, still under Ketu in his house of gains and alliances, Gates struck the deal with IBM that put Microsoft's operating system at the centre of the personal-computer revolution.

6. 1985-11-20

   Microsoft ships Windows 1.0, its first graphical operating environment built atop MS-DOS. source

   Venus mahadasha (1982-2002). Venus, the strongest planet in the chart, sits in its own sign in the 4th house forming the Malavya great-person yoga and rules the 11th of gains - the planet of design, harmony and accumulation opening a twenty-year era of mass-market products.

   In nineteen eighty-five, at the start of a twenty-year Venus period - Venus being the strongest planet in his chart, the great-person planet of design and gains - Microsoft launched Windows, the product line that would carry it for two decades.

7. 1986-03-13

   Microsoft holds its IPO at $21 a share; the stock surge makes Gates a multimillionaire, and in 1987 the world's youngest self-made billionaire at age 31. source

   Venus mahadasha (1982-2002). Venus rules the 11th house of gains and income and forms both the Malavya great-person yoga and, with the 2nd lord Sun, a Dhana wealth yoga - the chart's wealth machinery firing under its own ruling planet.

   In nineteen eighty-six, under Venus - ruler of his eleventh house of gains and the planet behind both a great-person yoga and a wealth combination - Microsoft's stock-market debut turned the young founder into one of the richest people alive.

8. 1995-08-24

   Microsoft launches Windows 95 to enormous demand, cementing its dominance of the PC operating-system market. source

   Venus mahadasha (1982-2002). Venus in its own sign in the 4th house - the quadrant of mass reach and foundations - and lord of the 11th of gains; the great-person Venus period delivers the product that put Microsoft on the largest possible number of desks.

   In nineteen ninety-five, still in the long Venus era of mass-market success, Windows ninety-five arrived to extraordinary demand and made Microsoft's software the foundation of computing for the world.

9. 1998-05-18

   The U.S. Department of Justice and 20 states file the United States v. Microsoft antitrust suit, the defining legal crisis of Gates's tenure as CEO. source

   Venus mahadasha (1982-2002). Venus also rules the 4th house, which counted from the 10th of career is its 7th - the house of open opposition and litigation; the era of dominance and the era of the great legal battle run under the same powerful but kendra-spanning Venus.

   In nineteen ninety-eight, in the later years of the Venus period, the very dominance Venus had built drew the landmark antitrust suit - the defining legal confrontation of Gates's years as chief executive.

10. 2000-01-13

    Gates steps down as Microsoft CEO, handing the role to Steve Ballmer; that same year he and Melinda establish the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. source

    Venus mahadasha (1982-2002). As Venus, lord of the 11th of large aims and the 4th of the heart's foundations, neared the close of its twenty-year chapter, it shifted Gates from running the company toward the broader, value-driven cause that Venus naturally signifies.

    In two thousand, as the long Venus period drew toward its close, Gates handed over the chief-executive role and, in the same year, founded the philanthropic foundation that would become his next great work.

11. 2008-06-27

    Gates transitions out of his day-to-day role at Microsoft to focus full-time on philanthropy through the Gates Foundation. source

    Moon mahadasha (2008-2018). The Moon is the lagna lord placed in Pisces in the 9th house of dharma, charity and higher purpose - so his own chart-ruler, sitting in the house of large humanitarian causes, opened the philanthropic chapter.

    In two thousand and eight, as a Moon period began - the Moon being his chart-ruler, placed in the ninth house of charity and higher purpose - Gates stepped away from daily work at Microsoft to give himself fully to philanthropy.

12. 2010-06-16

    Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett publicly launch The Giving Pledge, urging billionaires to give away the majority of their wealth. source

    Moon mahadasha (2008-2018). The lagna lord Moon in the 9th house of dharma and generosity, in the philosophical nakshatra Uttara Bhadrapada, frames a period in which the self is expressed precisely through large-scale giving and shared moral causes.

    In twenty ten, under the Moon in his ninth house of generosity and shared purpose, Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, turning private wealth into a public moral campaign.

13. 2020-03-13

    Gates leaves Microsoft's board of directors, ending his formal corporate ties to the company he co-founded 45 years earlier. source

    Mars mahadasha (2018-2025). Mars is the yogakaraka owning the 10th house of career; when the period of the very planet that signifies his profession matured, it closed the chapter by severing his last formal corporate office.

    In twenty twenty, under a Mars period - Mars being the planet that rules his tenth house of career - Gates stepped off Microsoft's board, ending his last formal tie to the company he had built.

14. 2021-05-03

    Bill and Melinda Gates announce the end of their 27-year marriage, after which Warren Buffett also resigns as a foundation trustee. source

    Mars mahadasha (2018-2025). Mars, lord of the 5th and 10th, sits in the 3rd house, and counted from the 7th house of marriage it falls in the 9th - a separative, decision-forcing energy; the period of fiery, decisive Mars coincided with a major rupture in partnership.

    In twenty twenty-one, during the period of decisive, separating Mars, Gates and his wife announced the end of their long marriage - a fitting turn under the chart's most forceful planet.

15. 2025-05-08

    Gates announces he will give away virtually all his remaining fortune and that the Gates Foundation will permanently close on December 31, 2045. source

    Rahu mahadasha (2025-2043). Rahu sits in Scorpio in the 5th house of intelligence, legacy and the fruits one leaves behind; Rahu's nature is the dramatic, boundary-dissolving grand gesture, here turned to the sweeping decision to give away everything.

    In twenty twenty-five, at the very start of a long Rahu period - Rahu placed in his fifth house of legacy and bold vision - Gates made the dramatic announcement that he would give away nearly his entire fortune and wind the foundation down by twenty forty-five.

• Saravali

  Kalyana Varma's classical text on natal astrology, widely used for yoga and placement results.

• Phaladeepika

  Mantreshwara's classical manual of horoscopy; source used here for the solar Vasi yoga and the vargottama strength rule.

• Brihat Jataka

  Varahamihira's classical compendium (6th c.); its chapter on lunar yogas defines Sunapha, and the Nabhasa yogas include Veena.