Geek Death Match: Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs
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Have you ever wondered who would win in a guru death match between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? They pretty much pioneered the personal PC market and both have led their respective companies to heights. So tonight's special event pairs Bill Gates with Steve Jobs in a winner take all, 10 round, Geek Championship. The prize for the winner is their choice of OS to be my default OS on my computer. The loser will get.... nothing. It's time for our feature event, so grab the popcorn.
Round 1 - Net worth
This round is simple: whoever has the most money wins. I hope no one had their money in Enron. At the time of this writing, Bill Gates is worth about $58 billion, and Steve Jobs comes in at only $5.7 billion. This round isn't even close; Bill Gates makes mince meat of Steve Jobs, dollar for dollar.
When it comes down to net worth, you could have more than you could possibly ever use, and both of these people come into play. What could you do with $58 billion that you can't do with $5.7 billion? Let's take a quick look at baseball players. The highest gross income in a career is Berry Bonds at over $188 million. The highest per year salary is Alex Rodriguez at over $27 million per year. If Alex plays for 40 years at this salary, he would still only amount to $1.08 billion, which is less than twenty percent of Steve Jobs's net worth. All in all, both are really rich, but +1 for Bill Gates and it's not even close.
Bill: 1
Steve: 0
Round 2 – Charity
Sometimes it's not how much money you have, but how you spend it. As I mentioned in the last round, they both have a ton of money, but how do they spend it? After you buy everything in your wildest dreams, what do you do with it?
Many people like to donate their money to charities to people that really need the money. Bill Gates is heavily active in charities and a frequent donor. He has even started his own foundation called the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Their purpose is to enhance health care and reduce extreme poverty throughout the globe -- and in the United States, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology.
Along with the Gates, Warren Buffet has given lots of money to the organization. In total, the charity is worth around $38.7 billion. Bill Gates does have lots of money, but he is involved in more than just simply cutting a check. He's gotten other people like Warren Buffet to donate as well and is very dedicated to his charity. At the end of July 2008, Gates stepped down from Microsoft to focus on his charity. For as business-hungry and money-driven people have said he is, he is also donating a lot of the money for which he worked so hard to charity.
Steve Jobs has lots of money too, but it appears he does something else with his money. Steve Jobs's name doesn't come up on any public charity donations list and he hasn't spoken publicly about any donations or foundations. All we can assume is that he keeps his money to himself. There are some charities that he could relate to, such as adoption and cancer research. He was adopted and has battled cancer in the past. At the very least there are the children on TV that are playing in a puddle of mud, and 15 cents a day can make them have a better life. Seriously Steve, 15 cents a day? One share of Apple stock could be over three years of funding for a kid.
Once again the clear winner is Bill Gates. He is probably one of the most charitably-invested billionaires when it comes to his foundation. Steve Jobs has no record of any donations. I was going to give Steve a break since he didn't have as much money, but I guess I have to give this one again to Bill Gates.
Bill: 2
Steve: 0
Next: Rounds 3 through 5 >>
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