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Bill Gates Interview: 5 Facts You Didn't Know About The World's Second Wealthiest Man

5 Facts You Didn't Know About Billionaire Bill Gates
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You might have heard that Bill Gates and Bono are buddies -- the two philanthropists, along with Melinda Gates, were named Time's 2005 persons of the year together -- but did you know that the U2 frontman crashes at the Gates residence when his band plays a show in Seattle?

That's according to a recent interview with the Daily Mail, in which Gates speaks candidly about wealth, family and sharing his fortune. He also hums the Bruno Mars song "Billionaire" to himself and may have let the cat out of the bag on Mark Zuckerberg's engagement (or perhaps not).

What else didn't you know about the world's second wealthiest man? Check out these five facts on the Microsoft founder turned philanthropist, Bill Gates.

Five Facts You Didn't Know About Bill Gates
He Won't Buy His Kids iPods(01 of05)
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However:
"They have the Windows equivalent. They have a Zune music player, which is a great Windows portable player. They are not deprived children."
 (credit:AP)
If His Home Was Burning Down, He'd Save...(02 of05)
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His Codex Leicester, a notebook that belonged to Leonardo da Vinci, which he purchased in 1994 for $30.8 million:
"I'm lucky that I own that notebook. I've always been amazed by Da Vinci, because he worked out science on his own. He would work by drawing things and writing down his ideas. Of course, he designed all sorts of flying machines way before you could actually build something like that."
(Gates also owns documents by Isaac Newton and Abraham Lincoln.) (credit:Flickr:zoonabar)
People In Third World Countries Don't Know Bill Gates(03 of05)
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"They don't know who I am, because it doesn't relate to their world. I went to one place with the chief minister and someone said, "Who is this guy?", and the chief minister said, "This is a white-skinned guy I brought with me." If you're a person struggling to eat and stay healthy you might have heard about Michael Jordan or Muhammad Ali, but you'll never have heard of Bill Gates."
 (credit:AP)
He Doesn't Care For Legacy(04 of05)
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But he certainly strives to have a massive impact:
"Legacy is a stupid thing! I don't want a legacy. If people look and see that childhood deaths dropped from nine million a year to four million because of our investment, then wow! I liken what I'm doing now to my old job. I worked with a lot of smart people; some things went well, some didn't go so well. But when you see how what we did ended up empowering people, it's a very cool thing."
 (credit:AP)
He Prefers An Actual Book(05 of05)
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But is also confident that e-readers will ultimately prevail:
"I read a lot of obscure books and it is nice to open a book. But the electronic devices are good as well. Digital reading will completely take over. It's lightweight and it's fantastic for sharing. Over time it will take over."
 (credit:AP)

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