Microsoft Corp. is beset with competition from all sides, unlike any it has seen in decades, and Bill Gates, who co-founded the company 32 years ago, still intends to step away next year as planned.

But so far, Gates, Microsoft’s 51-year-old chairman, shows no sign of fading away. One year into a planned two-year transition, there are few visible cues that he is ready to leave the world’s technology stage to devote his energies principally to the $ 33 billion foundation he established seven years ago with his wife. Full article

The merchandise is eye-popping, the prices astronomical and the clientele, not exactly old money. Millionaires are being created like no other time in history.

Now a growing number of self-made millionaires are changing the face of the luxury market, demanding the kind of lavish lifestyle that used to be reserved for royals. Full article

Back in 1998, It seemed crazy when Todd McFarlane — a brilliant but eccentric comic-book artist turned action-figure mogul — paid $3 million for the ball Mark McGwire hit for his then record-breaking 70th home run.

It seemed even crazier when he paid about $500,000 for Barry Bonds’s record-breaking 73rd home run ball in 2003. Steroids scandals were by then casting shadows over home run records, and McFarlane was riding the memorabilia market down. But it doesn’t seem so crazy now that McFarlane Toys is the official distributor of action figures for all four major American sports.