[pearjuice]

He is 58 right now. His "first tenure" was from (roughly) 1975 to 2000. That is 25 years from nothing to Microsoft as it were in 2000. When exactly will his second tenure end then, so he can focus again on "saving" the world? Reorganizing and making MS lean takes its time and I highly doubt Gates is actively analyzing the competition and keeping track of the market so there will not come any ground breaking line-up immediately (otherwise he would have told Ballmer his disruptive ideas, I am sure).

It will take some time (say years) to get Microsoft with Gates back on track again and the end result is unclear. Will it improve or will all his effort vanish in vain? Does he even know how to do it, after all those years? No, he currently has enough disposable income to do what he does. In fact, he can triple his efforts and he will still not run dry in his life time. It is hardly about money anyway, saving the world takes time - negotiating takes time. Money puts it in fifth gear but bureaucracy and human psychology can only change this fast.