Bill Spencer was a media tycoon who ran a huge conglomerate, Spencer Publications. Bill still felt the loss of his wife, Marion, whom he'd lost a year earlier, but took comfort in his close relationship with their daughter, the sheltered Caroline Spencer. Bill bristled when Caroline wanted to marry Ridge Forrester, the playboy heir to design house Forrester Creations; Bill had Ridge followed by a private investigator and obtained photos of Ridge cheating on Caroline the night before the wedding. Bill showed the pictures to Caroline just as she made ready to walk down the aisle but was shocked when she fainted before the vows. It hurt Bill deeply when Caroline cut him off and left the company.

The in-control Bill felt none when Caroline was raped by Ron Deacon and fantasized about killing the man. Bill was grudgingly grateful when Ridge helped get Ron convicted with his testimony that Caroline had wanted to remain a virgin until her wedding night; however, Bill pushed Caroline toward Ridge's brother, Thorne Forrester, whom he felt was an infinitely more suitable match. Bill was briefly considered a suspect when Ridge was shot by an unknown assailant. Bill initially clashed with Ridge and Thorne's mother, Stephanie Forrester, but they eventually developed a mutual respect for each other. Bill thought Stephanie could do better than her wayward husband, Eric Forrester; when Stephanie dug up Stephen Logan, the estranged husband of Eric's lover, Beth Henderson, Bill agreed to offer Stephen a job in his overseas office to get Beth away from Eric.

Spencer Publications issued a series of adult magazines; Bill discovered "Savannah" in one of his European editions and immediately featured her in its American counterpart. Bill recognized "Savannah" when she introduced herself as Jamie Kensington and applied for an internship at Spencer; Bill was impressed with her writing and took her on as a protegée. But just as Bill received an award for morality in publishing, a nude photo of Bill surfaced in one of his male magazines, which had been taken clandestinely while Bill was changing at his gym. Bill suspected a Spencer executive, Nick Preston, so Bill had Jamie spy on him; Bill learned later that Jamie was really Stephen's daughter, Donna Logan, who worked with Nick and her friends to get back at Bill for printing her nudie pix domestically, since they were only supposed to be available abroad. Bill appreciated Donna's contrition and was sad when she ended their brief affair.

Bill had long flirted with Forrester Creations designer Margo Maclaine and finally asked her to be his wife. Despite Caroline's disapproval of Margo, and his own continuing pursuit of Stephanie, Bill married Margo in a lavish wedding. Margo's ex-lover, Clarke Garrison, refused to let Bill adopt his and Margo's infant son, Mark Maclaine; Bill countered by setting up a trust fund for Mark. But Bill's world turned upside-down when he was told by Ridge, who had finally married Caroline, that Caroline was dying of leukemia. Bill attended Caroline's emotional party where she implored everyone to be good to each other and felt punched in the gut to lose his only daughter.

Bill fumed when Sally Spectra, owner of knockoff fashion house Spectra Fashions, blackmailed Bill into running a cover story on her designer husband, Clarke, using her knowledge of Bill's pornographic publications. As payback, Bill installed his PR executive, Julie Delorean, to get dirt on Sally and Clarke under the guise of including them in a fashion book. While married to Margo, Bill expressed interests in Stephanie, Donna, and Julie. Bill knew Clarke was cheating on Sally with Julie and encouraged it; Bill agreed he wouldn't publish the enamored Julie's tell-all book about about Clarke but made sure to send the manuscript to Sally. After Sally dumped Clarke, who couldn't find another designing job, Bill offered Clarke $100,000 to give up his parental rights to Mark.

Bill was upset when he found out Margo had refused to confide in him about the revelation that her uncle had molested her brother, Jake Maclaine, as a boy, which rocked their family. Bill had an affair with Julie, but became jealous when Margo showered attention on Blake Hayes, so Bill resolved to treat Margo better. Bill was astonished by a visit from Faith Roberts, who was the spitting image of his deceased daughter Caroline; Bill was able to verify Faith's story that she was really Caroline's twin, Karen Spencer, who had been kidnapped as a baby. Bill sprang into action when he received a desperate call from Karen, who was being held prisoner by Blake, the man who brought Karen to town to lure Ridge away from Taylor Hayes, Blake's ex-wife. Bill and Karen grew closer after he and Thorne rescued her from Blake; Bill supported Karen once she found herself in a triangle with Thorne and his estranged wife, Macy Alexander.

After Bill's marriage to Margo collapsed, he started seeing Darla Einstein, Spectra Fashions' receptionist. The white collar Bill was charmed by Darla's blue collar sensibility. Bill agreed to Darla's plea to infuse Spectra with capital and save it from bankruptcy with the proviso that Karen be hired to oversee his investment. Bill was pleased with Spectra's new designs; he had no idea they'd been stolen from Forrester Creations by Darla, who had gone undercover at Forrester disguised as "Camille". Bill hit on "Camille", not knowing Darla was testing his devotion. Bill eventually passed her tests, but he found himself out of town more often on business, which caused Bill and Darla to drift apart.

Bill wanted to close Spectra's doors since the fashion house was hemorrhaging money as a result of Sally pulling the stolen Forrester designs from their showing at the last minute. Spectra got a reprieve when Bill approved of Anthony Armando, the new designer Karen hired, whose designs competed with Forrester's at a benefit fashion show for the American Film Institute. After Karen's nuptials with lawyer Connor Davis fell through and Karen decided to return to Texas, where she had been raised, Bill signed his Spectra stock over to Karen, which, in turn, Karen signed back to Sally.

Bill disappeared from the canvas for three years, when he made an appearance at Stephanie's remarriage to Eric; Bill met department store maven Lauren Fenmore from Genoa City, Wisconsin, who remarked how much Bill looked like her departed father. (Bill's portrayer, Jim Storm, had played Neil Fenmore on The Young and the Restless.) In 2000, Bill visited Stephanie, who was recovering from a stroke, and provided her with requested non-FDA-approved medication from his overseas pharmaceutical company. Bill, who had always hated Ridge, called him out for getting Morgan DeWitt pregnant while married to Taylor; Bill was horrified when he realized that Stephanie intended to use his pills to drug Morgan and induce a miscarriage. Bill came around one last time in 2003, when he helped Stephanie get young Bridget Forrester, who had only recently discovered she wasn't related to Ridge, into a prestigious pre-med school in Copenhagen, as Stephanie wanted to discourage Bridget and Ridge's inappropriate romantic attraction.

In 2009, it was revealed that Bill had another long lost child: Bill Spencer, Jr., who had run the Spencer Publications office in New York and was now in Los Angeles to take over Forrester Creations by any means necessary. It turned out Bill had passed away, split his empire between Bill Jr. and Karen, and left behind a DVD instructing his son to avenge Stephanie's long torment by Eric, Donna, and her sister, Brooke Logan. Bill last came up in major conversation in 2012, when Karen returned to L.A. having come out as a lesbian; Karen told her daughter, Caroline Spencer, and Caroline's boyfriend, Thomas Forrester, how Bill had refused to acknowledge Karen's spouse, Danielle, and how her father had told her to keep her sexual orientation from her half-brother Bill Jr.