Paul Allen: Then and Now

Paul Allen is still very… playful.

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda recently appeared on the cover of Time magazine as the iconic figures of the year. Gates co-founded Microsoft with another individual who later also became a billionaire, but this person does not frequently appear on Time.

Unlike Gates, whose familiar face stands alongside Tiger Woods or Tom Cruise, this co-founder can stroll through the streets without worrying about paparazzi bothering him. In fact, he might be “bothered” a little if he appears at a computer-related conference.

This is Paul Allen, who currently possesses a net worth of $21 billion, surpassing Rupert Murdoch, the owner of several major newspapers, and Australian media mogul Kerry Packer combined. He is now the third richest person in America (investor Warren Buffett has inserted himself between Allen and his friend Bill Gates on the list of the country’s billionaires).

At the age of 14, Allen met Gates at Lakewood High School in Seattle, where Gates was just 12, and they shared a passion for computers. When Allen worked for Honeywell and Gates attended Harvard, the two decided to establish a company named Micro-soft and officially entered the world of computing. Thanks to their innovative software, some clever exchanges, and a “once-in-a-lifetime” contract with IBM, along with their decisiveness, they made the world take notice.

Microsoft began to dominate the PC operating system market with MS-DOS (Allen still jokes that he deserves blame for adding the backslash in DOS commands) and then “swept” the world with Windows. 

Gates and the founding of Microsoft have been recounted countless times, but Allen rarely plays a prominent role in those stories. Perhaps Allen did not have as much influence as Gates from the early days because he was too mild-mannered. In the book *Hard Drive*, authors James Wallace and Jim Erickson describe Allen as pleasant and patient. While Gates is characterized as “hot-tempered and ambitious,” Allen maintains a personal life outside work. He is interested in technology, loves rock music, and enjoys science fiction.

In 1983, while on a business trip to Paris, Allen felt fatigued and left the meeting early. He flew back to Seattle and discovered he had cancer. Allen survived, but everything changed from that point. He left Microsoft but still held a significant stake in the company.

When Microsoft officially went public in 1985, Allen owned 28% of the shares, worth $150 million, while Gates held 49%. Within a year, the stock price surged, making Gates a billionaire and placing Allen close behind the software company’s chairman on Forbes’ list of the wealthiest individuals. Allen later sold off some of his shares but still retains over $3 billion in Microsoft.

Allen lives with his mother and sister and remains unmarried, although he has had close relationships with former Miss America and tennis player Monica Seles. He is one of the most philanthropic individuals in America, donating $800 million, although this is still just a “drop in the bucket” compared to the $29 billion Gates has contributed to establish his own charitable foundation. Perhaps due to his own battle with cancer, Allen established the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle.

With his massive fortune, Allen has become a collector of high-speed cars, airplanes, a private yacht believed to be the largest in the world, and a recording studio. Most notably, he possesses an impressive collection of memorabilia from Jimi Hendrix, the legendary guitarist also born in Seattle: music sheets, performance clothing, guitars (both intact and broken)… He also collects items related to singer Bob Dylan, a variety of early electric guitars, and a small collection of modern pop artifacts, including Britney Spears’ iconic red jumpsuit.

In the coming months, Allen will unveil his “project,” rumored to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Among the items are a collection of laser guns featured in science fiction films, Darth Vader’s lightsaber, Captain Kirk’s shirt from the 1960s, and a chair from the television series *Star Trek*.

In his role as a businessman, Allen proves he is not Bill Gates. He has lost billions on Charter Communications and Internet service provider RCN, as well as pursuing his own ideas. Last year, *BusinessWeek* estimated he lost $12 billion over five years. Many of his tech ventures did not succeed, sometimes because he was ahead of his time. Nevertheless, he has made some admirable decisions. He invested early in AOL and was among the first to support DreamWorks, the studio behind *Shrek*. In the early 1990s, Seattle announced a plan called Commons to create a park stretching from the commercial district to Lake Union. Allen immediately invested $20 million to purchase 4 acres of land there. However, the project was rejected for funding twice in 1995 and 1996. Allen decided to develop the area himself and continued to buy an additional 24 acres for $200 million. He plans to turn it into a biotechnology center with a lakeside park. Although the area belongs to Allen, the city council has always supported the project and promised to invest significantly in the park and roads.

When asked about his generosity towards Seattle, he simply said, “The purpose of all these actions is just to achieve financial independence.” Resident Christine Lea commented, “People often mention him when talking about the early days of Microsoft. But everything has changed. Now he is just a ‘boy’ who likes toys.”

Hai Nguyen