Paul Allen Dishes Out Gossip On Bill Gates (And His Yacht)

Paul Allen Dishes Out Gossip On Bill Gates (And His Yacht)

Yesterday, a new book on Bill Gates and Microsoft hit store shelves – Idea Man. Only this one has been penned by Microsoft co-creator Paul Allen, who appeared on 60 Minutes to talk about the early days of Microsoft; the computers they were writing software on, and just what went wrong along the way between the two co-creators.

Key things to keep an eye out for (other than Allen’s gnarly ring, and some pretty rad beards) are his recollections on their raging arguments, and how he overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer discussing how to cut Allen out of the company.

Allen’s almost grotesque spending of his considerable wealth is also well documented in 60 Minutes. Presenter Lesley Stahl says:

“Allen has spent his wealth on a hodgepodge of many interests. For instance, he plays electric guitar, so he has his own personal rock ‘n roll band to jam with, and he bought Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock guitar for $US750,000.

He likes science fiction, and subsidizes an antenna farm listening for aliens. An avid reader, he showed us a Shakespeare Folio he keeps at his estate.

He likes football, so he bought an NFL team; he also likes basketball and bought an NBA team.

He’s a movie buff, so he invested in DreamWorks, the Hollywood studio. He wants to travel, so he built himself a yacht longer than a football field, equipped with its own submarine.”

She does point out though that he

has spent over a billion dollars on philanthropy, including building an institute to study the brain, and, like Gates, he has pledged to give most of his money away to charity.

Allen has signed up to Bill Gates’ The Giving Pledge initiative, which has seen over 50 billionaires commit to giving away half their wealth to charity. [CBS]


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