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Paul Allen the 'Accidental Zillionaire'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the least-he-could-do-is-buy-us-all-lunch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Sydney Morning Herald has an interesting story about Paul Allen, "the accidental zillionaire". Allen is the owner of the world's biggest private yacht and a huge landowner in the Seattle area in addition to his traditional accolades of helping to found Microsoft along with several other companies and foundations."

16 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. What is a zillionaire? by ytr · · Score: 4, Funny

    millionaire - so common, the hoi polloi
    billionaire - fewer, somewhat dodgy
    trillionaire - hmmm tricky, size of the US deficit .....
    zillionaire - more money than that?

    1. Re:What is a zillionaire? by ciroknight · · Score: 4, Insightful

      zillionaire - more money than what?

      Jeebus.

      Anyways, I would hardly call it "accidential". It wasn't any accident that Microsoft got to license their OS to the IBM (and compatible) machines, it was cold and calculated. While they might not have known they'd end up being some of the richest people to have ever lived, they had to have known that they were never going to have to worry about money again in their lives.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
    2. Re:What is a zillionaire? by alicenextdoor · · Score: 5, Funny
      Marital status: Single
      Worth: $US21 billion, seventh richest person in the world, says Forbes Magazine, 2005

      A clear case of too many LAN parties...

      --
      of course, biting monkeys is not to everyone's taste - Konrad Lorenz
    3. Re:What is a zillionaire? by Trurl's+Machine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Anyways, I would hardly call it "accidential". It wasn't any accident that Microsoft got to license their OS to the IBM (and compatible) machines, it was cold and calculated. While they might not have known they'd end up being some of the richest people to have ever lived, they had to have known that they were never going to have to worry about money again in their lives.

      Since early 1980's? Probably they knew that. But in early 1970's, Allen and Gates were just a couple of nerdy students, sharing a belief that the future is in household computers. While in that age everyone else shared a belief that a "computer" is meant to be maintained and operated only by specially trained staff wearing laboratory overalls. Yes, their deal with IBM was no accident but in order to get that deal, they had to establish their position in the 8-bit personal computing world - writing BASIC for Altair and Apple, and lot of stuff for CP/M (originally that was the IBM's system of choice for their first PC). That was largely an accident - lots of companies active in the 8-bit market (such as Altair or Digital Research, makers of the CP/M) simply didn't make it in 1980's.

    4. Re:What is a zillionaire? by hendersj · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, I don't know that I'd call it accidental, but there was a rather significant luck factor involved; if Gary Kildall had pursued the opportunity (and there are several stories about why he didn't - ranging from opting to fly his plane instead of meet with IBM to refusing to sign an NDA; according to Gordon Eubanks, Kildall just wasn't interested in porting CP/M to the 8088 processor). If Seattle Computer Products hadn't sold QDOS to MicroSoft, things also would have been pretty different.

      --
      Insanity is a gradual process; don't rush it.
    5. Re:What is a zillionaire? by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Gates' father's influence on Microsoft can't be ignored. He taught his son a healthy respect for the law. That is, always stay within the letter of the law but feel free to bend it as much as possible and if you do feel the desire to break it, try to find a good patsy to hide behind. I can remember having a long argument with a coworker about Microsoft not paying any taxes. His opinion was that Microsoft is following the letter of the law and therefore is doing nothing wrong. My opinion was that Microsoft is just sponging off the community by refusing to pay any taxes, even if it means paying more for tax lawyers than they would have to pay in taxes if they weren't so set on not paying taxes. And the fact that they force their employees to accept stock which has absolutely no value so they can avoid taxes, implicating every one of them in their immoral actions is most deplorable.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    6. Re:What is a zillionaire? by sheridan3003 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Chance favors the prepared mind.

      They were lucky, but they also had some idea of what they were getting into. Taking advantage of an opportunity means recognizing that you have an opportunity to take advantage of.

      --
      http://www.linkedin.com/in/dougneedham
  2. He did well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Investing in the right company means he did something right.. That also means that he was not a rich man by accident.

    Still I wonder why so many geeks are online on x-mas. Oh wait, I am too.

    NO CARRIER

  3. His hompage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    http://www.paulallen.com/

    It runs on IIS. What are the odds?

  4. So... by AgentX24 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does that make the rest of us accidental nillionaires?

  5. Allen bought Washington state referendum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Nader/CutCorpWel fare_Nader.html

    Hijacking local democracy

    Perhaps nothing illustrates the ruthlessness and shameless power plays of the corporate welfare kings than their extortionate demands for state and local subsidies on threat of picking up and moving elsewhere.

    And no case illustrates the hijacking of democratic procedures more clearly than billionaire Paul Allen's buying of an especially-made-for-Allen Washington state referendum to approve $300 million in public subsidies to build a football stadium for his Seattle Seahawks. Mega-billionaire Allen, co-founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates and one of the richest men in the world, bought the referendum both literally and figuratively.

    In a stunningly brazen maneuver, he paid the state of Washington for the costs of running the special referendum election in June 1997. Although later challenged as a violation of the state's constitution, the state Supreme Court upheld the private financing of the election. But even the Supreme Court majority which upheld the constitutionality of the election purchase blanched at its political ramifications. "Troubling questions may arise, such as whether any wealthy entity could persuade the legislature to place a measure on the ballot provided the costs of the election were paid," wrote Justice Barbara Madsen for the majority.

    Having paid for the issue to get on the ballot, Allen then waged a $6.3 million campaign-the most expensive in Washington state history-to convince voters to support the $300 million public subsidy to the stadium. He devoted $2.3 million to radio and TV ads. In total, Allen outspent opponents of the referendum by a 42-to-1 margin.

    Allen's investment proved just enough: Washington voters, initially opposed by overwhelming numbers to the idea of public funding for the stadium, approved the referendum with a 51 percent majority.

  6. Re:largest yacht by blosphere · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, The largest yatch is owned by the Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, the name is 'Platinum'

    Allen's boat was designed by the same company btw.

    I do think he has the biggest yatch in US

    Linky. http://www.bostonboating.com/platinum.htm
  7. Achievement list... by Chaffar · · Score: 4, Funny
    Born: January 21, 1953, Seattle, Washington 1975: Co-founds Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates 1983: Develops Hodgkin's disease
    So this man is responsible for the development of Microsoft AND Hodgkin's disease? The man's the devil himself :0!
  8. Re:FYI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Northwest franchises and real estate: Seattle Seahawks NFL football (First and Goal, Stadium construction company, includes all proceeds from new stadium, exhibition hall, and related revenues); Portland Trailblazers NBA basketball (Rose Garden Arena); South Lake Union Seaport Park redevelopment; Formal Naval Reserve Base (a 12 acre, $35 million park); Lake Union (223,000 square feet total ownership, $400 million total development costs so far); Quendall Landing in Renton (68 acres mixed business and residential real estate, $500 million to develop so far); Experience Music Project; Cinerama; Union Station & surrounding real estate; and leases extensive space at Smith Tower. International real estate: The Hospital--an Art space in Camden, England. Radio: KEXP (Seattle, non-commercial, underwriting agreement with Univ. of Washington); OneOnOne Sports (radio syndication network, also owns three commercial radio stations in Chicago); and two commercial radio stations in Portland. Charity and other organizations: Clear Blue sky--Production company for Indy films; The Paul G. Allen Foundation for Medical Research; The Allen Foundation for the Arts; The Allen Foundation for Music; The Paul G. Allen Forest Protection Foundation; and The Paul G. Allen Virtual Education Foundation. Cash: $28 billion in assets; $1.04 billion in public funds. Investments through Vulcan Ventures (Full or partial ownership): 800.com; Allegiance Telecom Inc.; Aluentive; Apex Learning; ARI Network Services; BOPS; Caspian Networks; Charter Communications; click2learn.com; Colorado Microdisplay; Command Audio; Cyber Source; Dick's Clothing and Sporting Goods; Diego Broadband Inc.; Dreamworks SKG; Drugstore.com; e-Media, LLC; e-Steel; Edison Schools; Encryptix, Inc.; eStyle, Inc.; Fantasma Networks; Fatbrain.com; Genomix; Go2Net Inc.; HarvardNet Inc.; Health Answers Inc.; High Speed Access Corp.; IFILM; imandi.com; Installations Inc.; inviso; iVast; IVT; Kestrel Solutions; LiquidAudio Inc. Magis Networks; Metricom Inc.; myplay Inc.; NetSchools Corp.; Northpoint Communications; oncology.com; OnePage Inc.; Oxygen Media; Paraform Inc.; RCN Corportation; Replay TV Inc.; RioPort Inc.; Rocket Network Inc. Sandbox.com; ScienceMedia; Sharewave Inc.; Stamps.com; Structural GenomiX; TechTV; Terra Stor; The Sporting News; Transmeta; Triscend Corporation; Tularik Inc.; USA Networks Inc.; Versata Inc.; Vulcan Northwest Inc.; Vulcan Ventures Inc.; Wavetrace; Wink Comm; and Xcyte Therapies.

  9. IBM didn't make a difference; Compaq did by tomcres · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Really, it doesn't matter whether IBM picked up on DOS, CP/M, or something else. IBM was a business machine, almost never found in homes. Why would you use it at home? There were cheaper computers better suited for home applications available from Commodore, Atari, and Apple (OK, Apple wasn't all that cheap, but still cheaper than IBM at the time).

    What really made the PC ubiquitously popular was Compaq's reverse-engineering of the IBM BIOS. This meant that you no longer had to pay top dollar for something that was truly IBM compatible. This, coupled with the adoption of the ISA bus by all of the PC manufacturers, is what made the PC the king of the hill. All of a sudden, Intel (and others) had a real incentive to make faster, more capable CPUs (because IBM wasn't the only game in town anymore for the x86), and because of standards like the ISA bus, card manufacturers had a broader audience to develop things like SoundBlaster. It was because of this opening up of the hardware to virtually anyone that the PC became popular. It had absolutely nothing to do with Microsoft or DOS. Remember, also, that Microsoft also produced the BASIC in every single Commodore 8-bit computer from the PET through the 128, and so they made money on the millions of those sold, in addition to MS-DOS/PC-DOS.

  10. Re:Interesting by metlin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Wow.

    Only on Slashdot would you have a businessman of a technology company being compared to a pimp, a smuggler and a murderer.

    What the hell are you talking about?! How many people has Microsoft (or Bill Gates) killed? Does he own a freakin' whorehouse or a casino? The only thing he has done is conduct a business the way every business is conducted - to maximize profit.

    Microsoft is a business entity. They are a corporation. Like every other corporation out there, their purpose is to enhance the shareholder value, period. That does not make them any more or less evil. They just are that way. And they are giving back to society, a lot more than most companies ever have.

    You know something? I would *much* rather have Microsoft profit in billions and spend money towards helping something more important than code, like AIDS or Cancer, than feel bad for a two penny company that could not take care of itself. Business is like the animal kingdom, there are predators and preys and it is not good or evil, merely the survival of the fittest.

    If you have a good idea and good management, you can surivive. Look at Google, they are the perfect example.

    Stop making ridiculous comparisons. While Microsoft maybe a ruthless business, they are contributing a whole lot to society. I would much rather have that. And you, my good sir, what have you done to the well being of the society lately? Helped cure anything?

    Bloody trolls.