Historical Figure
Paul Allen
1953–2018
American businessman (1953–2018)
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Biography
Paul Gardner Allen was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Allen discovered the wrecks of various famous warships, like the IJN Musashi and USS Indianapolis, and was ranked as one of the richest people in American history by Forbes, with an estimated net worth of $20.3 billion at the time of his death in October 2018.
Timeline
The story of Paul Allen, told in moments.
Co-founded Microsoft with Gates in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Allen came up with the name. Their first product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. Allen was 22.
Left Microsoft after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He overheard Gates and Steve Ballmer discussing how to dilute his equity while he was undergoing treatment. He beat the cancer. He never fully reconciled with Gates.
Bought the Portland Trail Blazers for $70 million. Later bought the Seattle Seahawks for $194 million. He spent freely on real estate, yachts, and a collection of vintage aircraft, including a working MiG-29.
SpaceShipOne, which he funded through Vulcan Aerospace, won the $10 million Ansari X Prize by flying to space twice in two weeks. First privately funded vehicle to reach space.
In Their Own Words (11)
I simply wanted to advance the field of artificial intelligence so that computers could do what they do best (organize and analyze information) to help people do what they do best, those inspired leaps of intuition that fuel original ideas and breakthroughs.
The Washington Post: "Thought process: Building an artificial brain" (30 September 2015), 2015
It's very challenging to carve back market share.
The New York Times: "40 Busy Years Later, Paul Allen, a Microsoft Founder, Considers His Creation" (03 May 2015), 2015
I’m trying to transmit the visions of creativity and build institutions that are incredibly catalytic to their fields.
The New York Times: "Paul Allen’s Philanthropy Mirrors His Passions and Business Approach" (02 November 2015), 2015
Our great string of successes had married my vision to his unmatched aptitude for business.
Idea Man (2012), 2012
What we did was unprecedented, but what is less well understood is that we had no choice.
Idea Man (2012), 2012
Artifacts (15)
Édouard Manet, View in Venice-The Grand Canal, 1874 - Paul G. Allen Collection
Édouard Manet
Claude Monet, Paysage dans l’île Saint-Martin, 1881 - Paul G. Allen Collection
Claude Monet
An operation for appendicitis at the Military Hospital, Endell Street, London. Chalk drawing by Francis Dodd, 1917.
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