Paul Allen

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Paul Allen
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Paul Allen

Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953) is an entrepreneur who established himself by co-founding Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates. He regularly appears on lists of the richest people in the world; as of 2005 he is ranked by Forbes magazine as the seventh richest, worth an estimated $21 billion, of which $5 billion is in Microsoft stock. His investment vehicle, Vulcan Ventures, also holds large stakes in Charter Communications and Dreamworks SKG. He was recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

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Early years

Paul Allen was born in Seattle, Washington to Kenneth S. Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington libraries and Faye G. Allen. Allen attended Lakeside School, a prestigious private school in Seattle and befriended Bill Gates, two years his junior but shared a common enthusiasm for computers. Together they monopolized the use of Lakeside school's single minicomputer but in need of more computing power, Allen and Gates snuck into the University of Washington computer labs. They were caught but struck an agreement with lab administrators by providing free computer help to students. After graduation, Allen attended Washington State University, though he dropped out after two years to pursue his dream of writing software commercially for the new "personal computers". He later convinced Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard College to found Microsoft.

Microsoft

For more information, see History of Microsoft

With Bill Gates, he co-founded Microsoft (initially "Micro-Soft") in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975, and began selling a BASIC interpreter. Allen spearheaded a deal for Microsoft to buy an operating system called QDOS for $50,000. Microsoft won a contract to supply it for use as the operating system of IBM's new PC. This became a foundation of Microsoft's remarkable growth.

Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease which was successfully treated by several months of radiation therapy and a bone marrow transplant.

In November 2000, Allen resigned from his position on the Microsoft board but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to Microsoft executives.

Philanthropy

Much of Paul Allen's philanthropy has been dedicated to the advancement of science and technology. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation was established in 1986 to administer much of the giving. Allen's most famous philanthropic projects are the Experience Music Project, the Allen Brain Atlas, and SETI. Paul Allen's total philanthropy as of 2005 is estimated to be over US$800 million dollars.

The University of Washington has been a major recipient of Paul Allen's giving. In the late 1980's, Allen donated US$18 million to build a new library named after his father, Kenneth S. Allen. In 2003 US$5 million was donated to establish the Faye G. Allen (his mother) Center for Visual Arts. Paul Allen also was the top private contributor (US$14 million) and namesake of the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science & Engineering (completed in 2004). Throughout the years, Allen has contributed millions of US dollars to the University of Washington Medical School most recently, US$3.2 million for prostatitis research. Allen is also the primary developer and investor of a proposed medical research campus in the south Union Bay neighborhood adjacent to the University of Washington with investments estimated at US$400 million as of 2005.

Sports involvement

In 1988, Paul Allen purchased the Portland Trail Blazers NBA team, and was instrumental in the development and funding of their Rose Garden Arena in 1993. In 1997, he purchased the Seattle Seahawks NFL team. He also played a large part in the development of Qwest Field. Through his Vulcan Inc. Paul Allen also owns The Sporting News magazine.

Property

Paul Allen owns cable giant Charter Communications and has a holding in the Oxygen Media channel.

Yacht

Paul Allen also owns the world's third largest private yacht, the Octopus. Costing US $200 million to build, it is 416 feet (126.8 metres) long and has a permanent crew of 60, which includes several former Navy Seals. Octopus also has two helipads, seven smaller boats within and a 10 man submarine which is capable of staying two weeks underwater with a full crew.

His other yacht, the Tatoosh, was the second-largest in the United States when purchased in 2000. The 300-foot Tatoosh carries a 30-person crew, two helicopters, a swimming pool, a spa, a private movie theater, six other surface boats (including a separate 54-foot racing yacht and two Hobie catamarans) and (only one) submarine.

Paul Allen apparently also has a third yacht slightly smaller than Tatoosh, as well as two Boeing 757s.

SpaceShipOne

In 2004, Paul Allen confirmed that he was the angel investor behind Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne suborbital commercial spacecraft.

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