MS Co-founder Paul Allen Bitter Towards Bill Gates
He has billions and a story to go along with them.
Paul Allen is the co-founder of Microsoft. He was there in the very beginning, when it was just him and Bill Gates. He was there when he came up with the name Micro-Soft as a marriage between microprocessors and software. Now, Paul Allen is telling his story in a book titled, "Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft."
Vanity Fair has reprinted an excerpt from his upcoming book that gives Paul Allen's view on the early years. Some parts on Bill Gates aren't exactly the most complimentary, but the overall message is that he was an exceptional force behind Microsoft.
Here are some interesting bits on the interactions between Gates and Allen:
From the time we’d started together in Massachusetts, I’d assumed that our partnership would be a 50-50 proposition. But Bill had another idea. “It’s not right for you to get half,” he said. “You had your salary at MITS while I did almost everything on BASIC without one back in Boston. I should get more. I think it should be 60-40.”
At first I was taken aback. But as I pondered it, Bill’s position didn’t seem unreasonable. I’d been coding what I could in my spare time, and feeling guilty that I couldn’t do more, but Bill had been instrumental in packing our software with “more features per byte of memory than any other BASIC we know,” as I’d written for Computer Notes. All in all, I thought, a 60-40 split might be fair.
A short time later, we licensed BASIC to NCR for $175,000. Even with half the proceeds going to Ed Roberts, that single fee would pay five or six programmers for a year.
Bill’s intensity was nonstop, and when he asked me for a walk-and-talk one day, I knew something was up. We’d gone a block when he cut to the chase: “I’ve done most of the work on BASIC, and I gave up a lot to leave Harvard,” he said. “I deserve more than 60 percent.”
“How much more?”
“I was thinking 64-36.”
Microsoft was a high-stress environment because Bill drove others as hard as he drove himself. He was growing into the taskmaster who would prowl the parking lot on weekends to see who’d made it in. People were already busting their tails, and it got under their skin when Bill hectored them into doing more. Bob Greenberg, a Harvard classmate of Bill’s whom we’d hired, once put in 81 hours in four days, Monday through Thursday, to finish part of the Texas Instruments BASIC. When Bill touched base toward the end of Bob’s marathon, he asked him, “What are you working on tomorrow?”
Bob said, “I was planning to take the day off.”
And Bill said, “Why would you want to do that?” He genuinely couldn’t understand it; he never seemed to need to recharge.
There was also another story about how Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were trying to dilute Allen's equity in the company while he was out fighting cancer. Some of the tales told in the excerpt do vilify Gates somewhat, but Allen did write about their duo, "Our great string of successes had married my vision to his unmatched aptitude for business."
Although the book hasn't yet been released, Bill Gates has issued a statement about Allen's memoirs: "While my recollection of many of these events may differ from Paul's, I value his friendship and the important contributions he made to the world of technology and at Microsoft."
"Idea Man: A Memoir by the Co-founder of Microsoft" is scheduled to go on sale on April 17. Read the excerpt here.
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Seems fair enough... I think
Bill's portion of the profits for BASIC should certainly have been proportional to his contribution to it, but the bigger question is about Paul Allen's contribution to everything after that. If he was still getting 36% at a point when he was doing substantially more for the company, that would certainly be unfair.
But cry me a river, the guy is still a billionaire. He'll just have to make do with a few less billion than he might have had.
...the guy is still a billionaire. He'll just have to make do with a few less billion than he might have had.
Quite!
He's complaining because he wasn't doing much of the work and didn't get a bigger share? He should have quit his job and worked full time in the company to maintain his higher share... it's his mistake, not Bill's.
Ya both have more money than any of us will ever have...BUT id rather them than some 'Paris Hilton' or 'Britney Spears', these guys at least contributed to our society.
I agree with thunderfox, and yes he is still a billionair. He has got more than enough to last him his life at the same life style standards he has been enjoying. I would like to read the whole story though.
Why write a book, not like he needs the money, ASW.
the quotes above don't reflect much bitterness in him. he just tell the stories as there were by his recollection. let the readers do the judging.
could someone explain to me why, every time I log into this site, the comment I just entered is forgotten, forcing me to re-type it entirely?
If I'm not mistaken, the time frame evoked is around the time Bill Gates was stealing CPU time from Harvard's mainframe, to program said BASIC, for an amount of more than $4000 (which was, at the time, a sizable sum). He was actually arrested, charged and kicked out of Harvard (he didn't actually drop out).
exacting taskmaster with a business sense or a greedy thief, one may wonder - probably a bit of both.
I wonder what would have happened if Paul Allen had not decided to go along.
He's complaining because he wasn't doing much of the work and didn't get a bigger share? He should have quit his job and worked full time in the company to maintain his higher share... it's his mistake, not Bill's.
You never want to quit your full time job unless it is a sure thing. Maybe he had his doubts. However, if Bill put in the time in like he did in the beginning then I believe he desevered that split. If I remeber correctly, he still put in 12 to 14 hours a day when he had his family. When you say "Microsoft" you automatically think of Bill Gates not Paul Allen!!
I have no sympathy for Paul allen, he agreed to the concession when the money involved was basically chump-change.
That tells me he had no vision or faith that it would become huge otherwise he would have fought for a higher percentage himself.
Another reason he deserves no sympathy is the fact he is a multi-billionaire, it's hard to feel sorry for someone who earns more money in the time it takes to wipe his ass than the rest of us earn in a year.
Paul Allen's definition of being hard done by is only having 3 yachts, restricting himself to the other 16 bedrooms and making the tough choice between having a swimming pool full of vintage champage or HP printer ink.
I already new Bill there was a bit of a jerk and a workaholic. I do think he screwed Allen a bit there but then Allen let himself. You have to remember, Paul Allen also thought Value America was a great idea and ..... well ......
Looks like a nice behind the scene's view of how a person becomes a billionare. Being extremely talented, driven, working as hard as you possibly can for long periods of time and pushing everyone around you to succeed as well. Looks like it paid off for Bill.
The above all sounded fair to me. =) At least he didn't pull a Zuckerburg on the guy, provided that the movie the Social Network at least has some truth to it.
I'd like to purchase his book now!
These guys are living the American dream. The fact they could even have these discussions of 60-40 or whichever is awesome testament to freedom, dedication, and hard work.
Paul Allen is billionaire. He doesn't need more money. Bill Gates is doing good things with his money, so let him have it.
I think even Bill Gates would admit he's no saint. My fiance and I had the opportunity to meet Bill Gates at one of his charity events. Afterward my fiance said something that made me laugh but it was so true "he's the one nerd you never want to mess with". Love him or hate him Gates has done a lot of good with the money he has. All Allen has done is invest company after company that has gone belly up. I hope when Steve Jobs finally retires (although I think he pretty much has) he puts his money to good use too. Although it was made-for-tv-movie "Pirates of Silicone Valley" was a pretty decent flick about how Microsoft and Apple came to be.
Why oh why couldn't I have been born as one of their sons? Even Allen's would have been good enough. I could have a easy do almost nothing job at Microsoft right now... instead of my easy do nothing job at *****. I could go home after a hard days of "work" and sleep on a pile of money next to my beautiful geeky girlfriends who love to debate and discuss philosophy
while playing RPGs, and strategy games. Damn you cruel fate! Damn you!
Paul Allen is billionaire. He doesn't need more money. Bill Gates is doing good things with his money, so let him have it.
bill gates only donates because he wants good pr. you'd have to be pretty naive to think otherwise
bill gates only donates because he wants good pr. you'd have to be pretty naive to think otherwise
Hardly the amount he donated thus far alone exceeds more than any good amount of PR could bring him. Also I highly doubt anyone really goes out and buys any Microsoft products with Bill Gates generosity in mind.
He is very much a decent human being.
Gates still visits Congress to boost H1B visa levels, complaining about a lack of tech graduates in the US. Then he sends $20 million to India to help get more tech graduates to bring over.
Not many people who can just stop by Congress on an afternoon and have legislation done before he leaves, but that's American government. If you have money, you can never be wrong.
Gates was definitely a taskmaster in those first couple of decades at Microsoft. From what I can tell, though, getting married and having a family of his own chilled him out a bit. I just don't think it ever occurred to him before that people might actually have meaningful lives outside of work until he experienced that for himself.
Since that seeming change in his attitude, he also has become one of the greatest philanthropists in the world. I doubt at this point that it has to do with wanting good PR. The money he has invested in his charity exceeds the value of some mega-corporations, and he puts a great deal of his own time and effort into helping others now as well.
Consider also that he is retired now, and isn't selling anything that really needs good PR.
I think he really is a hard working, good person who just didn't have any priorities outside of work before his marriage. If I'm right about that, then I say, "Good job!" to his wife for helping him become the man he is today.
I am guessing he is more about the attention than the money. Coming out with a book. I never heard of the guy until now (or just don't remember). Then again, I don't even remember Zukerbergs counterpart either.
Seeing as Bill finally values the contributions Paul made to the company, whereas when he was arguing that Paul was contributing just over 1/3rd of what Bill was contributing, why don't we ask Bill if he will see right to cutting Paul in 50/50 as Paul had intended, and as is only fair for someone so valued?
That book actually looks pretty well written--I think I'd read it if I read books (but I only read articles). Paul Allen tried pretty hard not to vilify Bill while describing negatives and I didn't get the impression he's bitter about the way it worked out. I think their portions were fair at the time and they both got a lot back.
It sucks to be the guy coming in Friday after working 81 hours though! I bet he's not a multi-billionaire now.
Bill Gates works for the government and part of the secret society. He is the major influence behind population reduction. Good reason to leave Microsoft in the last few years to focus on furthering the Illuminati's agendas. Now their work is coming to past.
We have a LONG two years ahead of us as a species here on earth. Good luck, people. Oh, and before you go and bash my "ridiculous" comment, do the research. You can start on YouTube, then follow up with more detailed research based on what you find. You people need to wake up. They have you all running circles and never getting to the sources. Peace.
Microsoft's contribution to society is roughly the same as a bad flu.
It might be common, but it's not any good.
They've always made trash, and always used monopoly power to try to push more trash. When they can't leverage their monopoly, they fail.
Bill Gates deserves some credit for basically creating the framework for a modern software company, but he deserves discredit for being the man behind the consistently worse products ever made.
You can't compared him to Steve Jobs, who didn't succeed because IBM chose his product, because the competing product wasn't available, and the man's wife didn't like IBM. They were in the business before IBM, and after, and they came out with products people actually liked, not had to get because they were the de-facto standard due to a terrible decision by IBM.
I don't think he is being bitter, he's just telling it as how he recollects it. Is the word bitter even included in the dictionary of billionaires? He's also giving the readers a perspective on his relationship with Bill, and insights on Bill's personality - what value would a memoir involving the history of Microsoft if you do not include Bill Gates to it
It sucks to be the guy coming in Friday after working 81 hours though! I bet he's not a multi-billionaire now.
I heard that many of the early employees were paid in MS stock and they became millionaires in less than a decade...not too bad of a trade-off if you can survive 80 hours a week of intense coding.
I'm not surprised at Allen's depiction of Gates. Gates could have been the world's greatest software coder, but without financial ambition and a willingness to work 60-80 hours per week, he'd be just another nerd living in an apartment with a nice collection of unopened Kinner toys and a Miata.