Paul Allen was a successful businessman, philanthropist, shareholder, programmer, and researcher from the United States. Bill Gates and Paul Allen created Microsoft Corporation together in 1975. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were childhood friends. Together, they led the company’s computer revolution. One of the biggest corporations that produces computer software is Microsoft. Check out the article to explore more about him and learn more amazing facts that you didn’t know before.
Who is Paul Allen?
Paul Gardner Allen, better known by his stage name “the Idea Man,” was a late American businessman, investor, owner of a professional sports team, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with Bill Gates.
Paul Allen formed Vulcan Inc. after leaving Microsoft and amassed a multibillion dollar investment portfolio, including ownership of sports franchises, properties, and fine art.
Paul Allen Wiki
| Name | Paul Gardner Allen |
| Famous as | Co-founder of Microsoft |
| Gender | Male |
| Profession | Programmer, Entrepreneur, Businessperson, Investor, Film Producer, Television producer, Inventor, Philanthropist |
| Birth day | 21 January 1953. |
| Birth place | Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Father | Kenneth Samuel Allen |
| Mother | Edna Faye Allen |
| Sister | Jody Allen |
| Date of Death | 15 October 2018 |
| Place of Death | Seattle, Washington, USA |
| Died for | Cancer |
| Religion | devout Christian |
| Nationality | American |
| Zodiac sign | Sun sign Aquarius |
| Age | 65 years old till death |
| Height | 5.10 feet |
| Weight | 75 kg |
| Sexual orientation | Straight. |
| Marital Status | Unmarried |
| Ex Girlfriend | Jeri Hall |
| Hair Color | Medium Blonde |
| Eye Color | Dark Blue |
| Food Habit | Vegetarian |
| Hobbies | Singing, playing guitar, collecting warplanes. |
| Net Worth | $20 Billion |
Paul Allen’s Origin Story and Education
Kenneth and Edna Allen gave birth to Paul Gardner Allen on January 21, 1953, in Seattle, Washington. In 1959, his sister Jody was born. He met and became friends with Bill Gates while attending Seattle’s Lakeside School, a private high school. Both of them had a keen interest in computers. Despite having a two-year age difference, they grew close friends and began programming and hacking together as a result of having access to a mainframe system that belonged to their school.
A year’s worth of mainframe time was infamously purchased by the school, only to discover that Allen and Gates had used it all up in just three weeks. Allen soon started snooping into computer laboratories and logged in as an administrator. Allen even pretended to be a PhD student at the University of Washington in order to acquire more programming time. He was ultimately discovered and expelled from the lab.
Allen attended Washington State University with a flawless SAT score of 1600 and joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity there. After two years, he left school to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston, close to Harvard, where Bill Gates was a student. Allen persuaded Gates to leave Harvard in order to launch a software company with him. Microsoft was that software provider.
Beginning Story of Microsoft
In 1975, Allen and Gates opened a business in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their big break occurred when they came across a Popular Electronics Magazine story about the Altair 8800. The computer was perfect for home computing because it was portable and affordable. The two men approached the Altair 8800’s maker and offered to create a programming language for it. The creation of that language, known as BASIC, made them aware of the potential benefits of developing a programming language. Oh, and they created it for a computer that they had never ever seen before, let alone owned. Amazingly, it was successful, and their language was effective.
Microsoft became a trademark by Allen and Gates on November 26, 1976. The business went public on March 13, 1986. Allen’s 25% ownership was worth $195 million after the opening day of trading. At 33 years old, he was. As you well know, Microsoft made its founders extremely wealthy over the course of the following few decades, making it one of the most valuable firms in the world. Paul departed Microsoft in the middle of the 1980s due to a management disagreement with Bill Gates, but he continued to serve on the board of directors of the organization until 2000.
Vulcan Capital
Allen used the money from his Microsoft shares to fund Vulcan Capital, the private venture company he and his sister Jody Allen established in 1986. Both the Maaco and Meineke auto maintenance brands are currently owned by Vulcan. It was a founding investor in the movie company Dreamworks SKG and has developed over 7 million square feet of real estate.
Allen founded Vulcan Aerospace, which provided funding for the SpaceShipOne project and was awarded the $10 million Ansari X Prize in 2004. Richard Branson purchased the technology underlying SpaceShipOne from Allen. (Which later became SpaceShipTwo.) The largest airplane in the world was being constructed by Allen’s Vulcan Aerospace at the time of his passing. He intended to utilize this aircraft as a launch pad for orbital rockets.
Owner of sports team
The Portland Trailblazers, Seattle Sounders FC, and Seattle Seahawks were three of Allen’s professional sports franchises. When former owner and real estate developer Ken Behring threatened to relocate the Seahawks to Southern California, he bought the team in 1997 for $194 million. When Allen owned the Seahawks, he built a new stadium, hired Pete Carroll, a former USC coach, won a Super Bowl, and generally tried to appease a group of supporters regarded as among the NFL’s most fervent home crowds. He was successful there.
Personal Life
Paul Allen was seen as a reserved and quiet individual. He had a family, although he was never married and never had kids. Because he believed he was too young to get married, the marriage proposals he made to his first girlfriend fell through.
Death
In 1982, Allen received a Stage 1-A Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis. Despite the fact that radiation therapy over several months was successful in treating his cancer. Allen had a non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis in 2009. The cancer was successfully treated until it came back in 2018, which led to his death on October 15 of septic shock. At 65 years old, he was.
