Everybody knows Bill Gates -- Microsoft cofounder and longtime CEO, former richest man in the world (now #2), and named Time's Man of the Year in 2005 for his work with the Gates Foundation.
But fewer people know the other cofounder, Paul Allen. (He's the guy in the bottom right.)
He's a regular topic of conversation in Seattle; not so in New York, Silicon Valley, or beyond.
With his billions, he's invested in a lot of tech companies, but he's also had a fascinating life.
While a lot of billionaires stay dead serious about their business, and dig into other serious realms like politics and philanthropy, Allen has never been afraid to have fun with his fortune.
He owns two professional sports teams, and part of a third
A lot of billionaire moguls own a professional sports team, but Allen is the only American with two:
the NBA Portland Trail Blazers, which he bought in 1988, and the NFL Seattle Seahawks, which he
bought in 1997 after Ken Behring threatened to move the team to California.
He's also part owner of the Seattle Sounders FC, which regularly sells out the 30,000-seat layout
of Qwest Field used for soccer games.
He built a museum devoted to his rock and roll hero
In 2000, Allen opened the Experience Music Project, a rock and roll museum dedicated to his
hero Jimi Hendrix and housed in a psychedelic Frank Gehry building that was meant to look
like a melted guitar.
And when that got old, he opened a new one devoted to science fiction
The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame opened in 2004 in the same building as the EMP,
featuring things like Captain Kirk's chair and Robby the Robot from the 1950s TV series "Forbidden
Planet."
He doesn't just party with rock stars, he jams with them
Allen
plays guitar, but not just with a bunch of pick-up musicians or guys from work.
According to
gossip in the Seattle music scene, he keeps several musicians on full-time retainer. When they
get
the call, they must be ready within 24 hours to fly anywhere in the world to jam with Allen and his
rock star party guests like Eric Clapton.
He owns one of the biggest yachts in the world ...
Which has its own submarine
It's called the Octopus, and it measures 414 feet and
reportedly costs $20 million a year to
maintain. He recently put another giant boat, the 303-foot Tatoosh,
up for sale.
...
The Octopus has a submarine attached. It can sleep 10 people for up to two weeks.
(This isn't it, obviously -- no pictures are available.)
He collects vintage WWII fighting planes
Here's a picture from 2008, when he opened his collection to the public.
He bought his favorite movie theater when it was going to be demolished
He refurbished The Cinerama, a 70mm movie theater, with state of the art sound
and projection
systems while preserving its vintage curved screen.
He founded an institute devoted to brain science
Allen Institute for brain science
Allen funds tons of charitable projects, including The Allen Institute
for Brain Science,
which regularly releases research about the brain for free on the
Web site
brain-map.org.
Check out that house!
Allen's home in the Seattle suburb of Mercer Island is a 10,000-square foot compound
hidden in the trees with quarters for his mother and a regulation NBA size basketball court.
That octagonal shape on top of the yacht is a helicopter landing pad.
He has completely changed the landscape of Seattle
Since the 1980s, Seattle has morphed from grungy fisherman's burg to
Pacific Rim city of glass,
and Allen's Vulcan Ventures has driven lots of the big changes.
First he built a new headquarters
in the International District, formerly one of the seedier parts of town.
Then he lobbied heavily to
get the city to replace the decrepit Kingdome next door and build a state
of the art outdoor stadium
instead.
In the last decade, Vulcan has led the transformation of the area south
of Lake Union (shown here),
which used to be a no-man's land of parking lots. In the last ten years,
it's been filled with glassy
office buildings, fancy restaurants and hotels, and a streetcar.
Even the Gates Foundation and
Amazon are building their fancy new headquarters nearby.
He beat cancer.
Allen was diagnosed with a form of lymphatic cancer called Hodgkin's disease,
and left Microsoft
in 1983 to get treatment. He recovered fully.
Unfortunately, Vulcan revealed in 2009 that he was being treated for a
different form of lymphatic
cancer. There has been no further word on his condition, but he is
working and attending Blazers
and Seahawks games regularly.
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