If Bill Gates is just a person and not a hero, you don't have to explain away any of his mistakes. You don't have to elevate him for his philanthropy. You don't have to make any judgments about him, unless it has any bearing on any decision or action you have to take.
Gates has himself admitted that he was a bully, yet people feel the need to defend him.
Rockefeller ruthlessly destroyed lifes but he was also committed philanthropist that started to give six percent of his earnings to charity at age 16. As he grew richer he gave more.
That said, Ballmer addressing employees, he bled the company on his sleeve. Even having disagreements on how things were, the genuine feeling coming from him - in person or on video - was actually contagious - for a time.
Things are not black and white.
My only knowledge of Paul Allen outside of stories about Vulcan ventures was knowing people that worked at one of his properties having to sign NDAs, which is understandable.
No one is black and white. Faults should not be washed over, achievements over blown, hopefully we all add something net positive in our finite time.
There are lot of parallels to Zuck and Eduardo except that Allen was lucky enough to be at right place and right time to overhear the plan to dilute his stack and prevent it before it was executed.
In most instances like this the co-founder is likely to continue vesting as normal. Whether all parties are happy with this arrangement or not is likely to vary significantly from case to case.
i.e. if one co-founder cannot work as much as the other, should there be a change in compensation?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/03/30/bill-...
They started and ended as friends, the rest are details
"In December 1982, when Allen was sick with cancer, he overheard Gates and Ballmer discussing his lack of contributions and how to dilute his equity by offering stock options to other employees and shareholders. Allen confronted them and quit a little bit later. " [1]
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-paul-allen-really-think...
https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Man-Memoir-Cofounder-Microsoft/d...
What a magical moment, those youthful fancies. I know that very spot they stood and it still is the same I guess -- all the traffic on either side of the newsstand, street singers, students running to their classes, eating places to decide upon, bookstores ... and the ideas that bloomed from there are so many.
Bye, Mr. Allen.
Really sad he went so soon; RIP.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Man-Memoir-Cofounder-Microsoft/d...
That's quite a statement, wow. I wonder if it's moments like this that distinguish really, really successful people from the rest.
> Here we are in school. That’s Paul on the left, our friend Ric Weiland, and me on the right.
In case you are wondering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric_Weiland
Here is another article discussing how he distributed his wealth:
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/remarkable-life-legacy-ric-wei...
The number of times I have heard of this misfortune is sometime truly astounding. A whole community ravaged by an illness that we don't have a solution to, with the government turning their back to it.
Paul Allen and Bill Gates were friends from early teenage years until the 60s, until death. Through so much change in the world, much of it instigated by them. Through becoming some of the richest, most powerful people on the planet and then turning into philanthropists together. Nearly half a century.
I literally cannot imagine the emotions Gates has to be going through as he writes this note. My heart goes out to him as much as Allen's family.
I am sure there were things between them, that no one else could empathize with.
That beacon has grown a little bit dimmer.
And yet still, the impact Paul Allen has had on Seattle shall remain for generations to come.
I wonder did Gates ever manage to get the shares back?
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/10/15/business/15reuter...
https://www.cnet.com/news/paul-allen-gates-ballmer-tried-to-...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371608/Bill-Gates-...
Don't read any of the more recent happy articles. Search for articles and books from the early days when the real truth was printed.
