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Paul Gardner Allen (born January 21, 1953, in Seattle, Washington) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and is one of the wealthiest people in the world.

He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which is his private asset management company, and is chairman of Charter Communications. Allen also has a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio which includes stakes in Digeo, Kiha Software, real estate holdings, and more than 40 other technology, media, and content companies. Allen also owns three professional sports teams: the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League, the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association, and the Seattle Sounders FC franchise in Major League Soccer that began playing in the 2009 season.

According to Forbes Allen is the 37th richest person in the world, worth about $13.5 billion. This is up from 2009th $10.5 billion, but down from $16 billion, the total reported by that same magazine at the beginning of the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, when he was 12th on its list of the richest Americans.

In 2007, Allen's net worth was estimated at $18 billion, which at that time made him the 19th richest in the world.

Early years

Paul Gardner Allen was born in Seattle, Washington to parents Kenneth S. Allen, an associate director of the University of Washington libraries, and Faye G. Allen, on January 21, 1953. Allen attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, and befriended Bill Gates, who was two years his junior but shared a common enthusiasm for computers. They used Lakeside's teletype terminal to develop their programming skills on several time-sharing computer systems. After graduation Allen attended Washington State University and was an active member in Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity. He dropped out after two years in order to work as a programmer for Honeywell in Boston, which placed him near his old friend again. Allen later convinced Gates to drop out of Harvard University in order to create Microsoft.

Microsoft

Allen co-founded Microsoft (initially "Micro-Soft") with Bill Gates in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975, and began marketing a BASIC programming language interpreter. In 1980, after promising to deliver IBM a Disk Operating System (DOS) they had not yet developed for the Intel 8088-based IBM PC, Allen spearheaded a deal for Microsoft to purchase a Quick and Dirty Operating System (QDOS) written by Tim Paterson who, at the time, was employed at Seattle Computer Products. As a result of this transaction, Microsoft was able to secure a contract to supply the DOS that would eventually run on IBM's PC line. This contract with Big Blue was the watershed in Microsoft history that led to Allen and Gates's fabulous wealth.

Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease in 1983. His cancer was successfully treated by several months of radiation therapy and a bone marrow transplant. However, he did not return to Microsoft and began distancing himself from the company. Allen officially resigned from his position on the Microsoft board in November 2000 but was asked to consult as a senior strategy advisor to the company's executives. He sold 68 million shares of Microsoft stock that year, but still owns a reported 138 million shares.

Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in November, 2009.

Recognition

In 2007 and 2008, Allen was listed among Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

On October 30, 2008, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors honored Paul Allen for his “unwavering commitment to nonprofit organizations in the Pacific Northwest and lifetime giving approaching $1 billion.”

Paul Allen has received awards and honorary degrees from several universities. In May 1999, Washington State University bestowed its highest honor, the Regents' Distinguished Alumnus Award, upon Allen. He received a "Docteur honoris causa" from the Ecole Polytechnique D-Washington, and Seattle Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke spoke at the event honoring Allen.

On January 31, 2009, Paul Allen received a special merit award from the Oregon Sports Award program, recognizing his many contributions to Oregon's sports scene during his 20+-year ownership of the Portland Trail Blazers basketball franchise.