Microsoft co-founder slams Bill Gates in new book - Yahoo! News
In early 1975, after a test on an early Altair microcomputer proved their BASIC program, they decided to form a partnership: Micro-Soft.
Allen said he had always assumed a 50-50 split.
"But Bill had another idea," he wrote: A 60 percent share for himself, claiming he had done more of the programming.
Allen reluctantly agreed, but a short time later, after they had licensed BASIC to NCR Corp for $175,000, Gates demanded a 64 percent stake.
Unclear on the rationale, Allen nevertheless agreed.
"I might have haggled ... but my heart wasn't in it," he wrote.
Much later, Allen said, he mused over how Gates reached the 64 percent share.
"I tried to put myself in his shoes and reconstruct his thinking, and I concluded that it was just this simple: What's the most I can get? I think Bill knew that I would balk at a two-to-one split, and that 64 percent was as far as he could go."
"I'd been taught that a deal was a deal and your word was your bond. Bill was more flexible; he felt free to renegotiate agreements until they were signed and sealed."
In 1980 the rapidly growing company hired Steve Ballmer as manager of what was now Microsoft. Ballmer would become chief executive in 2000.
Two years later Allen came down with Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of the more curable types of cancer. While taking radiation treatment, he clashed with Gates over a key business decision, and began mulling his exit from the company.
That December, he overheard Gates and Ballmer discussing his illness, and "how they might dilute my Microsoft equity by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders."
"I burst in on them and shouted, 'This is unbelievable! It shows your true character, once and for all.'" he recalled. "I was speaking to both of them, but staring straight at Bill."
"I helped start the company and was still an active member of management, though limited by my illness, and now my partner and my colleague were scheming to rip me off. It was mercenary opportunism, plain and simple."
Despite Gates' six-page written apology that stressed their partnership's success, Allen said he was determined to leave.
Gates then made one last effort: he tried to buy out Allen at a "low-ball offer" of $5.00 a share. Gates rejected Allen's counter of $10, and, in hindsight, Allen had no regrets.
Here is the story about Bill Gates.
Of course, Jobs is already well known about how he ripped off Woz.
Jobs returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari had offered US$100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. At the time, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari had only given them $700 (instead of the actual $5000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.
Steve Jobs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In early 1975, after a test on an early Altair microcomputer proved their BASIC program, they decided to form a partnership: Micro-Soft.
Allen said he had always assumed a 50-50 split.
"But Bill had another idea," he wrote: A 60 percent share for himself, claiming he had done more of the programming.
Allen reluctantly agreed, but a short time later, after they had licensed BASIC to NCR Corp for $175,000, Gates demanded a 64 percent stake.
Unclear on the rationale, Allen nevertheless agreed.
"I might have haggled ... but my heart wasn't in it," he wrote.
Much later, Allen said, he mused over how Gates reached the 64 percent share.
"I tried to put myself in his shoes and reconstruct his thinking, and I concluded that it was just this simple: What's the most I can get? I think Bill knew that I would balk at a two-to-one split, and that 64 percent was as far as he could go."
"I'd been taught that a deal was a deal and your word was your bond. Bill was more flexible; he felt free to renegotiate agreements until they were signed and sealed."
In 1980 the rapidly growing company hired Steve Ballmer as manager of what was now Microsoft. Ballmer would become chief executive in 2000.
Two years later Allen came down with Hodgkin's lymphoma, one of the more curable types of cancer. While taking radiation treatment, he clashed with Gates over a key business decision, and began mulling his exit from the company.
That December, he overheard Gates and Ballmer discussing his illness, and "how they might dilute my Microsoft equity by issuing options to themselves and other shareholders."
"I burst in on them and shouted, 'This is unbelievable! It shows your true character, once and for all.'" he recalled. "I was speaking to both of them, but staring straight at Bill."
"I helped start the company and was still an active member of management, though limited by my illness, and now my partner and my colleague were scheming to rip me off. It was mercenary opportunism, plain and simple."
Despite Gates' six-page written apology that stressed their partnership's success, Allen said he was determined to leave.
Gates then made one last effort: he tried to buy out Allen at a "low-ball offer" of $5.00 a share. Gates rejected Allen's counter of $10, and, in hindsight, Allen had no regrets.
Here is the story about Bill Gates.
Of course, Jobs is already well known about how he ripped off Woz.
Jobs returned to his previous job at Atari and was given the task of creating a circuit board for the game Breakout. According to Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari had offered US$100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest or knowledge in circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the bonus evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. At the time, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari had only given them $700 (instead of the actual $5000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.
Steve Jobs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
