Thanks for signing up!
Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.
The weird and wild ways Microsoft's first employees spent the millions they made
For those lucky enough to hitch their wagons to Microsoft early on in its meteoric rise to the top of the computing market, the payoff was huge.
Advertisement
Some analysts estimate that thanks to the stock options the company gave to early employees, Microsoft had created three billionaires and as many as 12,000 millionaires by 2005. And even for those who didn't quite get to those heights, the rewards were huge.
Here's a look at what some of Microsoft's most successful alumni have done with their post-Redmond lives, from fine art to spaceflight.
The record has since been surpassed — earlier this year, a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting sold for $110 million at auction.
Source: The New York Times
Ballmer has since said that he has no plans to bring the Clippers to Seattle.
Source: Forbes
These days, he's working in software again, after his brief interlude in making hit toys.
But Myhrvold is probably best known for his comprehensive and unusual 600-plus page cookbook, "Modernist Cuisine," which has sold over $30 million worth of copies.
In 2017, Myhrvold outed himself as the anonymous author of "My First Gulfstream," an infamous essay breaking down the absurd costs of owning a private jet.
Source: Sports Illustrated
Advertisement