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.

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. 

SEE ALSO: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? What happened to the people in Microsoft's iconic 1978 company photo

Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is a huge collector of rare books and paintings. In 1998, he set a record for American art when he paid $36 million for Winslow Homer's "Lost on the Grand Banks."

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

Former CEO Steve Ballmer was reportedly interested in bringing an NBA team back to Seattle, but when those plans fell through he dropped $2 billion on the Los Angeles Clippers.

Ballmer has since said that he has no plans to bring the Clippers to Seattle.

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen owns two pro sports teams — the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trailblazers, plus he's a part owner of Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders. And he owns a massive yacht with a submarine on board. Take that, Ballmer.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Contributer : Tech Insider http://ift.tt/1W90MI6

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