Now I m not telling this to just to say it. Just look out there. All those tech founders are turning already in all kinds of villanary. In the past couple of weeks, the co-founders of Microsoft and Twitter have been attached to the same kinds of unsavory stories that have long dogged the people behind Facebook, Apple, Zynga and other top tech firms.
Lately founders of various high end tech institutions are involved in a lot of ethics-related scandals. Paul Allen says that fellow Microsoft founder Bill Gates twice watered down Allen's stake in Microsoft, with his consent that is. Allen also says that Bill discussed with the current CEO Steve Ballmer ways to dilute him further after Allen took a leave of absence for cancer treatment. The "head" behind twitter and the man who coined the company's name feels betrayed that he was fired by eventual Twitter CEO Ev Williams after Williams took a stronger interest in the microblogging service that Glass had been instrumental in developing and had championed from the beginning. Williams did not leave the best trail of employees in blogger.com, the company he co-founded and later sold to Google.
The thing is that these guys are not lifelong assholes. For instances, Bill Gates has given $28 billion to charity. And also angry co-workers are not the best source of info about their bosses. But judging from the preponderance of stories circulating out there, it sure looks like tech founders collectively tend to act like jerks as they build their fortunes.
And then there was the time, which is now part of Silicon Valley legend, when Steve Jobsmisled his Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak about the size of a bonus the pair received from Atari, giving him only $350 and keeping $5,000 for himself.
