THE CABLE GUY COMPANY Vulcan Northwest Inc., Chairman NET WORTH $30 billion AGE 46 ADDRESSwww.paulallen.com BIO Paul Allen has fingers in so many pies he must have permanent berry stains. He's best known as the co-founder of Microsoft who left the company in 1983 after he was found to have Hodgkin's disease. He recovered, relaxed for a while, then got busy again. Last year he snapped up enough cable properties to make his company, Charter Communications, the fourth largest operator in the country, with 6.2 million subscribers. He is also busy building a portfolio of noncable, new-media holdings--potential service and content providers for the high-speed Internet service he talks about delivering someday over his cable lines. Allen's investments include pieces of Internet portal Go2Net, e-commerce websites Drugstore.com and Priceline.com, and technology information hub CNET.
Allen's side projects include building a museum in hometown Seattle dedicated to American popular music. Called the Experience Music Project, it is scheduled to open next summer. (A huge Jimi Hendrix fan, Allen is known to play a mean electric guitar.) He's also building a new stadium for his beloved Seattle Seahawks football team. He owns the NBA's Portland Trailblazers too. All this, and he still finds time to jet off to London to see his new flame, Jerry Hall.
BEST LINE "We have only begun to invent what will be possible ... Science has opened the door, but artistry and imagination will take us through it." FORWARD TILT Though Allen is moving quickly into a position of power in the world of interactive media, his cable holdings need some serious upgrades before he can be considered a real contender against cable giants AT&T and Time Warner in the broadband market. That will cost millions, but the payoff will make Allen an Internet power player rivaling his old buddy Bill.
