SEATTLE (AP) — Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates before becoming a billionaire philanthropist, has died. He was 65.
His company Vulcan Inc. says he died Monday in Seattle. Earlier this month, Allen announced that the cancer he was treated for in 2009 had returned and he planned to fight it aggressively.
Gates said he was heartbroken about the loss of one of his "oldest and dearest friends."
Allen and Gates met while attending a private school in north Seattle. The two friends would later drop out of college to pursue the future they envisioned: A world with a computer in every home.
