The perils of partnership

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates faced a decisive moment in his life when he attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle. Gates entered the school at age 13. Mothers belonging to a parent support group at the school decided to spend the proceeds from charity events on purchasing hours of computer use from General Electric. Given that few used PCs at the time, this was an unprecedented decision. Gates grew interested in building a program using the programming language Basic in a GE system. Had it not been for the foresight of the mothers, he might not have become who he is today.

Paul Allen, a friend and classmate of Gates, played a critical role in founding Microsoft. The two developed a traffic calculation device using a new Intel microprocessor and earned 20,000 dollars in the first year after the device’s launch. After that, Gates entered Harvard and Allen Washington State University. The latter dropped out of school, however, and began work as a programmer in Boston. After moving to a small-size computer maker, Allen persuaded Gates to take time off from school and work together. Gates agreed and the two founded Microsoft.

After Microsoft’s tremendous success, however, their friendship suffered. Allen left the company in 1982 to lead an investment company. In his autobiography “Idea Man” to be released on April 17, Allen described Gates as “greedy,” adding his friend attempted to issue stock options to reduce Allen`s share when Allen was getting cancer treatment in 1982. This led to the split, Allen said. What really did separate the two who built the world’s largest software company? Allen with an engineer`s disposition might have misunderstood Gates. Allen’s criticism of his friend is a reminder of the difficulty in forming a lasting partnership.

People become partners by joining hands but as time goes by, cracks can appear. The late Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chull joined forces with the late Hyosung Group founder Cho Hong-je in 1948 to set up Cheil Industries and Cheil Jedang. They parted ways, however, and both of them developed much bigger companies. On the other hand, partnerships formed by parents have been passed onto their children. The Koo and Huh families that co-founded LG Group achieved an amicable split after a 57-year partnership. The aforementioned partnerships are unusual in that partnerships in Korea are known to pose more problems than those in the West, whose history of business is longer.

Editorial Writer Park Yeong-kyun (parkyk@donga.com)