10 richest nerds in the world
Net worth
$14.8 billion
Skinny
Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, boasts a Net worth of $14.8 billion. Most of the technology investor's fortune is held in a mix of private-equity, hedge-fund and real-estate investments, plus sports franchises and space-tourism ventures. He is Amazon's landlord in Seattle, and owns an estimated 1.3 percent stake in Microsoft. His latest investment is a 25 percent stake in Audience Inc, the maker of the integrated chip that powers the Apple iPhone's Siri voice command system. Audience is expected to sell shares to the public soon.