On Mar. 13, 1986, Microsoft Corporation, founded by Bill Gates Jr. and the late Paul Allen in 1975, completed an IPO at a price of $21 per share. Since that date, Microsoft’s stock has split nine times, and one original share equals 288 shares today.

Microsoft and the wealth the company has created has had a significant impact on the life science industry in Seattle and the state of Washington, including: the Allen Institute for Brain Science, Allen Institute for Cell Science, Corixa, Darwin Molecular, ICOS, PATH, GAVI, Rosetta Inpharmatics, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, just to name a few.