Yes, to answer your question, Paul Allen did earn his wealth.<p>No different than if a middle class investor bought Las Vegas Sands at $1 in the great recession and rode it to $85, with that investor having fully earned their return too. Except Allen arguably deserves his return even more than said average investor because he was personally, hugely responsible for the formation and success of Microsoft.<p>Your premise is obviously that if you aren&#x27;t shoveling snow for each dollar earned, then you didn&#x27;t properly earn it. An arbitrary, agenda oriented, anti-wealth stance: there&#x27;s no scenario under which any person can ever actually earn their wealth or income in your premise. Any amount of income or wealth can come under attack as having not been fully earned - and that&#x27;s of course the whole idea.