Funding the Egghead store shopping spree took a little extra legwork

Just ask the boss. The post Funding the Egghead store shopping spree took a little extra legwork appeared first on The Old New Thing.

Jun 18, 2025 - 03:00

Some time ago, I told the story of the time the development manager for Windows 95 bought one copy of every PC program in the Egghead Software store and crashed the cash register.

Funding this shopping spree was itself a bit of an adventure.

The development manager brazenly sent email directly to Bill Gates asking for an open purchase order for $1 million. Bill readily agreed.

You’d think that would have settled it, but the Microsoft finance people kept blocking the creation of the purchase order. Bill himself had to intervene and personally approve the order.

I suspect that part of that purchase order was used to provide the credit line for the credit card with a half-million-dollar credit limit.

Bonus punch line for the credit card story: The last name of the administrative assistant who was issued the half-million-dollar credit card happened to be Gates (no relation). She told me at the time, “It’s surprising how nice people in the Seattle area are to you once they find out that your last name is Gates.”

The post Funding the Egghead store shopping spree took a little extra legwork appeared first on The Old New Thing.