SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
In a memo sent to employees, the CEO of Allen's investment firm says the 56-year-old Allen received the diagnosis this month and has begun chemotherapy. The CEO, Jody Patton, noted that doctors say Allen has a relatively common form of the disease -- and that Allen survived Hodgkin's disease in the 1980s.
Patton wrote that Allen ``is optimistic he can beat this, too.'
Allen founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975. Since leaving the company he has become a prolific investor in real estate, technology companies and sports teams. He owns football's Seattle Seahawks and basketball's Portland Trail Blazers.
