from the article: [Gates and Ballmer] also wondered how they might reduce Allen's company stake... That's different from reducing his influence; this reads lik

from the article: [Gates and Ballmer] also wondered how they might reduce Allen's company stake... That's different from reducing his influence; this reads like they were trying to take away vested stock. That's not the same as saying "because of your illness, how about stepping down from Executive VP (which Allen was at the time)? Obviously you can't get as much stock in the future if you're not able to commit to Microsoft."