Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Inflation may be at a historic low, but the price of independence is climbing. What better evidence than the ponytailed Ted Waitt, founder and 46% owner of South Dakota's mail-order computer retailer Gateway 2000? Waitt, 34, the son of a fourth-generation cattle broker, has just walked away from a monumental deal with Compaq Computer that would have left him with a personal fortune of more than $3 billion. No, he did not get kicked in the head by a cow.
There have been rumors for weeks that growth-obsessed Compaq was stalking Gateway. Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer has said he wants to...
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