I'm not sure about Bill but it's renowned that Richard Branson use to do high level balloon races and has 'Virgin Airlines'. Howard Hughes owned 'Trans World Airlines' albeit he is no longer with us, historically he did defence contracts and built the '
Spruce Goose'. (It was meant to do a similar job to the
C-130 Hercules, So you could suggest that various defence projects would ask for
Large Aviation Carriers that can transport heavy/large loads to remote locations rather than having to be dropped off by Sea Transports and then covering a lot of ground terrain. Current methods consumes fuel/supplies to march an army to a location and to logistically be able to drop them in at the right location is a cheaper alternative as well as potentially a safer one considering ambushes and landmines.)
Technically 'Single Wing' aircraft (I don't mean the term monoplane but more along the lines of the 'Triangle shaped craft') are better designed for higher loads (this doesn't just mean 'payload' but lift load in general) as the aerodynamics gives greater weight displacement over it's surface area. Generally also the design is structurally better, as manoeuvrability and speed can otherwise be impaired. (I.e. the concern of the Spruce Goose wasn't just that the engines weren't powerful enough but the actual structure that was made of plywood couldn't support its own weight, should it have flown into the sky it might not of been able to take a bank[turn] without a structural failure.)