Had heard about this story some time last year, this was the conclusion quickly reached at my office. The amount of effect his purchase had on the early adoption of bitcoin is practically immeasurable.

Any pain he feels over perceived 'opportunity loss' is effectively him 'taking one for the team', with the team being the bitcoin community. As mentioned elsewhere, I'm sure he did fine having mined early.

It's even more valuable to bear in mind that the value of Bitcoin would not be as high as it is now if more people had spend it as freely.