Given the utter carnage in the technology sector, it was quite interesting to see that out of the top 40, only 7 created their fortunes in non-technology fields, mainly in the entertainment and sports arenas. The others churned out their respective net worth in areas such as computer hardware, software, IT services, communications, biotechnology and venture capital focused heavily on tech investments. And yet most of these techies probably had a higher net worth last year versus this year, given their sagging stock values.
This year’s list had an average age of 35.7 years, with two women making the top 40. There are 5 billionaires: besides Dell, there are the eBay boys, Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll. Then there’s Ted Waitt of Gateway Inc. who has a value of $1.87 billion, off by just around $6 billion from last year’s peak, and finally, ex-TIME coverboy Jeff Bezos of Amazon. The non-billionaires still managed a "respectable" US$306 million average in personal values.
There are other interesting "facts" in the list. For example, David Filo (no. 7 with $730 million), Chief Yahoo! and co-founder, is so fiercely "loyal" to his company that he has yet to sell one Yahoo! share since the company went public, and this after Yahoo!’s 94% slide from its peak about a year ago! Then there’s Rob Glaser (no. 9 with $635 million), Chairman/CEO/Founder of Real Networks which is involved in software, services, hardware and the internet. Since last year, he has been co-owner of the Professional Bowlers Association in the U.S., and recently began awarding stock options to the top bowlers each year (hopefully, those stock options are actually worth something). I had to mention Glaser because my son Ethan has recently taken a fancy to bowling and we’ve been playing almost every week. I’m proud to say Ethan is getting better all the time, both mentally and physically.
Then there’s Jen-Hsun Huang (no. 12 with $507 million) of Nvidia, and the great (and soon-to-be-greater) Michael Jordan (no. 13 with $398 million), the most successful professional sports athlete ever! What do they have in common besides being on the list? They were both born on Feb. 17, 1963. Speaking of Michael Jordan, I’m one of those fans who is really very excited to see his return to the NBA. He is going to be great for the game, no matter what his critics might argue. I believe he will surprise the hell out of Kobe, Iverson and Dallas Mavericks loudmouth billionaire owner Mark Cuban and have a high impact return to the NBA. Besides, Michael’s return is going to mean more dollars to his bank account and a probable push up the list next year.
There’s Joe Liemadt (no. 14 with $390 million), age 33, who dropped out of Stanford and started Trilogy Software at the age of 20, with some strong guiding influence from the legendary Jack Welch of GE. Speaking of Welch, he is finally retiring after steering the conglomerate these last 20 years and creating probably the most valuable company in the world today. While Welch will remain an executive consultant to the company, the corporate world is witnessing the end of a glorious chapter in the art of shareholder wealth creation.
One of the two women on the list, Jeanette Symons (no. 15 with $374 million), founder of Zhone Technologies, was a former world class gymnast who made the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. Unfortunately (if I recall correctly), 1980 was the year the U.S. under Jimmy Carter boycotted the Moscow Olympics, so Jeanette never got to show her gymnastic prowess. Sanjay Kumar (no. 18 with $270 million), president of Computer Associates International, is paying the tuition of 25 thousand students to study at Indian universities this year. Kumar, by the way, is a Sri Lankan. Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, the ex-boyfriend of Jennifer "J.Lo" Lopez and rapper-extraordinaire, made the list at no. 22. The brothers Ravi (Sudhakar and Sreekanth) who founded an internet firewall company called SonicWall also made the list with $219 million apiece. And a couple of college roommates at Princeton, David Hitz of Network Appliance and Jeff Bezos of Amazon, also did it. Now what are the odds that something like that would happen?
Looking at one more interesting statistic of the listmakers, there were actually 7 college dropouts, including list topnotcher Michael Dell. There were also 2 who didn’t even bother to attend college. The most notable of the two is none other than box office superstar Tom Cruise who, at age 39, is at no. 19 on the list with a $251 million value. But one might expect Tom’s ranking next year to drop. Why? Well, Tom’s marital status is now listed as "single". As we all know by now, Cruise is in the process of a divorce settlement with Moulin Rouge star Nicole Kidman. That settlement may prove quite costly to Cruise’s net worth. Let’s see what happens in next year’s survey.