Net worth: $18.7 billion
Met partner Larry Page in computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford. Brin emigrated from Russia, Page grew up in Michigan; both sons of professors. Dropped out of school to start Google in 1998 from friend's garage. Initially financed by Stanford endowment, angel investors K. Ram Shriram, Andy von Bechtolsheim. Raised another $25 million from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital in 1999. Hired seasoned tech exec Eric Schmidt in 2001 to run operations. Took quirky ad-cum-search engine public 2004. Brin serves as president of technology, Page heads product division. Extending ad business into TV, cellphones, various online venues; bought Web video portal YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. Switched Mountain View, Calif., headquarters to solar power last summer; part of plan to "do no evil." Hit all-time high of $740 a share in early November 2007.
Larry Page - Google Inc.
Net worth: $18.6 billion
Met partner Sergey Brin in computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford. Brin emigrated from Russia, Page grew up in Michigan; both sons of professors. Dropped out of school to start Google in 1998 from friend's garage. Initially financed by Stanford endowment, angel investors K. Ram Shriram, Andy von Bechtolsheim. Raised another $25 million from venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital in 1999. Hired seasoned tech exec Eric Schmidt in 2001 to run operations. Took quirky ad-cum-search engine public 2004. Brin serves as president of technology, Page heads product division. Extending ad business into TV, cellphones, various online venues; bought Web video portal YouTube for $1.65 billion in 2006. Switched Mountain View, Calif., headquarters to solar power last summer; part of plan to do "no evil." Hit all-time high of $740 a share in early November 2007
Dot-com pioneer defies gravity, survives tech crash. Took company public in 1997 and expanded from book-selling into thousands of products online. Decade later, books still big piece of virtual mall's $14.8 billion sales. Computer whiz worked at hedge funds after graduating from Princeton in 1989; quit before 30th birthday to sell books online from Seattle garage. Space-cadet building base and testing center on 300,000 acres of Texas land for his Blue Origin commercial space-travel venture.
Pierre Omidyar - EBay
Net worth: $7.7 billion
French-born computer programmer launched online auction eBay in 1995. Today, more than 1 million people use it as primary or secondary source of income. Handed exec control to Meg Whitman in 1998, remains chairman. Active blogger philanthropic via Omidyar Network; finances small businesses in developing economies, donates to nonprofits. Gave $100 million to alma mater Tufts in 2005
The grown-up at Google spent past few years buying into Web videos (YouTube), blog hosting (blogger.com), presentation software (Tonic Systems, Zenter). Ads remain the driver of the high-profit search engine, posting 99% of sales. Earned electrical engineering degree from Princeton and Ph.D. from UC, Berkeley. Joined Bell Labs, then Xerox. Developed Java technology at Sun Microsystems in the 1980s. Recruited in 2001 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin (see both) to become chief executive.
Jeffrey Skoll - EBay
Net worth: $3.6 billion
Ebay's first president and full-time employee, Skoll remains its second-largest shareholder. He is no longer involved with the company, though, and has turned his attention to philanthropy and movies. Skoll was executive producer of An Inconvenient Truth, the global-warming documentary that featured former Vice President Al Gore. The film, which was made by Skoll's Participant Productions, won two Oscars in 2007. Skoll pumped gas in Toronto before getting an M.B.A. from Stanford in 1995.
Net worth: $2.8 billion
Shanghai's richest resident. Got a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the academic cradle of China's software industry, Zhejiang University, and created a huge following for his Zhuhai Giant Hi-Tech Group in 1991, based on the popularity of a single videogame. Zhuhai Giant collapsed under the weight of massive debt incurred for a 70-story skyscraper that was never built. His recent return to games through an online-services provider he founded, ZTgame, has given new life to his entrepreneurial reputation. ZTgame's lineup includes racy and sensational fare said to be more suitable for adults than adolescents; it is known for unconventional marketing. He recently listed the company on NYSE Euronext. Almost half his fortune comes from stakes in financial institutions China Minsheng Banking and Huaxia Bank.
Hiroshi Mikitani - Rakuten
Net worth: $2.6 billion
Internet entrepreneur has run online shopping mall Rakuten, Japan's sixth-most-popular Web destination, for the past decade. Last year renovated a former Sony office building in seedy bayside Tokyo into a sleek new headquarters tower and moved his staff there from pricey digs in the Roppongi neighborhood. Mikitani is reported to have said that he is making money on the move even if he gives his 2,500 employees free meals at the office. Launching Rakuten's e-commerce business in Taiwan this year, aiming to run 3,000 virtual shops there within three years.
Mark Cuban - Broadcast.com
Net worth: $2.6 billion
Former bartender launched early Internet audio and video portal Broadcast.com with Indiana University buddy Todd Wagner. Sold to Yahoo! in 1999 for $5.7 billion. Used proceeds to buy pro basketball's Dallas Mavericks from Ross Perot in 2000 for $285 million; team has been to playoffs every season since. Famous for courtside antics; has accumulated $1.5 million in fines for mouthing off to NBA referees. Vying to buy pro baseball's Chicago Cubs from Tribune. Building media empire: owns film production, distribution, theater firms. Spends spare time blogging. Recently competed on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
Met partner Jerry Yang as Stanford grad student, veered off Ph.D. path to form new portal; took Yahoo! public 1996. Brought in "professional management" (Tim Koogle in 1995, then Warner Bros. chief Terry Semel in 2001). Semel quit under fire in 2007. Yang became chief executive for first time last June. Tough job. Turned down Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo! for $45 billion in early February. Yang born in Taiwan. Filo expanding into China: Bought 40% stake in Alibaba.com for $1 billion in 2005; public offering of Chinese business-to-business Web site likely. Yang aims to create a "stronger culture of winning" (or at least get a higher price out of Steve Ballmer). Filo runs tech.
Jerry Yang - Yahoo! Inc.
Net worth: $2.3 billion
Met partner David Filo as Stanford grad student, veered off Ph.D. path to form new portal; took Yahoo! public 1996. Brought in "professional management" (Tim Koogle in 1995, then Warner Bros. chief Terry Semel in 2001). Semel quit under fire in 2007. Yang became chief executive for first time last June. Tough job. Turned down Microsoft's offer to buy Yahoo! for $45 billion in early February. Yang born in Taiwan. Filo expanding into China: bought 40% stake in Alibaba.com for $1 billion in 2005; public offering of Chinese business-to-business Web site likely. Yang aims to create a "stronger culture of winning" (or at least get a higher price out of Steve Ballmer). Filo runs tech.
