So Gabe Newell is a Billionaire....

http://www.gamefreaks.co.nz/2012/03/08/gabe-newell-joins-forbes-billionaires-list/

Even the most conservative estimates put Valve’s enterprise value at more than $3 billion, and since Newell owns more than 50% of the company, that means he’s worth at least $1.5 billion

D:

So... now what?

Let's go to space?

So... now what?

I won't be happy till Valve is bigger then apple!

I think this is actually great news. Best news even.

Doesn't really come as a surprise that the guy behind the biggest digital distribution platform in the world might be loaded.

That's a lot of knives.

I always tend to hate on corporations and rich people but I'll be damned if this man hasn't proven that he deserves every goddamn penny he has. 
 
More power to him.

He could buy a lot of TF2 hats

He is going to buy the biggest fucking knife in the world with that money.

@ajamafalous said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

So... now what?

Knives for days.

Yes.

he probably hosts the best parties

@thedj93 said:

he probably hosts the best parties

Man, those would be some great parties, how many thousand PCs do you think there would be networked together? Probably all playing Dota2.

But he doesn't have it in cash. He'd only have that money if he sold his stake in Valve.

Nevertheless I'm sure he has a decent amount of money and I'm delighted at his success and that of Valve.

@Shirogane: like this but with more post-social-reject-cum-geniuses drunk off their FUCKIN ass!

Oh Gabe, you so rich.

Sounds about right.

I wonder if the notion of buying a celebrity entered his head? he could do it...

@ajamafalous said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

So... now what?

Knives for days.

Replace the moon with a moon-size knife!

He could buy a lot of TF2 hats

Amazing how much money there is to be made in making things that don't suck.

Remember us Gaben..when you're up there on the big stage...how we used to roll together.. 
  

He has enough money to make genetically modified lemmings to answer his email for him. That's rich.

Although, does having non-liquid assets valued at over $1 billion actually make someone a billionaire? I mean, I would only classify someone as a billionaire if they had that much in cash and/or liquid assets. Owning a company worth that much doesn't really make you a billionaire, does it?

@CheapPoison said:

I won't be happy till Valve is bigger then apple!

YES

I read about this yesterday, and thats awesome.

Has he started to donate? :)

From what I know, he wasn't all that rich when he started so, I am not "mad". :)

@MattyFTM: This is always my hangup. Its 1.5 billion theoretical dollars. The company's worth is just an estimate and its not like he's going to up and sell every single share that he owns. Though I imagine if he puts out a dividend he's going to be receiving a good portion of that Valve cashflow.

What worth is 1.5 billion dollars, when your country has a debt of 16 trillion(!) dollars?

You guys are all missing the big picture.

Gabe Newell can actually afford RENTING OUT THE ENTIRE STAPLES CENTER.

He's going to have the sweetest E3 party ever!

This has been known for quite some time. Nothing new here. He was in Forbes about it last year.

@GunnBjorn said:

What worth is 1.5 billion dollars, when your country has a debt of 16 trillion(!) dollars?

1.5 Billion.

You guys are all missing the big picture.

Gabe Newell can actually afford RENTING OUT THE ENTIRE STAPLES CENTER.

He's going to have the sweetest E3 party ever!

I'm not surprised at all.

...and?

@GunnBjorn said:

What worth is 1.5 billion dollars, when your country has a debt of 16 trillion(!) dollars?

I would say it's worth about 1.5 billion.

Doesn't really come as a surprise that the guy behind the biggest digital distribution platform in the world might be loaded.

@MattBodega said:

You guys are all missing the big picture.

Gabe Newell can actually afford RENTING OUT THE ENTIRE STAPLES CENTER.

He's going to have the sweetest E3 party ever!

I LOL'd

If Lorax taught me anything is that corporations are evil and Newel is an asshole who sells shit while sheeples buy them.

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

@MattyFTM: This is always my hangup. Its 1.5 billion theoretical dollars. The company's worth is just an estimate and its not like he's going to up and sell every single share that he owns. Though I imagine if he puts out a dividend he's going to be receiving a good portion of that Valve cashflow.

There are no billionairs in the world that actually have that amount of money lying around in cash, think of the tax you would have to pay on that. Of course it is invested into companies, real estate and what have you. Yes, it makes it a little theoretical, but in this case I think it's pretty accurate.

I would go to ValveCon 2012.

*edit* Hell, they could call it SteamCon and invite everyone else and just take over this whole gaming convention scene.

Produce the biggest knife convention ever.

@xobballox said:

@ajamafalous said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

So... now what?

Knives for days.

Replace the moon with a moon-size knife!

Then how gonna Newt Gingrich build his Moon base? Built in the handle of the knife, maybe?

@MattBodega said:

You guys are all missing the big picture.

Gabe Newell can actually afford RENTING OUT THE ENTIRE STAPLES CENTER.

He's going to have the sweetest E3 party ever!

Is that just from Valve? Imagine if he started selling his knives on channel 773 at 1 AM on Saturday.

@GunnBjorn said:

What worth is 1.5 billion dollars, when your country has a debt of 16 trillion(!) dollars?

1.5 Billion.

@jozzy said:

@AlwaysBeClothing said:

@MattyFTM: This is always my hangup. Its 1.5 billion theoretical dollars. The company's worth is just an estimate and its not like he's going to up and sell every single share that he owns. Though I imagine if he puts out a dividend he's going to be receiving a good portion of that Valve cashflow.

There are no billionairs in the world that actually have that amount of money lying around in cash, think of the tax you would have to pay on that. Of course it is invested into companies, real estate and what have you. Yes, it makes it a little theoretical, but in this case I think it's pretty accurate.

Yes, all rich list types don't actually have their net worth in cash but rather tied up in stock and assets etc. (oil barons, tech companies that sort of thing.)

If he sold his share of the business tomorrow though, I reckon he could get double that value for his shares easily, the year on year growth of valve is insane. There are only about 250 people working there too so the overhead is extremely low compared to apple, microsoft etc. Much more profit per head, even though apple is worth 100 times more than valve.

Good for him and the company, just goes to show how keeping the customers best interests in mind compared to some, lets say less popular companies can work too.

Most of his net worth is on paper. He won't see those billions until he sells his shares in the company.

@ajamafalous said:

@AlexanderSheen said:

So... now what?

Knives for days.

He can now buy all the knives