The “Other Man” Behind Google

Sergey Brin was taking his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University when he was paired with his fellow Larry Page for a project. The project was a success, making them two of the wealthiest young entrepreneurs in the world. That college project is the Google search engine.

Brin was born and raised in Moscow, Russia but his family moved to the United States in 1979 when Brin was just 5 years old. At that time when computers were not common in households, Brin became very fascinated with computers. His interest in computers led him to a bachelor’s degree with honors in mathematics and computer science at the University of Maryland. After that, he went to Stanford University.

Brin and Page dropped from Stanford University to start Google Inc. in 1995. Because the search engine became very popular, the company was forced to expand their computing power and to move to larger premises. They moved to a place now known as Googleplex in Mountain View, California.

The company grew even larger when Google Inc.’s stocks were traded on the NASDAQ in 2004. Google shares were priced at $85 each but the value quickly jumped up to more than $100 on the first day of trading. Google continued to grow because they have been acquiring and creating new internet services and products. By the end of November 2005, each Google share is valued at $420.

Brin and Page were listed by Forbes Magazine that year as the 16^th richest men in America, with estimated value at $11 billion each.

Brin is still Google Inc.’s President of Technology. Brin said, “Google will continue to do its mission to organize information and make them universally accessible and useful.” “The most effective and profitable way to accomplish that mission is to put customer needs first. Offering high quality user experience leads to increased traffic and word-of-mouth promotion,” Brin said.

Richard Branson: Owner of One of the World’s Most Recognizable Brands

Richard Branson was known for his insatiable appetite to seek new business opportunities. He loves many challenges, especially the industries dominated by a few major players.

His entrepreneurial skills began to flourish at an early age. When he was 16, he began publishing The Student Magazine. At 20, his famous Virgin brand started a discount records mail order business which allowed him to amass a great deal of fortune.

His Virgin Records started in 1972 in Oxford Street, London. This recording label made hits after hits. Branson sold Virgin Records to THORN EMI in 1992 for $1 billion.

His Virgin brand is one of the most recognizable in the world. The brand holds a wide range of products and services. Its coverage encompasses a wide geographical area including UK, USA, Australia, Canada, and some areas of Asia, Europe and South Africa. The brand includes 11 labels in the industry of international airline, supermarkets, publishing, credit card, travel and tours, transportation, music recording, fitness club, space flights, luxury games and many others.

There are plenty more products that wear the Virgin brand and probably more to come as Branson continues to lurk for new business ventures to engage in.

How Timothy Blixseth Continues to Make Millions as a Retiree

Tim Blixseth was born to a very poor family. His father got very ill even before he was born so the family lived on welfare. The youngest of five siblings, Blixseth grew around his four older sisters.

Blixseth loved music. Early on he wanted to be a musician and songwriter. But a calling for business made him change his course. The teen-aged Blixseth worked on late shifts at grocery stores and lumber mills to make money. He enrolled in Saturday classes just to finish high school. At fifteen, he made his first successful business transaction. From an ad he saw, he bought some donkeys for $25 each and sold them for $75 each. He realized that there is much profit in selling; he started to look for other deals.

When Blixseth finished high school, he attended Umpqua Community College for only one hour. He was determined to find his career by making money and not learning about academics.

He went to Hollywood hoping to make a living out of music but ended up doing railroad and timber mill work instead. It was during this stint that he made his first large business transaction.

He got interested in a timber land which was selling for $90,000. He arranged to pay the owner a downpayment of $1,000 and pay the remainder in one month. Blixseth sold the timberland to Rosenburg Lumber Company, the company owning the surrounding timberland, for a $50,000 profit.

He continued gambling on buying and selling lands. His fortunes grew large and he became a millionaire in his twenties. At 31, lumber companies started to rig Blixseth’s sales to make him poor. Timber prices dropped by 90% while interest rates grew to as much as 22%. By the end of the year, Blixseth was almost broke.

He rebuilt himself in 1988 when he helped establish Crown Pacific. With his partner Peter Stott, Blixseth purchased hundreds of thousand of acres of land in Oregon and Idaho and in 1989, more land from Scott Paper Company. By 1990, the company’s debt was $400 million. Stott purchased Blixseth out and they distributed the profits. When Blixseth retired, he was a wealthy man.

Through his retirement, Blixseth continued to work. With the McDoughal brothers, he bought 164,000 acres of land in Montana. The McDoughals took the timberland and sold others to the government. Blixseth saw the potential of the land so he held on to a few thousand acres and turned them into a development land.

Blixseth developed the area into a private ski and golf community, the first in the world. The Yellowstone Club boasts of a championship golf course and miles of ski trails. The Yellowstone Club provides exclusive access for its members to jets, yachts and some castles in Europe.

Meet Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956 in Detroit, Michigan. He was born to a Jewish American mother and a Swiss father who once became a manager at Ford Motor Company. He attended Detroit County Day School where he graduated in 1973.

Ballmer attended Harvard where he met Bill Gates. They became good friends. Ballmer’s interests in business and Gates’ passion for computer programming made a good match out of the two men.

In 1979, Ballmer took his Master’s degree in Business Administration at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He took a job at Microsoft after his freshmen year at Stanford. Gates convinced Ballmer to quit schooling and work fulltime at Microsoft. The agreement was $50,000 in salaries and 7% ownership at Microsoft.

Ballmer became the first manager hired by Gates. At Microsoft, Ballmer was responsible for setting up the financial structure of the business.

As the company grew, Ballmer became the head of several Microsoft divisions. Ballmer became president of Microsoft in July 1998. In 2000, Gates resigned from the position of CEO and Ballmer took the reins as Microsoft’s CEO. His first advocacy as CEO was the stock grant program that replaced the stock option program for employees.

Getting Rich the David Bach Way

His popularity as an author also led him to appear countless of times in many talk shows and financial programs both on TV and radio. David Bach made a name as a sought-after adviser in the field of personal finance. His ideas were published and became best selling work, which includes Automatic Millionaire and the well-known series Finish Rich.

Bach’s goal for publishing his work was to provide helpful advices to readers on how to manage finances and how to increase their wealth. Automatic Millionaire is to be considered the masterpiece that inspired other Bach’s other work. Some of his other publications that got the motivation from Automatic Millionaire included “The Automatic Millionaire Workbook,” “The Automatic Millionaire Homeowner,” and “El Millionario Automático.”

Bach’s Finish Rich series led to the establishment of “The FinishRich,” a media company. Bach founded FinishRich to provide education on finance and to provide a learning tool for people to think right about their money.

As a media outfit, FinishRich boasts of five segments which includes Radio and TV, Live Events, Internet and Direct Commerce, Partnerships and Publishing.

Included in the Finish Rich series are “The FinishRich Workbook,” Smart Couples Finish Rich,” Smart Women Finish Rich,” and “Start Late Finish Rich.” 

Bach has considerable experience as finance teacher. He coined The Five David Bach Questions. Bach believes that the answers to his questions will determine if one becomes a millionaire, and any yes increases the chances of becoming one. The questions are as follows:

1. Do you know your Latte Factor? According to Bach, if one wants to get rich, he has to look at the little things he spends his money on everyday and see if he could redirect it.
2. Do you “pay yourself first?” The idea is all about doing what you can and able to do, so you don’t need to spend on having others do what you can.
3. Have you made your financial plan automatic? A would-be millionaire should think about saving and planning his finances so that putting his earnings in investments is already automatic.
4. Do you own a home? To own a home is the best investment any person wanting to be rich should embark on.
5. Do you tithe? This is probably the most important of all five questions. Tithing is God’s formula for blessing people.

David Bach is married to Michelle with whom he had a son named Jack.