Gabe Newell

About Gabe Newell

Gabe Newell has led Valve Corp., which develops video games, since he cofounded it in 1998 with former Microsoft colleague Mike Harrington.

The company found initial success with games like Half-Life and Portal.

Valve Corp. plays a big role in PC game sales through its Steam digital store; some liken it to the iTunes of video games.

Steam sells game licenses to 125 million users of its own and other developers' titles and collects a percentage of the sales.

Forbes estimates that Newell owns at least one quarter of the company, which operates out of Bellevue, Washington.