Report: Valve's Gabe Newell worth $1.5 billion

Valve Software has been evaluated at a worth of $3 billion. Co-founder Gabe Newell, according to the report, owns at least half of the company, so has a personal net worth of $1.5 billion.

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Valve Software has been evaluated at a whopping $3 billion, according to industry analysts. The report claims that since co-founder Gabe Newell himself owns more than 50% of the company, his personal net worth is valued at least $1.5 billion.

The evaluation comes from Forbes (via GameSpot), which spoke to equity analysts, investment bankers, and technology analysts to find the figure. Valve is notoriously secretive about its figures, but Forbes seems confident in its sources. If accurate, this would make Newell one of the richest people in the world, ranked number 854 of the 1,226 billionaires alive.

The report credits the Steam distribution service as the major driver of the company's riches, but also mentions Valve's own popular franchises. Newell appears on Forbes' list of billionaires, which includes names like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

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  • reply
    March 8, 2012 8:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Report: Valve's Gabe Newell worth $1.5 billion.

    Valve Software has been evaluated at a worth of $3 billion. Co-founder Gabe Newell, according to the report, owns at least half of the company, so has a personal net worth of $1.5 billion.

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      March 8, 2012 8:30 AM

      Buy the Dodgers, sell garlic fries to us over Steam.

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        March 8, 2012 9:24 AM

        A new version of Dodger Dogs will be released sometime in the next 10 years

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      March 8, 2012 8:41 AM

      maybe he can spend a few bucks on a good personal trainer and personal chef.

      that way he may actually live long enough to enjoy all those bux

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        March 8, 2012 8:42 AM

        I think he already is, but I'd like him to keep on as the head of Valve for another 25+ years if possible.

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        March 8, 2012 8:48 AM

        Yeah I really don't get being that out of shape with that kind of money. It would be trivial to set it up so it's impossible not to get fit, by having specially made (and delicious since you have access to anything and anyone to make them) meals, and a personal trainer + gym.

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          March 8, 2012 9:11 AM

          why be fit? bitches love money!!! :p

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            March 8, 2012 9:12 AM

            Cause it feels good and improves the quality and length of one's life.

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              March 8, 2012 9:22 AM

              [deleted]

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                March 8, 2012 9:26 AM

                It's not hard to enjoy cheese burgers if you work out regularly. Just do the journey once and lose the fat, then keep maintaining.

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              March 8, 2012 9:25 AM

              Maybe he gets off on girls happily being willing to dig around in the folds to find his dick because of how rich he is.

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      March 8, 2012 8:43 AM

      LOL so its even MORE ridiculous that episode 3 is not out!!!!!! use some of that billion to get it done!!!!!!!

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      March 8, 2012 8:55 AM

      thats alot of cheese doodles

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      March 8, 2012 9:00 AM

      Gabe was already rich while working at Microsoft (by his own admission during the Steamcast interviews http://www.thesteamcast.com/episodes/47/).

      What those ex-Microsoft employees did with Valve, when they really had no financial need to 'work', is remarkable.

      It's no wonder everything they do is AAA when it's worked on by people who's motivation is not money but just the love of solving problems and working with other like-minds and not releasing something until it's awesome.

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        March 8, 2012 9:15 AM

        from the snippets of things they worked on that they cancelled, it seems like they mostly fail a lot and dont know what theyre doing a lot of the time. their last 3 products are massive successes that they acquired. the funny thing is that sounds a lot like blizzard, in that they cant really make new stuff but they absolutely kick ass making other peoples games shine

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          March 8, 2012 9:24 AM

          the even funnier thing is what the industry refuses to acknowledge. innovation is VERY expensive and has an absolutely horrible ROI from a big picture standpoint. this means valve is a lot closer to zynga than anybody realizes

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            March 8, 2012 12:20 PM

            Except Valve gives the impression that they're steadily building something permanent, whereas I wouldn't be surprised if Zynga up and blew away in 2 years.

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              March 8, 2012 12:23 PM

              you should be very surprised if zynga imploded. they kind of spawned a new industry that is growing by leaps and bounds

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                March 8, 2012 12:26 PM

                I take that like I take claims that Groupon is the next big thing. We'll see. Seems like models founded on hype and an easily replicated idea aren't recipes for sustainable growth.

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                  March 8, 2012 1:06 PM

                  yea possibly. the difference is that im told that the underlying numbers for social gaming are more robust than for social coupon industry. but it could just as likely be a fad too. but i wouldnt bet on it

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          March 8, 2012 12:09 PM

          I don't know... you make it sound like Half-life 1 and 2 and the Episodes don't exist and were not incredibly awesome.. because they did.. and they were. And whether they acquired the teams who did Portal, TF and L4D is kind of irrelevant as well. Acquisitions are part of business. They were smart acquisitions and they resulted in some of the most expertly crafted, most played and extremely successful games of the past 10 years. The fact of the matter is that almost every game which comes out with "Valve" of the box is an extremely well-polished and successful game. That's an accomplishment no matter how you twist it.

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            March 8, 2012 12:22 PM

            i wasnt saying they arent accomplishments. just that they dont seem to be able to make new games, only acquire them

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      March 8, 2012 9:10 AM

      Valve is still privately held?

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        March 8, 2012 9:13 AM

        Yes thank god

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          March 8, 2012 9:36 AM

          i thought valve was at one point a wholly-owned sub of a bigger public company

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            March 8, 2012 9:44 AM

            Nope. Best I can recall Gabe made money working for MS then decided to start Valve with that money.

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              March 8, 2012 9:49 AM

              wasn't vivendi involved somehow in the late 90s?

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                March 8, 2012 9:50 AM

                Sierra published HL1, they were owned by Vivendi.

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                March 8, 2012 9:55 AM

                They published half-life under the Sierra brand.

                But when valve launched Steam they had a bit of a fight and valve ended up with the rights to HL and Sierra were fucked. Imagine if it had gone the other way, we would have actually had a new Half Life game every year under Activision.

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                  March 8, 2012 10:08 AM

                  You say that like it's a good thing.

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                  March 8, 2012 10:17 AM

                  Actually the dispute with Vivendi that ended that relationship was never over the ownership of the Half-Life franchise, that was never disputed as being wholly owned by Valve and only Valve.

                  I can't quite remember who sued first by I think it was Valve but what happened was that Valve sued Sierra/Vivendi for licensing Half-Life (I think it was) to internet cafes something that Valve claimed to reserve exclusive rights to. Valve contended that licenses gotten from Sierra were invalid. Vivendi/Sierra countersued Valve for creating Steam.

                  Their theory on that point was really stupid, basically Vivendi sued them for actually making use of a contract amended allowing Valve to reserve digital distribution rights. They contented that Valve by working on Steam during the contract re-negotiations adding that point somehow was committing fraud or something stupid like that.

                  The whole thing ended with Valve winning on summary judgement and getting all publishing rights back and shortly after signing with EA instead.

                  However I do believe the Half-Life franchise originally belonged to Sierra but was signed over to Valve due to a contract amendment since Sierra wasn't paying what they were supposed to.

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                    March 8, 2012 10:23 AM

                    According to uspto.gov the Half-Life trademark was assigned from SIERRA ON-LINE, INC to VALVE, L.L.C. on January 31, 2002 and then assigned from VALVE, L.L.C. to VALVE HOLDINGS, L.L.C. on August 9, 2004 and further assigned from VALVE HOLDINGS, L.L.C. to VALVE CORPORATION that same day(August 9, 2004).

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                      March 8, 2012 1:16 PM

                      haha wtf they doing changing hands on the same day.

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                        March 8, 2012 1:28 PM

                        Maybe they were going back on forth on which one should own the IP and they fucked up.

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                        March 13, 2012 9:57 AM

                        I actually was wrong on the dates, that is just when the USPTO got the paper work. The effective date on the paperwork was not the same day.

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                  March 8, 2012 10:21 AM

                  Let's not forget that Vivendi owns a controlling share of Activision Blizzard, which in turn runs Blizzard Entertainment, who are suing Valve right now over the use of Dota.

                  THE CYCLE CONTINUES!

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                    March 8, 2012 10:40 AM

                    We lose and the lawyers win.

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          March 8, 2012 9:45 AM

          Seconded. Don't ever sell the company Gabe!

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          March 8, 2012 9:59 AM

          [deleted]

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        March 8, 2012 10:45 AM

        he should never go public

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        March 8, 2012 1:24 PM

        [deleted]

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        March 8, 2012 1:29 PM

        yes, but so are my balls

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        March 8, 2012 3:25 PM

        [deleted]

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      March 8, 2012 9:48 AM

      Its funny because groupon is valued at 13 billion. And its fucking groupon.

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        March 8, 2012 9:48 AM

        LOL seriously

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        March 8, 2012 12:22 PM

        This is disgustingly hilarious. And hilariously disgusting.

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        March 8, 2012 12:41 PM

        Also, it's a fucking scam and is run by reprehensible, horrible people.

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      March 8, 2012 10:06 AM

      Gaben <3

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      March 8, 2012 10:10 AM

      Cool, they deserve to do well.

      What the hell is that thing he is holding in the pic? SteamPad?

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      March 8, 2012 12:11 PM

      It looks like he's worth his weight in gold then.

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        March 8, 2012 12:22 PM

        he does not weigh 55,000+ pounds. thats just impossible.

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          March 8, 2012 12:25 PM

          I concur, why would he even say that? It's so wrong it's not even funny.

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            March 8, 2012 1:15 PM

            Exactly. All jokes must comply with the laws of phyics, otherwise they are as funny as a neutrino walking into a bar.

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      March 8, 2012 12:31 PM

      Wonder how much interest that kind of money would earn over the course of Valve Time?

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      March 8, 2012 1:13 PM

      Deserves every cent.

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      March 8, 2012 2:01 PM

      I bet i could get a team to make the perfect half life 3 game with that money....

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      March 8, 2012 2:33 PM

      Couldn't happen to a cooler guy from what I've seen of the dude. Grats, Gabe!

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      March 8, 2012 3:26 PM

      [deleted]

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      March 8, 2012 4:32 PM

      Dear Gabe, pls take some of that money and make Steam work worth a shit in offline mode when there are unexpected network outages and shit. Origin does, and Steam is better than Origin!

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        March 8, 2012 6:00 PM

        Did they break it again? Used to work perfect for me.

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