1. Alfonso T.

Yuchengco Heads Yuchengco Group of Companies, Chairman of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), Chairman of the Mapua Institute of Technology. 2. Alfredo M. Yao Zest-O Corp. (Zest-O) 3. Amable R. Aguiluz V - AMA Institute of Computer Studies (AMA) 4. Axel Kornerup Netopia Internet Caf (Netopia) 5. Andrew Gotianun runs the Filinvest Development Corporation. 6. Andrew Tan- runs the Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), Megaworld Corporation, Emperador Distillers, Golden Arches Development Corporation Possesses a franchise of McDonalds 7. Ben Chan Bench Apparels (Bench) 8. Ben Colayco Level Up 9. Bernie H. Liu owner of Penshoppe 10. Bienvenido Tantoco, Sr Rustans Department Stores and Supermarkets 11. Bryan Tiu owner of Teriyaki Boy Restautant 12. Betty Ang President of privately held Monde Nissin, maker of instant noodles, biscuits and snack foods (Lucky Me!, Monde and Bingo). 13. Cecilio Kwok Pedro founder of Lamoiyan Corp. (Hapee toothpaste) 14. Dr.Rolando B. Hortaleza and Dra. Rosalinda Ang Home Beauty Exclusives (HBC) 15. Edgar Sia II Founder of Mang Inasal (70% share acquired by Jolibee Corporation in October 2010) 16. Emilio T. Yap owns Manila Bulletin, chairman of the Manila Hotel and Chairman Emeritus of Philtrust Bank 17. Felipe L. Gozon current chief executive and chair of GMA Network Inc. (GMA 7) 18. Frederick Dy chairman of the publicly-listed universal bank, Security Bank Corporation 19. George Ty founder of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company (Metrobank) 20. Henry Lim Bon Liong Sterling Paper Group of Companies 21. Henry Sy founder of SM Group and chairman of SM Prime Holdings, Shoe Mart (SM) 22. Jaime Zobel de Ayala chairman emeritus of the Ayala Corporation (Ayala) 23. Jesus Tambunting - Chairman and CEO of Planters Development Bank

24. John Gokongwei chairman of JG Summit Holdings, Cebu Pacific Air, Digital Telecommunications (Sun Cellular), owns Universal Robina Corporation, controls Robinsons Land and Malls (Robinsons) 25. Jon Ramon Aboitiz President of the Aboitiz & Co., and Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. 26. Jose S. Concepcion Jr. CEO of RFM (Selecta Ice Cream, Swift Hotdogs, Sunkist beverages, Fiesta Spaghetti, Vitwater) 27. Les Reyes President and CEO of Reyes Hair Cutters 28. Lucio Tan owns Asia Brewery, Tanduay Holdings, Fortune Tobacco, Philippine Airlines (PAL) 29. Manuel V Pangilinan Chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), owner of ABC/TV5 network, Cignal Digital TV and Smart Communications. 30. Oscar M. Lopez Chairman Emeritus of the Lopez Holdings Corporation (formerly known as Benpres Holdings Corporation). 31. Pacita Chit Juan Figaro Coffe Company 32. Ricky Reyes founder of Ricky Reyes 33. Roberto R. Gandionco Julies Franchise Corp. 34. Roberto S. Claudio Tobys Sports and Hobbies Salon 35. Rolando Hortaleza Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the publicly-listed company, Splash Corporation 36. Rommel Juan President of Binalot Fiesta Foods 37. Sandy Javier Andoks Litson Corporation (Andoks) 38. Soccoro Ramos founder of National Bookstore 39. Tess Ngan Tian President and tresurer of Lots A Pizza 40. Tony Tan Caktiong- Caktiong founded the fast food chain Jollibee. 41. Victor Tan Bobson Apparel 42. Vivian Que Azcona President of Mercury Group (Mercury Drug Stores) 43. Washington Z. Sycip cofounder of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Sycip Gorres Velayo and Company (SGV). 44. Wilfred Uytengsu Jr.- President and Chief Executive Officer Alaska Milk Corporation

Ricky Reyes-The Mother of all entrepreneurs The story of hair and beauty guru-turned-entrepreneur Ricky Reyes is a classic rags to riches tale. From a floor sweeper in a hair salon to a neophyte hairdresser who opened his first shop in San Juan in 1973, Reyes has established a beauty empire that has pioneered in many hair technologies in the country. Today, Ricky Reyes Holdings, Corp. stands as a testimony to this honor student in the school of hard knocks, with a successful chain of 43 salons all over the Philippines; a manufacturing firm for his patented salon products; a world-class resort and spa (the Golden Sunset Resort and Spa in Calatagan, Batangas); his very own learning institute; and now, a nomination to be the Philippine representative to the prestigious Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Reyes first shop was actually the corner of a laundry shop in N. Domingo, consisting of a wall mirror, a shampoo chair, a bowl, and a dryer. It wasnt much, but to Reyes it meant everything, as it was something he could call his own. In two years, three more shops were to open on Legarda, Taft Avenue, and Blumentritt. In 1985, Reyes would change the landscape of the local beauty industry when he opened the first mall-based salon at SM North EDSA. It was also the beginning of a long-standing friendship with taipan Henry Sy. They say I am Henry Sys lucky charm, Reyes quips. I am always one of the first to be offered prime space in his malls, probably because I have never treated him as a landlord. We would do the rounds of his malls, and he would point out things to me, little details such as keeping merchandise at the right height, or ensuring all bulbs are working properly, and I learned a lot from him. Even today, he personally calls me to ask how business is doing. Over the years Reyes has also brought in the latest trends in hair and beauty, including milk rebonding, digital perm, hair reborn, hair shine, hair detox, eyelash extension, and many more, as he scours the best technology among foreign chemists and pays a premium on royalties to use these technologies exclusively in his salons. I learned the value of discipline early in life because I was determined to succeed, he states. To this day, I have not taken out a single centavo out of the cash register, preferring to roll money into the business to make it bigger. I sign every cent of my disbursement, and I am 100 percent debt-free. Business of emotions I was not aware I was an entrepreneur it wasnt a buzzword yet back then, adds Reyes. I have always considered myself a practitioner rather than a businessman. My business is not a dry heap of paperwork; it is a business of emotions and an investment of myself. Reyes spends much of his time mothering at his salons both in Metro Manila and in the provinces, instructing hairdressers on the spot, pitching in with the services when needed, and even posing for pictures with admiring customers. Giving back Despite his monumental success, Reyes still believes in sharing his blessings, starting with his 1,200 employees, for whom he provides a housing facility for each salon branch. I dont really believe in return of investment, Reyes professes. I am even proud of the fact that most of the countrys hairdressers all started with me. When I train people or give livelihood programs, there are no obligatory contracts that bind the beneficiaries into repayment. Despite the demands of his flourishing business, Reyes remains tireless in his prosperous crusade to transform society, into one that is beautiful inside and out.

I dont have any plans to stop working, or to stop helping, says Reyes. I love my business and I want people to discover that love for work, to do something they can earn from but are happy doing. I know what it feels like to be at the bottom of the wheel, and I take pleasure in helping those who want to help themselves.

Sandy Javier- Roasting Chickens for All Litson Manok (roasted chicken), sometimes called the poor man's litson (whole pig roasted on a spit), did not make a poor man out of Sandy Javier, owner and CEO of Andok's Corporation. Sandy's dream began more than 25 years ago when he set up a small stall along West Avenue in Quezon City. Wanting to cash in on the litson manok craze, he asked his mother's friend who owned a poultry store to 'outsource' 12 whole chickens which he then roasted with hopes that it will catch on with passers by. At the end of the day he only sold two. Instead of being discouraged, Sandy decided to innovate. He experimented with his ingredients and cooking methods until he found what he felt was the right formula that would capture his buyers' tastes. In 1985 Sandy's efforts were rewarded when the hungry masses began trooping to the first Andok's Litson ManokLiempo store at the corner of Baler Street and West Avenue in QC. Andok's soon became synonymous with litson manok and its stalls were soon a common sight in Metro Manila. In 2002 Andok's branched out to the Visayas starting with 2 stores in Cebu followed by 9 more stores in two years. Two years later Sandy decided to put up his first dine-in store at D'Mall Boracay. Budget-conscious tourists and locals enjoyed Andok's affordable menu so much that 6 outlets were operating on the island in less than a year's time. Aside from it's bestsellers, a typical Andok's menu also offers meat-heavy fare that include lechon kawali (fried pork rinds), crispy pata (deep-fried pork knuckles), pork sinigang (sour pork soup) as well as a host of desserts and merienda (snack) which include banana con yelo (bananas in iced milk) and leche flan (vanilla custard). Andok's has even evolved to include selling daily necessities such as rice, sugar, beverages and grocery products. At a seminar for business students at the Colegio San Juan De Letran, Sandy shared the lessons he learned from running Andok's. "Kahit walang pera, sipag lang ang capital, common sense and hard work. (Even if you don't have much money you can use diligence, common sense and hard work as your capital)", adding that an entrepreneur should find enjoyment in work, "If you are enjoying what you do, you are not working at all. You are just enjoying." He also emphasized the Pinoy trait of being matipid (thrifty) by always spending less than what they are earning. For future entrepreneurs Sandy has this to say: "One has to have passion, commitment, direction and (a) goal and one must not stop until he or she reaches (that) goal and when he or she does, he or she will work some more."

Andok's is a perfect example of a fad turning into an institution. From a corner stall with 12 roasted chickens, Sandy Javier now owns 300 outlets nationwide and counting, earning Andok's the tag, "Pambansang Litson Manok". Trivia: Sandy ran and won as the mayor of the town of Javier, Leyte. He is also the brother of Danny Javier, one of the members of the famous musical trio, The Apo Hiking Society. "Andok's" is the nickname of their late father, Leonardo Javier, Sr.

Socorro C. Ramos is the matriarch of National Bookstore, the Philippines leading retailer of books, office supplies, and greeting cards. In 1965, she and her husband Jose set up a nine-story building along Avenida Rizal which would be the very first National Bookstore. What has become the Ramos family business has not stopped growing since, having opened Powerbooks, a now popular specialty bookstore, in 1996. In 1940, Socorro Ramos, barely 18, started working as a salesgirl at a Goodwill Bookstore branch owned by her brother in Escolta, Manila. Because of her selling skills, Ramos was put in charge of the store. Her story is truly an inspiring one as she built the business National Book Store from scratch with a lot of challenges and hurdles as she and her husband Jose Ramos literally built and rebuilt the business three times from scratch. Thats the true entrepreneurial spirit with enough courage and determination. Nanay Coring or Maria Socorro Cancio in her early years was born in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on September 23, 1923. Ever she was young, she grew up in an entrepreneurial environment as one of the six children born to entrepreneur parents and grandmother. Her parents used to ran a store selling a lot of stuffs from slippers to clothes and a lot more while her grandmother had a market stall where the young Socorro got used to seeing customers withdraw items on credit. Unfortunately, her grandmother did not manage the business carefully not maintaining a list of those items availed on credit and their business fell. After that event, they went to Manila. Her mother struggled hard to feed six children and the young Socorro considered herself as lucky if she got money from her mother. Her elder sisters helped the family by working in a candy and bubble gum factory and she spent her summer doing summer jobs too. In one instance, young Socorro was hired to peel off the paper used in old cigarettes so that it can be reuse to make new fresh cigarette sticks. She received 5 centavos per pack of cigarettes. But the young Socorro started her entrepreneurial skills and hired kids and their neighborhood paying them 5 centavos for every two pack of cigarettes leveraging her efforts. Since then, the young Socorro was on her way to become an entrepreneur as early as 10 years old! Immediately after graduating from Arellano High School, she worked as a salesgirl at Goodwill Book Store owned by the family of her present husband Jose Ramos. Socorros brother Manuel married one of the Ramos children and in 1940, they needed someone to look after the branch they set up along Escolta Street, on the ground floor of Panciteria National. Jose Ramos took over it and asked Socorro to work on him in that branch. They renamed it as National Book Store. Their love story began but her parents were against with it as Socorro was just 18 years old back then. She was told to stay in the province to keep away from marrying Jose Ramos. But as they say, true love never dies, the young Socorro with just 11 pesos in her pocket, struggled to went back to Manila to marry Jose. Because of this act, her family was so furious and angry that they considered her dead already. It was short-lived though lasting only until Socorro gave birth to her twins named Alfredo, who is now the President of National Book Store and Benjamin, now the Vice President.

As mentioned above, the business National Book Store faced a lot of challenges as it was built and rebuilt three times from scratch! First, Socorro admitted that it was not easy to start the business from scratch. She recalled that during the Japanese occupation, they would look on each and every book title on sale. If they found questionable books, they would just tear the pages off leaving them useless. So instead of selling books, Socorro and Jose decided to fill their bookshelves with stuffs from candies, soap, slippers, papers, and cigarettes. During the war, she would transfer goods to her smaller stores. Second, when the Japanese were driven away, it was now the time for the Americans. Their National Book Store stall in Escolta was damaged in the war. They recovered a bit by selling unused greeting cards and uncensored books, which they had hidden in their home. Third, in 1945, they relocated their National Book Store previously located at Escolta to Avenida. The business is doing quite well during first few post-war school years but unfortunately, three years after, a typhoon blew the roof of their store and they were left with soaked books and stuffs that were worthless. Again, for the third time, they have to start from zero. They struggled hard to rebuilt National Book Store for the third time. But since then, every centavo that they earned were used to buy the lot where the Rizal Avenue Branch of National Book Store stands to this day. Today, National Book Store is considered as the largest chain of bookstores in the country. They have ventured into several businesses already such as a convenience-type store named NBS Book Express, publishing companies named Cacho-Hermanos printing press, Anvil Books and Capitol-Atlas Publishing, another book store named Powerbooks, music store named Tower Records and Music One, Gift Gate, the home of Hello Kitty and Swatch, and a department store named Crossings department store. Socorros children and relatives ran all these. Socorro Ramos life and success story and the challenges that she faced with her business National Book Store business was another inspiring story. In fact, it was recognized when she was chosen as the Ernst and Youngs Philippine Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005. Today, at the age of 85, Socorro Ramos or Nanay Coring acts as the General Manager of National Book Store. And she told that the core values in her success are to keep learning, being actively involved in the business, being able to read changes and act on them immediately, and most of all, never give up!

Alfredo Yao Alfredo M. Yao, 66, is a Filipino-Chinese and a rags-to-riches businessman who founded the the privately-held company, Zest-O Corporation. His other businesses include Semexco Marketing, Inc., Harman Foods, Amchem Marketing, Inc., American Brands Philippines, Inc., SMI Development Corporation, Philippine Business Bank and Zest Airways. He also served as the Special Envoy to China for Tourism and Cooperation. He was conferred as the Most Admitted ASEAN Enterprise Award in the Innovation Category for his Zest-O Corporation. Yao was the awarded 2005 Master Entrepreneur by Ernst and Young. Early Life Yao became a breadwinner at an early age after his father died when he was only 12 years old. He is the eldest of the six children, being penniless, he started to work to help the family because his mothers earnings as a sidewalk

vendor could not support their needs. He would accompany his mother to Chinese gambling dens to sell. He hardly finished his elementary and high school education but with the help of a relative, he completed it. He went to the Mapua Institute of Technology for college but had to leave after two years. Later on, he was still able to earn his degree in Engineering under the same institute and got his doctorate degree in Business Administration Honoris Causa from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Yao worked hard and did odd jobs such as working in a warehouse of a packaging company. At that time, one of his cousins was working in a printing press and had the chance to visit the work place several times. And there he saw the potential market in the packaging business and decided to invest. It was the birth of Solemar Commercial Press, named after his mother. The Birth of Zest-O The said printing press was engaged into making cellophane wrappers of biscuits and candies and stayed 20 years as a business. Then in 1979, while touring around Europe, Mr. Yao came to discover the technology in packaging called doy packs. Or flexible foil packs, in one of the exhibits. He bought the machine and tried to market the idea of doy packs to local juice manufacturers in the Philippines but nobody seemed interested. He himself used the said equipment and started preparing fruit juice in his own kitchen. The company was established as SEMEXCO Marketing Corporation, soon after it adopted the name Zest-O because of its fame. In 1980, Zest-O juice drink was launched and soon, it became a big-hit in the Philippines and eventually capturing 80% of the market for ready-to-juice drinks. Soon, other flavors were introduced to the market such as orange flavor are mango, grape, pineapple, strawberry, guyabano (sour soup), apple, calamansi, mango-orange, mango-calamansi and mango-lemon lime flavors. Yao soon launched other brands including juice brands including Sun-glo Juice Drink, Big 250 Juice Drink, and Plus!which exported to other neighboring countries in Asia like China, Korea, and Singapore and in some parts of America and Europe, Tita Frita Tomato and Banana Catsup, Beam Toothpaste, One Ice Tea, and Tekki Yaki Udon. Other business development On 2008, local carrier Asian Spirit was sold to AMY Holdings and Yao expressed interest in merging it with South East Asian Airlines (SEA Air). The merger did not push through and each airline operated independently. Asian Spirit was eventually renamed as Zest Air.

Bill Hewlett Bio, Founder of Hewlett Packard Born in Ann Arbor on May 20, 1913, before moving to San Francisco at age 3, Bill Hewlett was the co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, with David Packard. Packard and Hewlett met as undergraduates at Stanford, and in 1939, after Hewlett finished his graduate engineering work at Stanford and MIT, the two began working out of a garage in Palo Alto and decided on the company name Hewlett-Packard, over Packard-Hewlett, on the basis of a coin toss.

A small-scale initiative at first, the company didn't incorporate until 1947, and went public a decade later. HewlettPackard designed a manufactured a wide variety of electronic products, with no real focus in its first years -products included signal generators and oscilloscopes, oscillators used by the Walt Disney Company in the surround sound systems used for the groundbreaking movie Fantasia, and agricultural equipment, and the company's biggest early success was the Model 200A, a precision audio oscillator that was more reliable than their competitors' but cost barely a quarter the price, thanks to Hewlett and Packard's innovations. That particular product was so successful that it continued to sell well into the 1970s, despite all the changes in the industry in the meantime.

In time, the company came to focus on test equipment and measuring devices, such as voltmeters, signal generators, and electronic thermometers; the company's hallmark was to increase the range or accuracy of measurement over what was offered by other companies, even if only by a little. HP's headquartering in Palo Alto precipitated the shift of the tech industry to that part of California, surrounding Stanford University, and it is today considered the founding company of Silicon Valley. The company began developing semiconductors in the 1960s, principally for use in their own devices rather than sale, and when it was dissatisfied with Digital Equipment Corporation's minicomputers, it began to manufacture its own in 1966, introducing the HP 2100 and HP 1000 series of computers. While the series went through many upgrades, the basic design persevered through the 1980s, and HP's first line of desktop computers premiered in the 1970s -- ten years before IBM introduced the marketdefining PC.

HP's calculators and printers were groundbreaking. Among other products, it introduced the first handheld programmable calculator (HP-65) in 1974, containing as much power as many business computers of the time. Its first inkjet and laser printers for desktop computers were introduced in 1984, when dot matrix and thermal printers were still the common standard, but it wasn't until the next decade that HP started to target consumers -prior to that, businesses and especially fellow businesses in the technology industry had been their presumed base. They acquired other smaller computer manufacturers, and by the end of the 90s, computers became HP's main focus: everything not related to computers, storage, or imaging was spun off into Agilent, the largest IPO in Silicon Valley history.

Hewlett passed away in 2001, some fourteen years after his retirement from the board.

Barron Hilton Bio, Founder of Hilton Hotels The son of Conrad Hilton, Barron Hilton was born October 23, 1927, in Dallas, and named for his mother, Mary Barron. Conrad had founded the Hilton Hotels chain eight years earlier in Cisco, and in 1930 opened the first highrise hotel in the chain in El Paso. During the prosperous postwar years, the Hilton Hotels chain expanded, and the 1954 acquisition of the Statler Hotels chain made the Hiltons the largest hoteliers in the world -- and the first of many international hoteliers when they opened the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Barron married Marilyn June Hawley of Los Angeles on June 20, 1947, with whom he had eight children. At the time of the Statler acquisition, he was elected a vice president of the corporation, but continued to work outside of

the hotel chain as well, running aviation and orange juice businesses and working as president of the Carte Blanche credit card company. In 1960, he founded the Los Angeles Chargers, one of the founding teams in the new American Football League -- the team lost the first two AFL championships to the Houston Oilers, and Barron relocated it to San Diego. In 1966, he assumed the presidency of the Hilton Hotels chain, and soon introduced gambling establishments to the corporation's fold.

His brother Conrad Nicholson Hilton Jr. ("Nicky") was Elizabeth Taylor's first husband; his half-sister Francesca is the mother of Zsa Zsa Gabor. His son Rick married actress Kathy Richards, with whom he had four children: two young sons (Conrad Hughes and Barron Nicholas) and their socialite sisters, Paris and Nicky. Hilton has publicly distanced himself from the tabloid-headline behavior of his granddaughters. Like a growing number of billionaires following Warren Buffet's example, he has turned to large-scale philanthropy, announcing on Christmas Day 2007 that the bulk of his estate -- about 97 percent of $2.3 billion -- will be turned into a charitable trust governed by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Conrad had similarly left most of his estate to charities when he died in 1979, but Barron contested the will and won his suit on the basis of his lifelong involvement with and guidance of the family business.

Fred Smith Bio, Founder of FedEx Born August 11, 1944, in Marks, Mississippi, to Frederick C. Smith -- founder of the Toddle House restaurant chain - Fred Smith first conceived of FedEx in 1962 as an economics student at Yale University, where he was friends with George W. Bush and John Kerry, fellow members of the Skull and Bones society. His paper on overnight delivery services received only a C, but the notion stayed with him. After serving two tours of duty as a Marine pilot in Vietnam, he founded Federal Express in 1971 with inheritance money. By 1973, he had a fleet of 14 Dassault Falcon jets flying small packages and documents among 25 cities. He had had to relocate the business from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, in order to procure the proper facilities for his airplanes, and in 1978 greatly expanded his service after the deregulation of the airlines.

The company continued to develop its identity through the 1980s, briefly and unprofitably offering fax services in addition to overnight transport, and just as briefly carrying out a military transport contract it inherited when it acquired the cargo airline Flying Tigers. In 1998, it made a major acquisition of Caliber System, which brought into the organization Caliber Logistics, Roberts Express, Roadway Package Systems, and Viking Freight. The company adopted the previously unofficial nickname FedEx as its official corporate identity a couple years later.

Currently the company is under contract to carry all United States Postal Service overnight mail, through 2012, and the post office has thus become its largest customer -- a situation hearkening back to the days of the Pony Express. The brand identity is built on the expectation of absolute guaranteed on-time delivery. Smith continues to serve as chairman, president, and CEO of the FedEx Corporation, though he was widely considered a possibility for Defense Secretary when his former college friend Bush was elected President.

Pierre Omidyar Bio, Founder of eBay

The 76th richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine, Pierre Omidyar was born on June 21, 1967, in Paris and grew up predominantly in Washington, D.C. An early interest in computers led to his attending Tufts University, where he graduated with a degree in computer science in 1988. After college, he worked for Apple subsidiary Claris, as part of the team working on the new version of the vector-based drawing program MacDraw. In the summer of 1995, when he was 28, Omidyar wrote up the code for what would soon become the eBay website. Web commerce was still fairly new at the time, and Auction Web -- as it was called -- premiered with no fanfare as part of Omidyar's personal website. The first sale was of a broken laser pointer for $14.83, and the site quickly built up steam, causing him to put it on its own domain, renamed as eBay -- for Echo Bay, his consulting company. The next year, Jeffrey Skoll was hired as company president and a third-party deal was struck to allow eBay to sell plane tickets. In 1998, eBay went public, making Omidyar and Skoll billionaires, and international eBay sites were soon opened in dozens of countries. In 2004, Omidyar and his wife Pam founded the Omidyar Network; where the earlier Omidyar Foundation had funded non-profit projects, the Network also provides money for profit ventures that advance its goals. Omidyar believes one of the side effects of the eBay phenomenon has been its illustration of the trust that can exist between strangers, who are exchanging money and goods online without mutual friends, face to face meetings, or physical proof beyond photographs. Equal funds are earmarked for nonprofit and profit concerns. Omidyar is also an investor in Meetup.com, a site that he believes will profit from its connection of strangers just as eBay has.

Peter Thiel Bio, Founder of PayPal Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1967, and raised in California, Peter Thiel founded The Stanford Review -- the school's main conservative paper -- as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and continued on to earn his J.D. from its law school in 1992. After four years of practicing law, he founded Thiel Capital Management, his first major financial venture before Confinity, the company that eventually became PayPal. Confinity was founded by Thiel, Max Levchin, and Luke Nosek, as a cryptography and Palm Pilot payments company in 1998, and in March 2000 merged with financial services company X.com. Both companies included email payments as a feature of their services, and this would be the focus of the new merged company, PayPal. PayPal was one of the first companies to use a "human verification system" by making users enter numbers from a blurry picture, a system now commonplace online; they may have developed it. The skyrocketing popularity of online auction site eBay created a need for online payment systems, and especially for individuals without merchant accounts with credit companies to be able to accept payments without depending on checks sent through the mail. PayPal went public in late 2001, and was acquired by eBay a year later for $1.5 billion, having soundly defeated Billpoint, the eBayowned PayPal alternative. Most other PayPal competitors went out of business not long after eBay's acquisition; many of those that remain tend to offer only some of PayPal's services, keeping them out of head to head competition. Thiel was PayPal's first Chief Executive Officer, and served until its sale. He now sits on the Board of Directors of Facebook, in which he was an early investor, and founded Clarium Capital Management, a $3 billion hedge fund. He's made a number of investments in companies founded by his PayPal colleagues, and recently coproduced the movie Thank You For smoking