It’s well known that Valve made a lot of money from a considerably small team, however just how rich Steam boss Gabe Newell is has always been up for debate. According to Forbes’ top 400 richest people in America this year, however, he has made the top 100.
Good-man Gabe only just made the top 100, sitting at number 97 with his estimated net worth of $5.5 billion. This wealth all stems from his co-founded company Valve, which has since gone on to create games that have since entered legendary status as well as PC platform goliath Steam, which according to Forbes, “some liken it to the iTunes of videogames.”
Currently, “Steam sells game licenses to 125 million users of its own and other developers' titles and collects a percentage of the sales.” This isn’t to mention the immense success found within Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2’s marketplace.
“It was another record year for the wealthiest people in America, as the price of admission to the country’s most exclusive club jumped nearly 18%. The minimum net worth to make The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans is now a record $2 billion, up from $1.7 billion a year ago,” Forbes wrote.
KitGuru Says: Who knows, one day the man might reach the top spot. Only one thing is certain and that is that he will never make number 3…
More richest peoples means better for all. Average (non rich) people will use all his money just to get better food, cars, etc, while rich people will put their money into bank. This way banks have money for investment which is necessary to sustain eceonmy on unchanged level, while economic growth requires even more investment. So, more richest peoples means more money for economic growth which means more developed economy which means more jobs and higher paid jobs for all, despite striking defference between average and richest peoples.
“Just to get better food, cars, etc” is still pushing money through the economy. I spend my money on food, the retailer spends that on supplies and wages, the wages are spent on food the supplier’s revenue goes on materials and wages, etc, etc.
In fact, an economy Can function without the type of capital investment you have described (Germany is less dependent on this model than the US or UK) but no economy can function without consumer spending. Both are needed to function optimally, but consumer spending drives everything.