Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson (born July 18, 1950) a famed British entrepreneur, is best known for his widely successful Virgin brand, a banner that encompasses a variety of business organizations.

Branson first achieved notoriety with Virgin Records, a record label that started out with multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield and introduced bands like the Sex Pistols and Culture Club to the world music scene. Known for his wacky exploits used to promote his businesses, Branson is keen on playful antagonisms, exemplified by his "Mine is bigger than yours" decals on the new Airbus A340-600 jets used by his airline. He has also made several unsuccessful attempts to fly in a hot air balloon around the world.

The hot air balloon, called the "Virgin Atlantic Flyer," was the first hot air balloon ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and was the largest ever flown at 60.513 m³ (2,137,000 ft³) volume, reaching speeds in excess of 130 mph (209 km/h).

In 1991, Branson crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada, a distance of 7,672 km (4,767 miles), but their track took them a claimed 10,885 km. This again broke all existing records with speeds of up to 245 mph in a balloon measuring 60.513 m³.

He formed Virgin Atlantic Airways in 1984, launched Virgin Mobile in 1999, and later failed in a 2000 bid to handle the National Lottery. He has also started a European short-haul airline, Virgin Express.

In October 2003, he announced he would be teaming up with balloonist Steve Fossett to attempt to break the record for a non-stop flight around the world. A new aircraft, the GlobalFlyer, will be built specially for the attempt by Scaled Composites.

In 1993 he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Technology from Loughborough University.

He became Sir Richard Branson when he was knighted by the Queen in 1999 for his business prowess and exuberance for the spirit of the United Kingdom.

On September 25, 2004 he announced the signing of a deal under which a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne to take paying passengers into suborbital space.

He has guest starred, playing himself, on several television shows, including Friends, Baywatch and Only Fools and Horses. He also is the star of a new reality television show on Fox called The Rebel Billionaire where sixteen contestants will be tested for their entrepreneurship and their sense of adventure.

Sir Richard appears at No. 85 on the 2002 List of "100 Greatest Britons" (sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public). Branson's high public profile often leaves him open as a figure of satire - the 2000AD series Zenith featured a parody of Branson as a supervillian as at the time the comic's publisher and favoured distributor and the Virgin group were in competition.

Amar Bose Biography

Born: 1929
Achievements: Founded Bose Corporation in 1964; Invented the 901(R) Direct/Reflecting(R) speaker system - one of the first stereo loudspeakers to utilize the space around them instead of reproducing sound as if in a vacuum; featured in 2006 Forbes Billionaires list.

Amar Bose is the founder of Bose Corporation and is known for his pioneering work in the field of acoustics. Bose speakers are world-famous for giving high-end performance despite their modest size.

Amar Gopal Bose was born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father Nani Gopal Bose was a revolutionary freedom fighter who emigrated from Calcutta to escape British prosecution. Amar Bose was interested in electronics right from his childhood and used to make small electrical toys to supplement his family's income. He did his schooling Abington Senior High School and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT in the early 1950s. He also completed his Ph.D. from MIT.

While doing graduation from MIT in 1950s, Amar Bose purchased a new stereo system. But he was disappointed with the performance of the speakers. Despite their impressive technical specifications, the speakers failed to reproduce the realism of a live performance. This led Bose to start working on stereo speaker. He aimed to design a speaker that would emulate the concert hall experience in the home. Amar Bose's early patents won him great respect within the industry. But Bose needed capital to do further research and begin production. Amar Bose received financial support from MIT professor Y. W. Lee and in 1964 he founded Bose Corporation.

In 1968, Amar Bose invented the 901(R) Direct/Reflecting(R) speaker system. They were one of the first stereo loudspeakers to utilize the space around them instead of reproducing sound as if in a vacuum. Bose's 901(R) speakers remained an industry benchmark for 25 years. Amar Bose also captured the car stereo market, with systems that transformed the on-the-road listening experience.

Today, Amar Bose has over two-dozen patents to his name. His products can be found in Olympics stadiums, the Sistine Chapel, NASA Space Shuttle, and the Japanese National Theatre. Amar Bose was also a professor of electrical engineering at MIT for many ye

Vinod Dham Biography

Born: 1950
Achievement: Known as the father of the Pentium processor.

Vinod Dham is popularly known as the father of the Pentium processor. Born in 1950 in Pune, he had his initial schooling in Pune. He did his Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering in 1971. Thereafter he had a brief stint with Continental Devices, a Delhi based semiconductor company.

In 1975, Vinod Dham went to the US and did his Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. After completing his Masters in 1977, Vinod Dham joined the National Cash Register (NCR) at Dayton, Ohio. Vinod was a team member of the NCR's memory design group. He received many patents for his work at NCR.

While making a presentation at the IEEE conference in Monterrey, California on re-programmable memory, Vinod Dham received an offer from the Intel to work with them. In January 1990, Vinod was in-charge of developing the 586 or Pentium processor. He worked relentlessly on the project and the Pentium processor was a big hit in the market. Vinod Dham rose up the corporate ladder and reached the position of the Vice President of the Intel's Microprocessor Products Group. He quit Intel in 1995.

Thereafter, Vinod joined NexGen, a start-up firm as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President.. When Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) acquired NexGen in 1996, Vinod Dham looked after the development of AMD's famous K6 Processor, world's fastest personal computer microprocessor. Later on he quit AMD.

Presently, Vinod Dham is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Silicon Spice, a communications technology development firm.

Lord Swaraj Paul Biography

Born: 1931
Achievement: Knighted by British Queen in 1978; Awarded Padma Bhushan in 1983.

Lord Swaraj Paul is one of the most famous Indian origin entrepreneurs, based in Britain. He is the founder of multinational company Caparo-the UK-based steel and engineering group.

Swraj Paul was born in Jalandhar in 1931. His father ran a small foundry and used to make steel buckets and farming equipments. Swaraj Paul did his graduation from the Punjab University and subsequently obtained a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. After his return to India, Swaraj Paul joined the Apeejay Group, which his father had founded. Destiny took him to London in 1966, where he went for his daughter's Leukemia treatment, and stayed there forever.

Swaraj Paul started his business in Britain in 1968. After acquiring one steel unit, he went on to acquire more units and founded the Caparo group in the year 1978. Caparo developed into one of the leading producers of welded steel tube and spiral-welded pipe in the UK. In 1996, Swaraj Paul stepped down from the management of the Caparo group and handed over the reins to his three sons.

Lord Swaraj Paul has won several honors and awards. He was knighted by the British Queen in the year 1978 and became the Lord Paul of Marylebone and a member of the House of Lords. Lord Swraj Paul wrote the biography of Indira Gandhi and was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1983. He was bestowed with the Pro-Chancellorship of the Thames University in 1998.

Arun Sarin Biography

Born: October 21, 1954
Achievement: CEO of global mobile telecommunications company Vodafone Group Plc.

Arun Sarin is the Chief Executive Officer of the British based global mobile telecommunications company Vodafone Group Plc. He is one of the few Indians to head a global multi national company.

Arun Sarin was born on October 21, 1954 at Panchmari, Madya Pradesh. His father was an army officer and Arun Sarin did his schooling from military boarding school in Bangalore. After schooling, Arun Sareen joined IIT Kharagpur and graduated in 1975. In 1977, he did his MS in Engineering from University of California, Berkeley and subsequently did his MBA from the same university in 1978.

Arun Sarin started his professional career in 1978 as an environmental analyst for a Washington, D.C., consulting firm. In 1981, he joined Natomas in California as a corporate development manager. Arun Sarin entered telecom industry in 1984, when he joined Pacific Telesis Group in San Francisco. At Pacific Telesis Group, Arun worked closely with Sam Ginn, the legendary telecommunications entrepreneur. He worked with Pacific Telesis in various professional and executive positions for 10 years, and was later appointed vice president of corporate strategy. Arun Sarin left Pacific Telesis in 1994 when it split its mobile and paging businesses.

In 1995, Arun Sarin followed his mentor Sam Ginn to a newly formed wireless-communications company, AirTouch Communications. He was President and Chief Operating Officer of AirTouch from February 1997 to June 1999. In 1999, AirTouch and Vodafone, a large British wireless communications company joined hands to create Vodafone-AirTouch. Arun Sarin was made chief executive of the newly formed corporate entity. In April 2000, Arun Sarin resigned from Vodafone-AirTouch and took the CEO position at InfoSpace, an Internet infrastructure company based in Bellevue, Washington. As CEO Arun Sarin led the merger of InfoSpace and Go2Net, a consumer-portal company, for approximately $4 billion in a stock swap.

After an eight-month tenure at InfoSpace, Arun Sarin resigned. In July 2001, he joined Accel Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) to lead a new telecommunications venture called Accel-KKR Telecom. After an eighteen month stint at Accel-KKR Telecom Arun Sarin resigned and on July 30, 2003 he was installed as the CEO of Vodafone.

Indra Nooyi Biography

Achievements: CEO of PepsiCo; Ranked No.4 on Forbes magazine's annual survey of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Indra Nooyi is the newly appointed CEO of PepsiCo-the world's second-largest soft drink maker. She joins the select band of women who head Fortune 500 companies. Presently, there are only 10 Fortune 500 companies that are run by women, and Indra Nooyi is the 11th to break into the top echelons of power. Prior to becoming CEO, Indra Nooyi was President, Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of PepsiCo Inc.

Indra Nooyi spent her childhood in Chennai. Her father worked at the State Bank of Hyderabad and her grandfather was a district judge. She did her BSc. in Chemistry from Madras Christian College and subsequently earned a Master's Degree in Finance and Marketing from IIM Calcutta. Indra Nooyi also holds a Master's Degree in Public and Private management from the Yale School of Management.

Before joining PepsiCo in 1994, Indra Nooyi was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Strategic Marketing for Asea Brown Boveri, and Vice President and Director of Corporate Strategy and Planning at Motorola. She also had stints at Mettur Beardsell and Johnson & Johnson. At PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi played key roles in the Tricon spin-off, the purchase of Tropicana, the public offering of Pepsi Cola bottling group and the merger with Quaker Foods.

Indra Nooyi has been ranked No.4 on Forbes magazine's annual survey of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

Sabeer Bhatia Biography

Born: 1969
Achievements: One of the co-founders of Hotmail; Named by TIME as one of the "People to Watch" in International Business (2002)

Sabeer Bhatia is one of the poster boys of Indian success story at Silicon Valley. He is better known as the man who co-founded Hotmail. He later sold it to Microsoft for $400 million and today Hotmail is the world's largest e-mail provider, with over 50 million registered users.

Sabeer Bhatia was born in 1969 at Chandigarh. He comes from a humble background. His father was an army officer and his mother worked with the Central Bank of India. Sabeer Bhatia had his earlier schooling at Bishop Cotton's School in Pune and later on at St Joseph's College in Bangalore. After passing out from school he joined the Birla Institute of Technology (BITS) at Pilani. At Pilani, he qualified to try for a transfer scholarship at Cal Tech, considered to be the world's most competitive scholarship. Sabeer Bhatia was the only applicant in the entire world in 1988 to get a passing score of 62.

In 1988 Sabeer Bhatia came to America and completed his B.Sc. with honours and earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University. In 1992, while working on his Ph.D., Sabeer dropped out and joined Apple Computers as a systems integrator. He worked for Apple Computer for a year. Then he worked for another startup, Firepower Systems Inc. In 1995, Sabir Bhatia co-founded Hotmail Corporation along with Jack Smith, a colleague at Apple Computers. They launched pioneering web-based e-mail service Hotmail. At the end of 1997, he sold Hotmail to Microsoft for $400 million. Sabeer Bhatia t worked for Microsoft for a year until March of 1999, and then in the middle of 1999 he founded Arzoo.com

Arzoo.com was supposed to be a real-time marketplace for technology related solutions and support. It was envisaged as a platform that would enable engineers, developers and scientists from around the world to monetise their expertise on the one hand, and enable corporations to improve the productivity of their employees on the other. Sabeer Bhatia's vision was to make Arzoo.com, the world's largest human network of intellectual capital. But Arzoo.com failed with the burst of dot-com bubble. In 2006 Sabeer Bhatia relaunched Arzoo as a travel portal. Sabeer Bhatia has also started a new venture called BlogEverywhere with co-founders Shiraz Kanga and Viraf Zack.

Sabeer Bhatia has won several honors and awards. These include: "Entrepreneur of the Year," award by the venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (1997); and "TR100" award, presented by MIT to 100 young innovators who are expected to have the greatest impact on technology in the next few years. He was named by TIME as one of the "People to Watch" in International Business (2002)

Lakshmi Mittal Biography

Lakshmi Mittal Biography (Lakshmi Narayan Mittal or Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) : Mittal Steel Company
Famous for : The controversial "Garbagegate" scandal in Britain and being the 3rd richest man in the world in 2005. Mittal paid $128 for his Kensington Palace Gardens residence in London (nicknamed the Taj Mittal), which was the most expensive home in the world at the time.
Mittal details : Born - 15th of June, 1950 Rajasthan, India / Lives - United Kingdom.

Lakshmi Mittal heads the multi national steel company Mittal Steel that his father Mohan began. Mittal has grown the family business into one of the largest steel companies in the world, with steel making facilities in fourteen countries and employing more than 150,000 people. The Indian born, British based steel magnate was the third richest man in the world in 2005according to the Forbes business magazine. Lakshmi Mittal saw his estimated wealth increase by $US18.8 billion in 12 months, due to surging steel prices and when he merged his Ispat International with Ohio-based International Steel Group. Mittal reportedly paid $US128 million for a twelve bedroom residence in Kensington Palace Gardens, London.

Lakshmi Mittal Quotes

Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them. Lakshmi Mittal - Challenges - Commitment - Problems Hard work certainly goes a long way. These days a lot of people work hard, so you have to make sure you work even harder and really dedicate yourself to what you are doing and setting out to achieve. Lakshmi Mittal - Commitment - Work

George Soros Biography

George Soros Biography : Billionaire Fund Manager & Philanthropist
Famous for : Making billions and giving away millions every year
Soros details : Born - Hungary August 12, 1930 Lives - USA .

George Soros is a Hungarian born billionaire investor, philanthropist and author. The American businessman was once known as "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England" after speculating on the Pound Sterling, believing it was overvalued. Soros earned himself 1.1billion US dollars from the deal in 1992. George Soros is also a generous philanthropist, giving away millions of dollars every year to the poor and disadvantaged of the world. He also has numerous critics in both finance and politics.

George Soros was born in Budapest, Hungary on August 12, 1930. In 1947 Soros fled the Soviet Union Communist occupation of Hungary and arrived in England. He then went on to study at the London School of Economics and graduated in 1952. Soros then emigrated and settled in in the United States of America in 1956.

Upon moving to America, Soros set up an investment fund that went on to create his massive fortune. It was his intention to simply support his love of writing from his Wall Street earnings, but his well timed investment decisions saw his wealth increase dramatically each year. The Quantum Fund, went on to become one of the most successful managed investment funds ever, with a more than 30% increase annually over a 30 year period.

Soros also gained many critics along his path to financial success. Through his International currency speculating he was once given the nickname of "the man who broke the bank of England" from a deal that earned him more than one billion US dollars. He has also been accused of negatively affecting the Malaysian ringgit during the Asian financial crisis through his aggressive currency speculation.

George Soros is also a very active philanthropist that is willing to use his money to fund causes that he believes in. Since 1979 he has been supporting and funding various organizations and activities world wide. His first charitable actions helped to fund black students in the University of Capetown in South Africa during apartheid. Soros is founder and chairman of the Open Society Institute, an organization that supports activities in more than 50 countries worldwide.

George Soros is also the author of several books on the economy and politics. He first entered the business world to fund his passion for writing and philosophy, and continues to fulfill this passion with more than 8 published books.

During the 2004 American election year, Soros has risen to fame with his criticism of George W Bush. Although not usually known for his participation in politics, Soros believes that the direction the Bush government has been taking America is dangerously wrong. He has contributed more than 15 million dollars to oust President Bush. Soros commented that "it is the central focus of my life" and "it is a matter of life and death".

David Filo Biography

David Filo Biography : Cofounder of Yahoo!
Famous for : Founding one of the most popular websites on the Internet (Yahoo! Search engine and web portal) with Jerry Yang and for being an American internet billionaire.
Filo details : Born - 1966, Wisconsin, USA / Lives - United States of America.

David Filo with his partner Jerry Yang, co-created the popular search engine Yahoo! while studying together at Stanford. Today Yahoo! is one of the most popular directories and search engines on the web and has grown to provide consumers with services such as online dating, shopping, and website hosting.

David Filo was born in Wisconsin in 1966, and later moved to Moss Bluff, Louisiana at the age of six. He attended high school at Sam Houston High School near Lake Charles, Louisiana and ended up at Tulane University with a Dean's Honor Scholarship. He graduated with a BS in Computer Engineering. Filo then took his studies to Stanford University where he eventually graduated with a Master of Science degree.

It was at Stanford that David Filo met Jerry Yang, another Computer Engineer. Together, Filo and Yang started surfing the fledgling internet in their spare time. There were thousands of new websites appearing every day and Filo and Yang wanted to make the most of the experience by setting up a directory in order to share sites with their friends. They created Yahoo! to help organize their findings and help other people find relevant sites.

Yahoo! quickly grew to include other Stanford alumni and Filo and Yang developed software to help categorize websites even further. The site grew even more and became a stable for online searches. Hundreds of companies jumped on board to advertise on their site and helped the company to grow to over one hundred employees in a short time.

Although Yahoo! still offers searches and directories, they have expanded their offerings to include online personals and dating, shopping, web hosting services, and more. Yahoo! offers services in countries around the world in a variety of languages. David Filo still heads software and also acts as Chief of Yahoo!.

Walt Disney Biography

Walt Disney Biography (Walter Elias Disney) : The Walt Disney Company
Famous for : Creating Mickey Mouse, Disney Land, many much loved cartoons, and for being one of the first powerful media moguls.
Disney details : Born - December 5 , 1901 USA / Died - December 15, 1966 United States of America.

Walt Disney was the founder of the Walt Disney Company and creator of some of the world's most loved cartoon characters.His media empire grew from the success of a small animated mouse called Mickey Mouse. The Disney empire went on to include many popular cartoon characters, feature films, theme parks, Hollywood studios, television networks, and numerous other media assets.

Walter Elias Disney was born on the 5th of December, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His father Elias Disney was of Irish/Canadian descent and his mother Flora Call Disney was of German/American descent. Walt Disney had three brothers and one sister. The Disney family were raised on a farm in Missouri, USA where the young Walter developed an interest in drawing and trains.

The Disney family moved back to Chicago where Walt attended the McKinley High School and took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. At sixteen years of age Walt Disney dropped out of school to join the army but was knocked back because of his age. Instead, he joined the Red Cross and was shipped to France for one year, where he drove an ambulance.

When Walt Disney returned from France he moved to Kansas City where his brother Roy Disney was working at a bank. Walt went to work at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio where he created commercial works for magazines, newspapers, and movie theaters.

Disney briefly started a company with the cartoonist Ub Iwerks, called "Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists". The venture did not take off and the pair were forced to seek alternative paths to put food on the table. Disney and Iwwerks would later work together in creating some of the earliest popular Disney cartoon characters, including "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" and "Mickey Mouse".

After the failure of the Iwwerks-Disney Commercial Artists venture, Walt moved to Hollywood in Los Angeles. He went into partnership with his brother Roy and started what would eventually become the Walt Disney Company. His friend and previous business partner Ub Iwerks also came to Los Angeles and played an important role in the success of the company. It was here that Walt also met the young Lillian Bounds, who would later become his wife.

The first success the company had was with the "Alice Comedies" series, which featured animated animals with a real life girl. "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" was their second big success. The "Lucky Rabbit" brought success, but it also created a lot of problems in the company, which saw Disney lose many of his animators and the rights to the Oswald trademark which was owned by Universal. ("Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" did eventually return to the Disney company more than seventy years later when the Walt Disney Company bought the rights from NBC Universal in 2006.)

It was a squeaky sounding mouse with big ears that would go on to be Walt Disney's biggest success. "Mickey Mouse" was born on the 18th of November, 1928. Mickey first appeared in a silent short called "Plane Crazy", but it would be the "Steamboat Willie" cartoon with sound that made Mickey Mouse famous. Even though Walt Disney gets much of the credit and acknowledgment for creating the famous mouse, it is believed that his friend Ub Iwerks actually created Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney was the voice of Mickey Mouse up until 1946.

Mickey Mouse would go on to become a symbol for the Walt Disney Company. The little mouse that started the company appeared in many cartoons, full feature films, comic strips, books, video games, toys, and was made into every piece of merchandise imaginable. Mickey Mouse became bigger than just the Walt Disney Company, and even came to symbolize the country of America. The mouse went on to become a cultural icon.

Other popular cartoon characters that the Walt Disney Company went on to create include Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Butch the Bulldog, Scrooge McDuck, Clarabelle Cow, and many more. The company also animated other characters like Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Hercules, and more.

The Walt Disney company received many Academy award nominations and was nominated for seven Emmys while Walt was alive. Disney's company had to overcome challenges like the workers strike in 1940, but the company mostly grew forward in leaps and bounds. The company went public in 1957 and continues to be a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange to this day.

Disney was working on plans for a theme park when he died from lung cancer complications in 1966. His brother Roy would follow his plans through and the Walt Disney World theme park was opened to the public in 1971. The company continued to grow after the death of Walt Disney and is now one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world.

Walt Disney and Lilly Disney had two children together. They gave birth to Diane Marie Disney in 1933 and later adopted their other daughter, Sharon Mae Disney who was born in 1934.

Walt Disney Quotes

Give the public everything you can give them, keep the place as clean as you can keep it, keep it friendly. Walt Disney - Customers - Success I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life.. it's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true. Walt Disney - Challenges - Money.

Ratan Tata Biography

Ratan Tata Biography : Tata Group Chairman
Famous for : Being a wealthy billionaire Indian businessman and chairman of the Tata Group, one of the largest conglomerate companies in India.
Tata details : Born - 28th of December, 1937 Mumbai, India / Lives India.

Ratan Tata became the Chairman of the Tata Group in 1981 after serving as Chairman in charge of the Nelco division of the group. Tata is India's largest conglomerate and includes the brands Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Indian Hotels, as well as other brands labeled under the Tata name.

Ratan Tata was born on December 28, 1937 in Mumbai, India in one of the richest families in the country. His great grandfather, Jamsedji Tata, was the founder of the Tata group and passed the power and inheritance down to his family. Ratan Tata grew up in a broken household, however, after his parents split in the mid-1940s and he and his brother were raised by their grandmother, Lady Navajbai.

Tata was a good student and studied hard at the Campion School in Mumbai followed by studies in architecture and structural engineering at Cornell University. He graduated with his bachelors degree in 1962 and joined the Tata Group in December of that same year. Tata's first job with the Group involved working with the Tata Steel division where he worked with the blue-collar employees shoveling stone and working with the furnaces.

Although this original job was physically difficult, it helped Ratan Tata gain a better understanding and appreciation for the business and he gradually began taking on more responsibility. In 1971, Tata became Director-in-Charge of the National Radio & Electronics Company Limited (Nelco) in order to help its struggling finances. Ratan Tata helped build a better consumer electronics division but the economic recession and union strikes prevented his vision from taking hold.

Tata was eventually moved to Empress Mills in 1977, a struggling textile mill within the Tata Group. Ratan Tata renewed the vision for the mill but the larger Tata Group was not in agreement with his advice. Instead, the mill was shut down and liquidated in 1986, to Tata's disappointment, and he was moved to the Tata Industries, another holding company.

With Tata Industries, Ratan Tata was able to transform the management and vision of the division and bring in significantly larger dividends. This renewed financial success helped bring the Tata Group to the New York Stock Exchange and gave the company even more international power and prestige. Ratan Tata continued to acquire different industries for the Tata Group, eventually purchasing the steel an aluminum producer, Corus Group as well as Jaguar and Land Rover brands from the Ford Company.

Ratan Tata lives a very private life in Mumbai, India.

Jack Welch Biography

Jack Welch Biography (John Francis Welch, Jr.): Former CEO of General Electric
Famous for : Being a respected business manager and former CEO of the American General Electric (GE) conglomerate and for his popular book called "Jack: Straight from the Gut".
Welch details : Born - November 19, 1935 Massachusetts, USA / Lives - United States of America
Book Reviews : Jack: Straight from the Gut.

Jack Welch grew to fame in the business world through his management success and skills during his many years at General Electric. Welch turned the struggling slow moving giant of a company into a dynamic growth company revered by many. During his 20 years of leadership at General Electric (GE) Welch increased the value of the company from $13 billion to several hundred billion.

Born John Frances Welch Jr. in Salem Massachusetts USA in 1935. Welch received his B.S. degree at the University of Massachusetts in Chemical Engineering and then went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D degrees (as a Chemical Engineer) at the University of Illinois.

After graduating in 1960 Welch joined General Electric as a Chemical engineer and worked his way through the ranks to become the Chairman and CEO of GE, making him the eighth and youngest leader.

During his 20 year reign of General Electric, one of Americas largest and most well known companies Jack Welch's management skills became almost legendary. His no nonsense leadership style gave him a reputation of being hard, even ruthless, but also fair when making business decisions.

Welch had little time for bureaucracy and archaic business ways. If managers didn't change they were replaced with someone that could change. Managers were given free reign as long as they followed the GE ethic of constant change and striving to do better. He ran GE like a small dynamic business able to change as opportunities arose or when a business become unprofitable.

In his pursuit to change and streamline the General Electric giant Welch once earned the nickname of Neutron Jack. More than 100,000 GE employees had their jobs taken from them during his reign. GE businesses had to be the best performing business in their field or they were sold.

General Electric saw great growth and expansion under Jack Welch's leadership. Through streamlining operations, acquiring new businesses, and ensuring that each business under the GE umbrella was one of the best in its field the company was able expand dramatically from 1981 to 2001.

Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Jack Welch is an exceptional manager and improved the General Electric company dramatically. His management ideas and leadership skills are both admired by business commentators and imitated by business leaders worldwide.

Since retiring from his role as GE Chairman in 2001 Welch has written a best selling memoir "Jack, Straight from the Gut" and consults with several Fortune 500 businesses.

Jack Welch was married to his first wife Carolyn for 28 years and had four children with her. He was married to his second wife Jane Beasley for almost 14 years. Welch married his third and current wife Suzy Wetlaufer after the couple began an affair when Wetlaufer interviewed Welch while working for the Harvard Business Review publication.

Jack Welch Quotes

My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too. Jack Welch - Management - An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage. Jack Welch - Action - Learning

Donald Trump Biography

Donald Trump Biography (Donald John Trump) : Billionaire Real Estate Developer
Famous for : Being a famous New York real estate developer billionaire, starring on the hit reality show "The Apprentice", and the term "You're fired!"
Trump details : Born - USA June 14, 1946 Lives - USA
More Donald : Donald Trump Books - Trump University - Ivanka Trump - Ivana Trump Quotes - Donald Trump Rosie O'Donnell Controversy.

Donald Trump owns some of the most prestigious pieces of prime real estate in New York City. Trump has slapped his Trump brand name on some of the finest hotels, casinos and building complexes in the city. Donald Trump was born in New York on the 14th of June 1946. His father Fred Trump was a successful property developer that helped form the young Donald's business sense. Donald acknowledged his father's influence by stating that “My father was my mentor, and I learned a tremendous amount about every aspect of the construction industry from him.”. Trump began his career in his family's real estate business after studying at the Wharton Business School. He worked with his father for five years and was extremely successful in making profitable deals. His father commented on his son's business success by stating that "everything he seems to touch turns to gold". After gaining the necessary business skills in real estate from his father, Donald Trump moved into the Manhattan real estate scene. He went on to acquire some of the most exclusive properties in the city. Trump Casino, Trump International Hotel, Trump Marina Hotel and Casino, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and Trump Tower are among his prestigious portfolio of real estate properties. Trump brands his properties with the Trump name displayed prominently. They all have the Trump name in their titles and often have large "T" symbols placed all over the important areas of the building. Through his properties and business dealings he has developed a celebrity personality and often appears in gossip columns, television programs and magazines. Donald Trump starred in his own reality TV program in 2004. The Apprentice program is a selection of candidates competing against each other in the area of business to ultimately become Donald Trump's apprentice. The program was watched by millions of viewers each week and was wildly successful. Each participant to be eliminated was given the now famous "you're fired" sentence. The series was a hit and has gone on to be one of the more popular reality programs each year. "I mean, there's no arguing. There is no anything. There is no beating around the bush. "You're fired" is a very strong term." Donald Trump Trump is a self confident and extravagant businessman that has made himself instantly recognizable wherever he goes. His interests include real estate, entertainment, gaming, and sports. Trump also owns part of the three largest beauty competitions in the world, consisting of Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA. He is also a successful author with several best selling business books published that include The Art of the Deal, The Art of Survival and How to get Rich. Among his many other pursuits, Donald Trump was briefly interested in running for President, is a member of several civic and charitable organizations and is a generous philanthropist. In 2005 Donald Trump started the Trump University that teaches business students online. The courses available are focused on real estate investing, being a successful entrepreneur, business management, and career success. Towards the end of 2006 Donald Trump was criticized by the co-host of "The View" Rosie O'Donnell. It created a lot of media attention, with Rosie and Trump verbally attacking each other very publicly. See more about the Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell issue. For his services to the entertainment industry with the success of his reality program, The Apprentice, Donald Trump received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Trump attended the ceremony with his model wife Melania and his son Barron Trump in January 2007.

Michael Dell Biography

Michael Dell Biography (Michael Saul Dell) : Founder of Dell Computers
Famous for : Founding Dell Computers with $1000 and creating a net worth of $20 billion USD before the age of 40.
Dell details : Born - February 23, 1965 Texas, USA / Lives - United States of America.

Michael Dell is the founder of the computer company Dell, Inc. He created one of the most profitable computer companies in the world with annual sales of up to $50 billion American dollars. Dell has also become one of the wealthiest people in the world with a 4th place listing on the Forbes rich Americans list in 2005 with an estimated worth of $18 billion.

Michael Saul Dell was born on the 23rd of February, 1965 in Houston to an orthodontist father and a mother that worked as a money manager. Dell was interested in computers from a very young age and was already pulling them apart at the age of 15. He attended the University of Texas with hopes of becoming a doctor but abandoned studies to start his own business at just 19 years of age.

With just one thousand dollars in his pocket Dell started "PC's Limited" in 1984. From his university dorm room Dell started building and selling personal computers from stock computer parts. The idea that set the young entrepreneur apart from others was to sell directly to the customer, rather than going through a third party to sell his products.

PC's Limited allowed the customer to customize their computer before it was custom built to their specifications. The prices could also be kept much lower than PC's Limited's competition as they had no stores to maintain or middlemen to pay commissions to. All computers were sold direct to the customer with the use of order forms, phone orders, and now Internet orders.

In 1988 PC's Limited had a name change to "Dell Computer Corporation" and had an initial public offering (IPO) that valued the company at roughly $80 million. By 1992 Dell Computer Corporation was listed on the Fortune 500 list of the five hundred largest companies in the world, making Michael Dell the youngest ever CEO to head a Fortune 500 company.

The company continued to grow and expand dramatically year after year, eventually selling more computers in the United States of America than any other PC company (including Compaq).

"Dell Computer Corporation" became "Dell Inc." as they moved into other areas of business. Dell Inc. now has an expanding product range that includes home entertainment systems and personal devices.

Michael has published his partly autobiographical book "Direct From Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry". The book is written in an entertaining, fast paced style that explains how Dell turned his $1000 company into a mega-corporation worth more than $100 billion.

Dell stepped down from his role as CEO at Dell Inc. in 2004 but remains the Chairman of the Board.

Michael Dell uses some of his great wealth for philanthropic activities and has started the "Michael and Susan Dell Foundation" with his wife Susan. The organization is committed to improving the lives of children in the United States of America and internationally. A letter from Susan and Michael Dell states that the role of the foundation is to focus on"..quality education and good health for children. We recognize that these issues are directly connected. If children have the tools they need to take care of their bodies and minds now, their potential for success in the future is greatly increased."

The Dell family live in one of the largest houses in Austin, Texas and has been reported to be the 15th largest house in the world.


Michael Dell House aerial view from Google Earth.

Bill Gates Biography

Bill Gates Biography (William Henry Gates III): Microsoft Founder
Famous for : Being the richest man in the world, a cofounder of the software company Microsoft, and for being one of the world's most generous philanthropists.
Gates details : Born - USA October 28, 1955 Lives - United States of America
More Gates : Buffett Gives to Gates Foundation - Person of the Year 2005 -Melinda Gates - Richest Man in the World.

Bill Gates is one of the most influential people in the world. He is cofounder of one of the most recognized brands in the computer industry with nearly every desk top computer using at least one software program from Microsoft. According to the Forbes magazine, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and has held the number one position for many years. Gates was born and grew up in Seattle, Washington USA. His father, William H. Gates II was a Seattle attorney and his mother, Mary Maxwell Gates was a school teacher and chairperson of the United Way charity. Gates and his two sisters had a comfortable upbringing, with Gates being able to attend the exclusive secondary "Lakeside School". Bill Gates started studying at Harvard University in 1973 where he spent time with Paul Allen. Gates and Allen worked on a version of the programming language BASIC, that was the basis for the MITS Altair (the first microcomputer available). He did not go on to graduate from Harvard University as he left in his junior year to start what was to become the largest computer software company in the world; Microsoft Corporation. Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation "To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential." Microsoft Mission Statement After dropping out of Harvard Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen set about revolutionizing the computer industry. Gates believed there should be a computer on every office desk and in every home. In 1975 the company Micro-soft was formed, which was an abbreviation of microcomputer software. It soon became simply "Microsoft"® and went on to completely change the way people use computers. Microsoft helped to make the computer easier to use with its developed and purchased software, and made it a commercial success. The success of Microsoft began with the MS-DOS computer operating system that Gates licensed to IBM. Gates also set about protecting the royalties that he could acquire from computer software by aggressively fighting against all forms of software piracy, effectively creating the retail software market that now exists today. This move was quite controversial at the time as it was the freedom of sharing that produced much innovation and advances in the newly forming software industry. But it was this stand against software piracy, that was to be central in the great commercial success that Microsoft went on to achieve. Bill Gates retired as Microsoft CEO in 2008. Bill Gates Criticism With his great success in the computer software industry also came many criticisms. With his ambitious and aggressive business philosophy, Gates or his Microsoft lawyers have been in and out of courtrooms fighting legal battles almost since Microsoft began. The Microsoft monopoly sets about completely dominating every market it enters through either acquisition, aggressive business tactics or a combination of them. Many of the largest technology companies have fought legally against the actions of Microsoft, including Apple Computer, Netscape, Opera, WordPerfect, and sun Microsystems. Bill Gates Net Worth With an estimated wealth of $53 billion in 2006, Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and he should be starting to get used to the number spot as he has been there from the mid-ninties up until now. The famous investor Warren Buffett is gaining on Gates though with an estimated $46 billion in 2006. Microsoft hasn't just made Bill Gates very wealthy though. According to the Forbes business magazine in 2004 Paul Allen, Microsoft cofounder was the 5th richest man in the world with an estimated $21 billion. While Bill Gates' long time friend and Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer was the 19th richest man in the world at $12.4 billion. See more information the Bill Gates Net Worth page. Bill Gates Philanthropy Being the richest man in the world has also enabled Gates to create one of the world's largest charitable foundations. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has an endowment of more than $28 billion, with donations totaling more than $1 billion every year. The foundation was formed in 2000 after merging the "Gates Learning Foundation" and "William H. Gates Foundation". Their aim is to "bring innovations in health and learning to the global community". Bill Gates continues to play a very active role in the workings of the Microsoft Company, but has handed the position of CEO over to Steve Ballmer. Gates now holds the positions of "Chairman" and "Chief Software Architect". He has started that he plans to take on fewer responsibilities at Microsoft and will eventually devote all his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2006, the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett pledged to give much of his vast fortune to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Bill Gates Receives a KBE In March 2005 William H. Gates received an "honorary" knighthood from the queen of England. Gates was bestowed with the KBE Order (Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his services in reducing poverty and improving health in the developing countries of the world. After the privately held ceremony in Buckingham Palace with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Gates commented on the recognition.. "I am humbled and delighted. I am particularly pleased that this honor helps recognize the real heroes our foundation (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) supports to improve health in poor countries. Their incredible work is helping ensure that one day all people, no matter where they are born, will have the same opportunity for a healthy life, and I'm grateful to share this honor with them." The KBE Order of the British Empire is the second highest Order given out, but it is only an honorary knighthood as only citizens that are British or a part of the Commonwealth receive the full Order. This means that Gates does not become Sir Bill Gates. Bill Gates lives near Lake Washington with his wife Melinda French Gates and their three children. Interests of Gates include reading, golf and playing bridge.