Gabe Newell: New Zealand’s Newest Billionaire Refugee

Gabe Newell, he’s a man who needs no introduction if you’re a PC Master Racer and have lived through even one of Steam’s Summer Sales. But if you only understood half the words I wrote in the previous sentence, then allow me to introduce the man, the myth, the legend.

Gabe Newell is worth roughly US$6 billion according to Forbes, thanks to an early start at Microsoft and eventually striking off to become co-founder and CEO of Valve.

Valve is a game studio that produced a row of knockout hits (Half-Life, Portal, DOTA2, Counter-Strike), before evolving into a digital marketplace just in time to say goodbye to CDs (or perhaps herald it). Since then, its stranglehold on the market has been so tight it’s only just recently another studio, Epic Games, has stepped up to challenge their position by throwing money, free games and better cuts at developers and gamers to lure them across.

Newell was visiting New Zealand with friends when Covid-19 came rolling across our consciousness, which resulted in us closing our borders. Struck with a decision on whether they should leave before the closures or stay for our beautiful scenery, it became a no-brainer.

Since then, he’s been raising money for charities and causes, like Starship Hospital, by launching a garden gnome into space with Peter Beck at Rocket Labs. There are also plans to organise a thankyou concert for the country. Unfortunately, the concert has hit a couple road-bumps due to our on-again off-again relationship with lockdowns. He may have plenty of time to make it happen though, since he’s now applying for permanent residency in NZ.

Newell Currently sits at #186 on the Forbes Richest List. NZ’s richest man, Graeme Hart, currently worth $12.7B, is at #127.

Image Credit: Dota 2 The International