Gabe Newell joins billionaires club

Valve boss Gabe Newell is worth a staggering $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.

The estimated net worth of the industry icon ranks him at 854th out of 1,226 other billionaires on the Forbes list.

Valve is thought to be worth more than $3 billion, according to estimates from equity analysts and investment bankers.

Newell, who founded Valve in 1996, owns more than 50 per cent of the company.

Newell’s worth has been helped by a fantastic year for Valve, which saw Portal 2 meet with huge success whilst Steam doubled its sales form the previous year, the seventh straight year it has done so.

The digital distribution platform now has more than 40 million customer accounts.

Valve is thought to also be looking at entering the home console market, with the rumoured ‘Steam Box’ allegedly in development.