Founded by the 31-year-old
Gil Shwed, the son of a
Jerusalem civil servant, who started his first
software consulting firm at age 15. He and his two partners met in the
army and worked in military
intelligence agencies, which was where they came up their software idea. They each own 10 percent of Check Point, which has made them
gazillionaires.
Check Point Software's HQ is in Ramat Gan, Israel, though most of their 800 employees are in other countries (owing to taxes and regulations). It was founded in 1993 and went public in 1996. Their 1999 revenue was $220 million, with earnings of $96 million.