Although Matthew knew of Peter Jones - who in the Fortune 500
didn't? - and the highly publicized invention Jones created in
his bedroom while a senior in high school, he became more and
more intrigued as he browsed through the clippings.
A cover story in "Time" two years earlier touted Jones as
"Silicon Valley's Hottest Kid On The Block."
"Forbes" magazine listed Jones in its directory of America's
richest people. An accompanying article detailed Wallaby's
phenomenal growth and financial milestones, ranking it the
fastest-growing company in America. When Wallaby had gone public
five years ago, Jones's total worth was estimated at more than
250 million dollars, with Wallaby reporting annual sales of just
over 600 million. Holding the second largest share of Wallaby
stock was Hank Towers, who was estimated to be worth close to 200
million dollars. A five-year-old "Fortune" article told the story
of how Towers was the man Jones first approached for start-up
cash with his hackneyed portable computer design. At the time,
Towers had owned a small company that built highly-specialized
computers that were ruggedized for field and medical
applications. Towers had invited Jones to visit him at his
offices after seeing the invention, the first truly all-in-one
portable computer, at a science fair. Towers, unlike some of the
others to whom Peter had shown the product, hadn't balked at its
radical design, nor had he laughed when Jones explained his
vision for manufacturing the computer at very low cost so that
millions of people could have their own portable personal
computer to take with them wherever they went.
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