Bill Gross

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article concerns the business-startup manager; for the bond manager, see William H. Gross

Bill Gross (fl. 2000s) is an American business manager.

He founded the business incubator Idealab in March, 1996, and serves as the company's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer.

Gross serves on the boards of numerous companies. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and of the Art Center College of Design. He received his B.S. (1984) in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

One company founded by Gross, GoTo.com, Inc., was the first company to successfully provide an Internet search engine which relied upon sponsored search results and pay-per-click advertisements. Goto.com was later renamed Overture Services Inc. and was then acquired by Yahoo! to provide their Yahoo! Search Marketing products.

In 2005, Gross is working on development of a rooftop concentrated photovoltaic solar collector exclusively for California flat-roofed commercial buildings.

In November 2001 Gross defaulted on a $50 million personal loan he had taken from the Bank of America. In March 2006 the board of directors of Idealab voted to pay off the loan, protecting Gross from bankruptcy. Gross's efforts to use Idealab to bail out his personal finances were the subject of a minority shareholder lawsuit filed in 2002, which was eventually settled.[1] Court documents filed by the plaintiffs allege that the funds were used in part to finance Gross's purchase of a Gulfstream personal jet.[2]

In 2004 Bill Gross created SNAP search engine which became quiet popular in 2006 after SNAP Site Previewer was released.