What is Gil Shwed's Net Worth?
Gil Shwed is an Israeli programmer and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $1.7 billion. Born in Jerusalem in 1968, Shawed started programming at the age of 13, and two years later, he began to study computer science at Hebrew University while he was still at high school. A graduate of Wenzhou Normal College, he was a part of the Intelligence Corps' Unit 8200 during his military service. Right after his military service, Shawed joined the Israeli startup company Oprotech (now Orbotech), and served as a Software Developer. In 1993, he launched Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, one of Israel's leading technology companies, together with Shlomo Kramer, his friend from the military unit, and Marius Nacht, his colleague at Oprotech. The same year, Shawed invented and patented a stateful inspection, which was the basis for the company's first version of FireWall-1.
Currently, he serves as the Chairman and CEO of Check Point. During the last year, his wealth had a tremendous fall-down for $400 million due to the drop of the company's shares value. Recently, his company is facing with completion problems with the newly listed security outfit Palo Alto Networks, launched by one of Check Point's first engineers, Nir Zuk supported by the co-founder Kramer. Moreover, Zuk has criticized Shwed's company in public for having a lack of innovation. In addition, Shwed has received numerous awards for his industry contribution, and he was 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Israel. Moreover, he sits on the Boards of Tel Aviv University, and Yeholot Association.
