Ruth Parasol who started off as an advisor for her father’s phone-sex chat business followed by involvement in the Internet porn industry, has become one of the richest women in the world - she is ranked #164 on Forbes richest 400 list. Her wealth can be attributed to the fact that, along with her husband Russel DeLeon, she owns 32% of Internet poker site PartyGaming. (Parasol and DeLeon, each own a 16% share of PartyGaming). Parasol moved out of the Internet porn industry because of the litigation threats she was receiving and turned, instead, to the online gambling industry. In 1997, Parasol launched the Starluck Casino and with other partners developed online casino software, which enabled gamblers around the globe to play poker games against each other. Parasol and her developing company ran into problems, however, because eighty percent of its customer base is in the United States where Internet gambling is illegal. To solve this problem, Parasol made sure to setup business off of U.S. soil and based its servers and employees in other locations such as the Caribbean, Gibraltar, India and the UK. PartyGaming then went public on the London Stock Exchange in June of this year. Shortly after, the company saw its stocks decline by 48 percent. The company is still experiencing robust sales, however, and saw its sales go up by 1900 percent in the last two years. Parasol is no longer active in management but remains active as a consultant to the company. Parasol, who is 38 years old, is a self-made billionaire that managed to leverage a succession of new technologies in her favor. Her net worth rivals that of Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn and Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Similar to Cuban, Parasol recognized the far-reaching power and ability of the Internet and, similar to Wynn, she recognized the money to be made in the gambling industry. Combining her skill with her talent for business, Parasol has made millions in the online gambling industry – even though the United States Justice Department has said that most of her customers are breaking the law each time they place bets over the Internet at Parasol’s PartyPoker site. Parasol, a mother of two from Marin County and someone who takes pains to protect her privacy, has not become as famous as Wynn and Cuban have. Parasol prefers to live a more secluded life and makes her home in Gibraltar – a Mediterranean tax haven. Her image is in sharp contrast to the typical person involved in this industry – usually men with a shady history – and has been described as “drop-dead gorgeous” as well as a tough negotiator and skilled investor. Related Links: Posted on: December 6, 2005
Back to December 2005's archive |
||||||||||||
|
Del.icio.us
Digg
Google
Spurl
Furl
Simpy
Y! MyWeb