Steven Ballmer, 51, was the first manager hired by Bill Gates, joining Microsoft in 1980. They are thought to have agreed on a $50,000 salary and 7 per cent ownership of the business. Mr Ballmer is now worth an estimated $15 billion. Mr Ballmer knew Microsoft's founder from their Harvard days. Mr Ballmer has headed several Microsoft divisions over the past 27 years, including operations and sales. In 1998, he was made president, with day-to-day responsibility, and was named chief executive. The son of a Ford manager, he is described in his Microsoft profile as “ebullient, focused, funny, passionate, sincere, hard-charging and dynamic”.

Jerry Yang, 38, co-created what would become Yahoo! with David Filo in 1994, while studying electrical engineering at Stanford University, California. Yahoo! — meaning rude, unsophisticated — began as a web portal with a web directory. The pair devoted themselves to indexing their favourite links and posting them on a website. It is now one of the biggest internet brands in the world. Since the departure last year of the former chief executive Terry Semel, Mr Yang has served as chief executive and chairman. Previously, Mr Yang — seldom photographed without a smile — had acted as Yahoo's public face and served on its board of directors. Born in Taiwan, he came to California aged ten. He is now worth an estimated $2.2 billion.

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