GREEN RANKING FOR 2009
Ranking: 38=
Worth: £1bn
Green investment: Alternative energy

Tom Siebel joined the Oracle software operation as a salesman in 1984 and beat every quota that its boss Larry Ellison came up with. Ellison, one of the richest men in the world, and Siebel fell out when Oracle would not take Siebel’s sales-tracking software to market and Siebel left the company in 1991. In 2005 Siebel netted $500m in cash when he sold his own Siebel Systems — to Larry Ellison. He now chairs First Virtual, with interests in property, agribusiness and asset management. He has pledged $100m to establish the Siebel Fund for Excellence in Science and Engineering for the University of Illinois to use on research in areas such as alternative energy. He is also trying to set up a green building contest with a $20m prize. Siebel’s £1.3 billion fortune in October 2008 will have slipped in the economic turmoil. We value him at £1 billion.