Forbes Says Valve Worth More Than Apple And Google

Forbes compares computing industry giants Google and Apple with PC Gaming's own Valve. How do Gabe Newell and his team stack up?

According to a recent article from Forbes, PC Game company Valve is worth an estimated $2-4 Billion. When compared with computing industry giants Google (est. $200 Billion) and Apple (est. $330 Billion), though, it makes you wonder how Valve could possibly stack up.

The key factor, it would appear, is Steam, Valve's digital distribution service for computer games, and the fact that Valve operates with only 250 employees. Though Valve reports no financial numbers, it is estimated that they made "high hundreds of millions of dollars" in 2010.

Compared to Google ( 24,400 employees) and Apple ( 49,400 employees ), Valve's muscle really shows when the per employee earnings are calculated.

It appears the team at Valve can, quite literally, do the work of thousands. Very impressive. Keep it up, Valve!

Now...get back to work on Half Life 2: Episode Three!