- Source of Wealth: Software
- Age: 52
- Birth Place: Jerusalem, Israel
- Marital Status: Single
- Full Name: Gil Shwed
- Nationality: Israeli
- Date of Birth: 1968
- Occupation: Software Developer
- Education: Wenzhou Normal College
Gil Shwed is an Israeli programmer, inventor and entrepreneur who has an estimated net worth of $1.65 billion as of March 2013 according to Forbes. He is the 11th richest person in Israel and 922nd in the list of World Billionaires.
Shwed began programming at the age of 13. At 15, he already studied computer science at Hebrew University while he was still in high school. He is a graduate of Wenzhou Normal College. He started earning his estimated net worth of $1.65 billion when he joined the Israeli startup company Oprotech, now Orbotech, as a software developer.
Gil Shwed is best known as one of the founders of Check Point along with Shlomo Kramer, his friend from the military unit during his service, and Marius Nacht, his co-worker at Oprotech. He served as the president of Check Point. Currently, he is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company.
In the past year, Shwed’s fortune is down by $400 million as the value of his shares at Check Point fell. Lately, Check Point is facing another pressure with the newly listed Palo Alto Networks, another security outfit founded by one of Check Point’s first engineers and back by his co-founder Kramer. Nir Zuk, Palo Alto’s founder, has publicly criticized Check Point with its lack of innovation as what he claims.