American businessman and capitalist Tom Perkins has an estimated net worth of $8 billion in 2012. He is known to be one of the founders of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capital firm.

Venture capitalist Tom Perkins is interviewed in his office in San Francisco

Born in 1932, Thomas James Perkins completed his bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Eventually, he attended Harvard University where he finished his MBA. His first marriage was to Gerd Thune-Ellefsen. The couple has two children. When his wife died, he married Danielle Steele. They amicably divorced later on.

Initially, Perkins co-founded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers with Eugene Kleiner in 1973. Eventually, Brook Byers and Frank Caufield joined the firm and became partners. Previously, Perkins has served as the director of Corning Glass, Compaq, Applied Materials, Hewlett-Packard, Philips Electronics and Genentech.