Editing Ross Perot (section)

==Business==
After he left the Navy in 1957, Perot became a salesman for [[IBM]]. He quickly became a top employee (one year, he fulfilled his annual sales quota in two weeks)<ref>''Sam Wyly'', 1000 Dollars & an Idea, Publisher: Newmarket, {{ISBN|978-1-55704-803-5}}</ref> and tried to pitch his ideas to supervisors, who largely ignored him.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Landrum|first1=Gene N.|title=Entrepreneurial Genius: The Power of Passion|date=2004|publisher=Brendan Kelly Publishing Inc.|location=Naples, FL|isbn=978-1-895997-23-1|page=174|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fRdwUrLj2rgC&pg=PP1|access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref> He left IBM in 1962 to found [[Electronic Data Systems]] (EDS) in [[Dallas]], Texas, and courted large corporations for his data processing services. Perot was denied bids for contracts 77 times before receiving his first contract. EDS received lucrative contracts from the [[US government]] in the 1960s, computerizing [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] records. EDS [[initial public offering|went public]] in 1968, and the stock price rose from $16 a share to $160 within days. ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' called Perot the "fastest, richest Texan" in a 1968 cover story.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ross Perot|url=http://www.famous-entrepreneurs.com/ross-perot|website=Famous Entrepreneurs|access-date=December 28, 2015}}</ref> In December 1969, his shares in EDS were briefly worth $1 billion.<ref>{{cite book|title=Guinness Book of Records 1982|last1=McWhiter|first1=Norris|author-link=Norris McWhirter|publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd|year=1981|isbn=0-85112-232-9|page=112}}</ref> Perot gained some press attention for being "the biggest individual loser ever on the [[New York Stock Exchange]]" when his EDS shares dropped $445&nbsp;million (${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=.45|start_year=1970|r=1|fmt=c}}&nbsp;billion in today's money) in value in a single day in April 1970.<ref>Henry Moscow, "An Astonishment of New York Superlatives: Biggest, Smallest, Longest, Shortest, Oldest, First, Last, Most, Etc." ''New York'' vol. 7, no. 1 (31 December 1973/7 January 1974) p. 53.</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=55|date=April 23, 1970|title=Perot's stock falls $445-Million in Day|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/23/archives/perots-stock-falls-445million-in-day-perots-stock-hit-by-sharp.html?searchResultPosition=10|access-date=May 6, 2024}}</ref> While EDS boasted strong earnings in 1970, its exceptionally high [[price-to-earnings ratio]], reaching 118 times earnings at its initial public offering in 1968,<ref name="BrooksGoGo">{{cite book |last=Brooks |first=John |title=The Go-Go Years: The Drama and Crashing Finale of Wall Street’s Bullish 60s |year=1999 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |location=New York |chapter=Climax}}</ref> made it a prime target for a bear raid. The stock's vulnerability was compounded by the fact that a significant portion of the publicly traded shares were "weakly held" by fast-performance [[mutual funds]] prone to rapid selling at the first sign of trouble.<ref name="BrooksGoGo"/> When the stock price began to decline on April 22nd, likely due to large-scale short selling, these [[institutional investors]] quickly unloaded their holdings, triggering a panic sell-off and a precipitous drop in the share price. This dramatic single-day decline in EDS stock was part of a broader collapse in the technology sector during the second quarter of 1970. The average computer stock plummeted 80% from its peak in late 1968.<ref name="Navellier2010">{{cite web |last=Navellier |first=Louis |title=(Back to) Earth-Day - The Tech-Stock Crash of 1970 |url=https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/back-earth-day-tech-stock-crash-1970-2010-04-23-0 |date=2010-04-23 |website=[[Nasdaq]] |access-date=2024-12-30}}</ref> [[Uccel|University Computing]], for instance, suffered a devastating 93% loss in value.<ref name="Navellier2010"/> The overall market downturn, reflected in a 19% drop in the S&P 500 during that quarter, was further fueled by a recessionary environment, growing [[List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States#1970—1979|sociopolitical unrest]] related to the [[Vietnam War]] and events like the [[Kent State shootings]], and a general loss of confidence in the market after a period of exuberant speculation.<ref>{{cite news |last=TIME |title=WALL STREET: Perot’s Orderly Retreat |url=https://time.com/archive/6842290/wall-street-perots-orderly-retreat/ |date=1974-02-04 |access-date=2024-12-30}}</ref> Coincidentally, the EDS crash occurred on the first [[Earth Day]], adding to the symbolic significance of the event.<ref name="Navellier2010"/>

In 1984, [[General Motors]] bought a controlling interest in EDS for $2.4&nbsp;billion (${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=2.4|start_year=1984|r=1|fmt=c}}&nbsp;billion).<ref name=Jackson /> In 1985, Perot sold EDS to General Motors with the idea that he and EDS would have a leadership role within the company. However, Perot's plan was ignored by the management of General Motors, prompting Perot to leave and later found Perot Systems. Perot's experience with GM contributed to him becoming an outspoken critic of corporate America.<ref name="judis_47">{{cite book |title=The Populist Explosion: How the Great Recession Transformed American and European Politics |first=John B. |last=Judis |author-link=John Judis |year=2016 |publisher=Columbia Global Reports |isbn=978-0997126440 |location=New York |page=47}}</ref> 
In the same year, Perot became the second-richest man in the United States, only behind [[Sam Moore Walton]], with a fortune estimated at $1.8&nbsp;billion (${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=1.8|start_year=1985|r=1|fmt=c}}&nbsp;billion), according to the [[Forbes 400]] list of the wealthiest people in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Delorean Wins Damages in Suit Against Him |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-10-15-fi-16339-story.html |access-date=October 26, 2024 |date=October 15, 1985 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>
[[File:Ross Perot on 13 January 1983, from- Reagan Contact Sheet C12397 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|left|Perot in 1983]]
 
Just before the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]], the government of Iran imprisoned two EDS employees in a contract dispute. Perot organized and sponsored their rescue. The rescue team was led by retired [[United States Army Special Forces]] [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Arthur D. Simons|Arthur D. "Bull" Simons]]. When the team was unable to find a way to extract the two prisoners, they decided to wait for a group of revolutionaries to storm the jail and free all 10,000 inmates, many of whom were political prisoners. The two prisoners then connected with the rescue team, which led them out of Iran through a border crossing into Turkey. The exploit was recounted in the book ''[[On Wings of Eagles]]'' by [[Ken Follett]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ken-follett.com/|title=Ken Follett {{!}} Welcome|website=Ken Follett|language=en|access-date=August 27, 2019}}</ref>  In 1986 this was turned into a two-part television mini-series (alternatively titled "Teheran") with the actor [[Burt Lancaster]] playing the role of Colonel Simons and [[Richard Crenna]] as Perot.

In 1984, Perot's Perot Foundation bought a very early copy of [[Magna Carta]], one of only a few to leave the United Kingdom. The foundation lent it to the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] in Washington, D.C., where it was displayed alongside the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] and the [[Constitution of the United States]]. In 2007, the foundation sold it to [[David Rubenstein]], managing director of [[The Carlyle Group]] for $21.3&nbsp;million (${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=21.3|start_year=2007|r=1|fmt=c}}&nbsp;million) to be used "for medical research, for improving public education and for assisting wounded soldiers and their families".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/nyregion/25magna.html|title=Magna Carta Is Going on the Auction Block|last=Barron|first=James|date=September 25, 2007|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 27, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It remains on display at the National Archives.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/19/nyregion/19magna.html|title=Magna Carta Copy Sold|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 19, 2007 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>

After [[Steve Jobs]] lost the power struggle at Apple and left to found [[NeXT]], his angel investor was Perot, who invested over $20&nbsp;million. Perot believed in Jobs and did not want to miss out, as he had with his chance to invest in [[Bill Gates]]'s fledgling [[Microsoft]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|title=Steve Jobs|year=2011|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=978-1-4516-4853-9}}</ref>

In 1988, he founded [[Perot Systems]] in [[Plano, Texas]]. His son, [[Ross Perot Jr.]], eventually succeeded him as CEO. In September 2009, Perot Systems was acquired by Dell for $3.9&nbsp;billion (${{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=3.9|start_year=2009|r=1|fmt=c}}&nbsp;billion).<ref>{{Cite news|first1=Connie|last1=Guglielmo|first2=Katie|last2=Hoffmann|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid%3D20601103%26sid%3DaMCNzaTRa9oQ|title=Dell Pays 68% Premium for Perot's Health Technology (Update3)|date=September 22, 2009|access-date=September 22, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603050643/http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMCNzaTRa9oQ |archive-date=June 3, 2012}}</ref>