Jim Breyer (Accel Partners)

 

 

Everything he touches--be it a hoodie-clad Harvard drop-out or a comic book company--turns to gold. His firm's early $12.7 million bet on Facebook is now worth $5 billion (and soaring). That 10% stake makes Accel Facebook's second largest shareholder, after Zuck (Breyer personally owns 1%).

Besides Facebook, Breyer serves on the boards of Dell and Wal-Mart and smaller start-ups Etsy (crafty online marketplace), Brightcove (online video platform), ModelN (revenue management) and now, Legendary Pictures (film production). A day in the life: In one 24-hour period, Breyer negotiated the sale of Marvel Entertainment to Disney for $4.3 billion and BBN Technologies to Raytheon for $350 million. Breyer just closed two new funds in China, and is raising two new funds in the U.S. that will altogether amount to over $2 billion in fresh capital. Admitted oenophile, art connoisseur, film buff and music aficionado loves everything from Bach to the Strokes, Fellini to Christopher Nolan.