THE BUYER'S AGENT COMPANY Priceline, Founder and vice chairman NET WORTH $3.2 billion AGE 43 E-MAILjay.walker@priceline.com BIO The brand identity that Jay Walker established in 1998 paid off big-time this
year when Priceline launched an IPO that was impressive even by today's
standards. The stock, which had soared as high as $165, had settled at $66 at
press time, but that still left Walker with a company valued at more than $9
billion. (The company's celebrity spokesman, William Shatner, also walked away
happy: he had been paid for his endorsement in stock, the final frontier.)
But forget the Wall Street frenzy. Walker's "name-your-price" model for selling
airline tickets and hotel reservations showed people how you can rewrite the
rules for doing business on the Internet. Skeptics still want to see profits and
higher customer satisfaction, but that hasn't stopped new online companies such
as eWanted.com, Mygeek.com and others from following the "buyer's agent" model.
Walker's influence is clear, even if Priceline's path to profitability still
isn't. BEST LINE "You don't need a brand to do something you could never do before." FORWARD TILT Walker and Priceline are expanding their shopping model to car
buying and home mortgages. Coming soon: groceries.
