Irishman sells electronic brokerage firm for $488m

The Republic's latest technology multimillionaire set up his company just four years ago in his son's bedroom, armed with only a personal computer and $230. Mr Philip Berber has now sold CyBerCorp.com, his Texas-based electronic trading brokerage company, to Internet trading giant, Charles Schwab.company, for $488 million.

Mr Berber, who is 41, became the second Irishman in a month to net more than $250 million by selling a company. Four weeks ago, Esat chairman Mr Denis O'Brien - also 41 - sold his 14 per cent stake in Esat for $287 million to British Telecom. Mr Berber and his family own just over 50 per cent of the company. An unnamed Irish businessman and friend will get $48.8 million for a 10 per cent stake. "This has never been about money, but about building a business," Mr Berber told The Irish Times.

The former UCD commerce graduate has pursued an entrepreneurial career since he moved to London in 1979. He embarked on his first technology venture in 1984, when former classmate Mr Brian Maccaba approached him about setting up Expert Information Systems, which they later sold to a British-based insurance group.

Mr Maccaba is a founder of financial software company Cognotec, which was recently valued at $285 million.

Mr Berber continued to develop new financial services technology based on forecasting and artificial intelligence software. When he set up CyBerCorp, he says, he wasn't sure which financial software idea he wanted to pursue.

"Then I saw the huge market for this high-speed, high-end technology for active day traders."

CyBerCorp is one of the fastest growing online trading sites because of its specialist technology, which allows online traders to find the best volume prices available for the stock they are seeking in the fastest possible time.

Unusually for an Internet company, CyBerCorp has been profitable from the outset, and last year the company recorded a $4 million after-tax profit on revenues of $24.5 million. The previous year it had revenues of just $5.5 million.

In the last six months CyBerCorp had been actively courted by a number of major players in the online trading sector.

Although resident in the US, Mr Berber retains his Irish links, visiting each year on holidays with his wife Donna and their three children. "My heart is very much still in Ireland and I want to share that with my children. I'm so proud to be able to fly the Tricolour high over here on behalf of all those people at home who helped me so much growing up," he said.

He also plans to set up a charitable foundation: "We have been very blessed by the hand of God and are now keen to return that to the well-being of others."

See also Business This Week