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Brock Pierce is the founder of Internet Gaming Entertainment (IGE), the leading company in the peculiar and quickly expanding business that links virtual economies with the real one. IGE permits players to sell game assets they build up in their imaginary worlds, which can include currency and characters. The assets are sold for cash or to buy virtual assets that would otherwise take hours of game-play earning to acquire, IGE, by Pierce's estimate, has about 50% of the market in the U.S., which he estimates has about $500 million in annual volume. IGE's growth rates for revenues and earnings are higher than 100% a year, says Pierce, and its margins are over 10%. IGE is based in California and has offices in the United Kingdom and Asia. Two hundred employees handle trades, mostly through the IGE.com Web site. The company has spent more than $25 million since 2003 to acquire the seven next-largest sites that broker virtual assets. IGE buys and sells them at prices to maximize the spread. Pierce, a former child actor, also founded Digital Entertainment Network and an arbitrage business for virtual trading cards. He funded IGE with his own savings and cash flow. Pierce recognized EverQuest as the next killer application, and currently about 200,000 gamers trade assets from over 15 games through IGE.
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