You don’t need us to tell you the background about why he’s haute. What he’s been up to in 2010 to keep his haute factor relevant is the ongoing teasers, official announcements, and updates regarding Apple’s new iPad, with the WiFi model going on sale April 3, 2010 and the 3G version not far behind …

This self-made billionaire co-founded Kingston with David Sun, which is currently the largest computer memory firm. When they sold an 80 percent stake in Kingston Technology in 1996 for $1.5 billion, they spent $100 million of it on lavish bonuses for their employees, with the average bonus exceeding $100,000.

Thiel is currently president and the chairman of Clarium Capital’s investment committee, which oversees the firm’s research, investment, and trading strategies. He’s also the founder and a managing partner at The Founders Fund. Before starting and Clarium, Thiel was chairman and CEO of PayPal, which he co-founded in December of 1998; four years later, it …

The self-made tech billionaire got his start in the industry as a salesman for Larry Ellison’s Oracle. But when Ellison opted against Siebel’s sales-tracking software, Siebel launched his own company. Siebel Systems went public in 1996 and eventually was sold to Oracle in 2005 for the astounding price of $5.9 billion, securing Siebel a personal …

John Morgridge joined Cisco Systems, Inc. in 1988 as president and CEO; today he is chairman emeritus. Morgridge grew the company from $5 million in sales to more than $1 billion, and from 34 employees to more than 2,250. During his tenure, Cisco became the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, with more than …