Web pioneer Gross revitalized by green energy

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In 1973, when Bill Gross was 15 and cars were lined up at every gas station in Southern California, the aspiring engineer wanted to do something about spiking energy prices.

So he figured out how to build parabolic concentrators and Stirling engines to capture the sun's energy, selling the plans for $4 apiece through ads in "Popular Science" magazine.

Gross, now 49, is again building solar power projects, albeit after a lengthy detour through the early days of the Internet.

His company, Idealab, created a slew of Web businesses in the 1990s, including pay-per-click advertising pioneer GoTo.com and online toy retailer eToys, which he said eventually "outspent its leash."

"Everything we touched was turning to gold for a while, and then the crash came," Gross said in an interview at his headquarters in Pasadena, California. He is not related to the Bill Gross who manages bond fund Pimco.

In its heyday, Idealab was planning an initial public offering, had 5,000 employees and locations in Boston, San Francisco, Pasadena and London. That is down to between 500 and 1,000 employees and one office now.

In that period, he also faced accusations -- since dismissed or settled -- by some of Idealab's shareholders that he used company assets to finance a lavish lifestyle.

Two years ago, Gross was spared financial ruin again when Idealab shareholders agreed to pay off a $50 million personal loan he owed to a bank.

As the Internet boom melted down, however, the California energy crisis of 2000 was rekindling Gross' teenage passion for alternative energy.

It turned out that solar technology had not advanced much since he gave up his mail order business to start writing software in the early 1980s.

"I thought, 'I could pick up where we left off.'"

Idealab dusted itself off and embarked on a mission few others were embracing at the time -- developing green energy technologies.

"The bust was the best thing that happened to Bill Gross," said technology forecaster Paul Saffo. "The lures of the bubble distracted him into doing things that were profitable, but didn't really matter."

A LASTING LEGACY?

A mechanical engineer by training, Gross is hands on. A smattering of solar projects are crammed onto the roof of the company's small brick building in downtown Pasadena, and Gross explains them all in rapid and minute detail.  Continued...