description Ross Perot Overview
Ross Perot was an American business executive and political figure who founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962. EDS provided computer services and data processing for organizations at a time when many businesses were beginning to adopt large-scale computing. Perot later founded Perot Systems and ran as an independent candidate for president of the United States in 1992 and 1996, making him a notable figure in late twentieth-century American business and politics.
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What company did Ross Perot found, and how did he start it?
He founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962 with about $1,000 of his own money. EDS pioneered the business of running computing and data-processing services for corporations and government agencies, effectively launching the IT outsourcing industry.
What happened to EDS under Ross Perot?
General Motors acquired EDS in 1984 in a deal worth roughly $2.5 billion, making Perot GM's largest individual shareholder, though he later clashed with GM management and bought out his stake. He then founded a second IT services company, Perot Systems, in 1988.
How well did Ross Perot do in his presidential runs?
In the 1992 election as an independent he won about 19 percent of the national popular vote, the strongest third-party or independent showing since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, though he won no electoral votes. He ran again in 1996 as the Reform Party nominee, winning a much smaller share.
What was Ross Perot's 'giant sucking sound' quote about?
During the 1992 campaign he warned that the NAFTA free-trade agreement would draw American manufacturing jobs south, famously saying Americans would hear a 'giant sucking sound' as work moved to Mexico. The phrase remains one of the most quoted moments of that election.
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