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Henry Ross Perot (born June 27, 1930) is an American businessman from Texas best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988. Perot Systems was bought by Dell for $3.9 billion in 2009. He was born in Texarkana, Texas. With an estimated net worth of about US$3.5 billion in 2009, he is ranked by Forbes as the 85th-richest person in America. The Ross Perot presidential campaign of 1992 began when Texas industrialist Ross Perot opened the possibility of running for President of the United States as an Independent on the February 20, 1992, edition of Larry King Live. Though he had never served as a public official, Perot had experience as the head of several successful corporations and had been involved in public affairs for the previous three decades. Spawned by the American dissatisfaction with the political system, grassroots organizations sprang up in every state to help Perot achieve ballot access following his announcement. Admiral James Stockdale stood in as Perot's running mate to ensure ballot eligibility. Perot focused the campaign on his plans to balance the federal budget, further economic nationalism, strengthen the war on drugs and implement "electronic town halls" throughout the nation for direct democracy. His views were described as a combination of "East Texas populism with high-tech wizardry." Supporters saw Perot as a nonpolitical and witty "folk hero", but critics demonized the candidate as "authoritarian" and "short-tempered". He is famously quoted as saying that if Nafta was passed we would hear, "a "giant sucking sound" caused by the rush of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. He declined to run in the 2000 presidential election, and endorsed eventual winner Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas. In 2008, he endorsed Republican Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts for the presidency. He commented during a 2008 interview with Newsweek, "the situation in 1992 was not nearly as bad as it is now...if ever there was a time when it was necessary to put our house in order, it's now." Perot largely financed his own campaign and relied on marketing and wide grassroots support to spread his message. In certain polls, Perot led the three-way race with President George H. W. Bush and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. He dropped out in July 1992 amid controversy, but reentered in October, and surpassed the 15% polling threshold to reach his goal of participating in all three U.S. Presidential debates. Despite an aggressive use of campaign infomercials on prime time network television, his polling numbers never fully recovered from his initial exit. On Election Day, largely due to the earlier draught efforts, he appeared on every state ballot and won several counties, but finished in third place and received close to 19% of the popular vote, which was the most won by a third party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.