After serving in the United States Navy in the 1950s,[5] Perot joined IBM as a salesman. He surpassed his one-year sales quota in just two weeks.[6] After the company ignored his idea for electronic storage, he founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962,[7] which was then contracted by the United States government to store Medicare records.[5] Perot earned a fortune with the company, and by 1968 was named by Fortune as the "fastest, richest Texan."[8] Perot was known to run the company in a militaristic fashion, built on loyalty and duty.[7] His best known venture with the company was in 1979, when he sent a private militia into Iran in the midst of the Iranian Revolution to rescue two of his employees who had been imprisoned. The episode inspired the 1983 novel, On Wings of Eagles.[5] Perot eventually sold his company to General Motors in 1984 for $2.55 billion, and founded Perot Systems in 1988.[9] By 1992, his fortune was judged to be $3 billion.[6]