eBay Founder
Pierre Omidyar (born 21 June 1967) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, and the founder and chairman of the eBay auction site. Born in Paris, France to a French-Iranian family, Omidyar moved to the US at the age of 6. Growing up in Washington, D.C., he developed an interest in computing while still at high school. In 1988 he graduated in computer science from Tufts University, and joined Claris, an Apple subsidiary, where he helped write MacDraw. In 1991 he co-founded Ink Development, a pen-based computing startup that was later rebranded as an e-commerce company (and renamed eShop).
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Pierre Omidyar was just 28 when he sat down over a long holiday weekend to write
the original computer code for what eventually became an internet superbrand -
the auction site eBay.
However, it wasn't actually called that at the time of its launch on Labor Day,
Monday, 4 September, 1995. It first appeared under the more prosaic title of
Auction Web; it was hosted on the same site as Omidyar had created for
information on the ebola virus. It was later renamed after the site's domain
name ebay.com (a shortening of Echo Bay, Omidyar's consulting firm). The service
was free at first, but started charging in order to cover his internet service
provider costs.
In 1996 Jeffrey Skoll, a Stanford MBA, joined the company and by 1998 eBay had
gone public, making Omidyar a billionaire -- 3 years after he created eBay. As
of 2005, Omidyar's 214 million eBay shares are worth around $8 billion. In March
1998, Meg Whitman was brought in as President and CEO.
Omidyar and his wife Pam are well-known philanthropists who founded the Omidyar
Network. They promote what has come to be called "venture philanthropy", in
which foundations are expected to achieve quick results and financial
independence. Perhaps one example of such is Meetup, a website Omidyar didn't
found himself but later invested in, and on whose Board of Directors he now
sits.
Omidyar also has donated $100 million to Tufts University to support programs to
spur microfinancing in developing countries for entrepreneurs who want to start
their own businesses.
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