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Pierre Omidyar. Founder and CEO of eBay By Cameron Poe. Birthplace. - Pierre was born in Paris, France on june 21, 1967. - As a child, Pierre moved to maryland with his family at age six. His mother, Elahe Omidyar, had a doctorate in
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Pierre Omidyar Founder and CEO of eBay By Cameron Poe
Birthplace • - Pierre was born in Paris, France on june 21, 1967. • - As a child, Pierre moved to maryland with his family • at age six. His mother, Elahe Omidyar, had a doctorate in • linguistics at sorbonne and is a well known academic. • His father was a surgeon.
Education and work • His first real interest in computers began in the 9th grade. Pierre graduated from Tufts University in 1988 with a degree in computer science. • With his degree, he went to work for a company that developed Macintosh software. • The company was called Claris, where he helped write MacDraw. • In 1991, Omidyar co-founded Ink Development, a pen based computer startup. Today it is called eShop.
Starting eBay • When Pierre was 28, he sat down over a long holiday weekend and wrote the original computer code, for the auction site. • The site was Launched labor day, September 4th, 1995. • At first, Pierre wanted to call the site “echobay” but that had already been taken. He came up with the name “eBay” which became very popular. • In a matter of days, eBay became worth millions.
Signs of Success • The first item sold on eBay was a broken lazer pointer. It was sold for $14.83. Pierre was shocked that the bid went for that much, even though he knew it was broken. • By 1996 the company grew large enough to hire the skills of a Stanford MBA in Jeffrey Skoll. and Meg Whitman, a Harvard graduate, soon followed as president and CEO. • In 1997, benchmark capital invested 6.5 million in eBay’s future.
Facts • Omidyar started eBay as a hobby, not knowing what that it would become the worlds largest trade community. • eBay has 233 million registered users. eBay is a website where anyone can auction, sell, or buy new or used products. • Today, Omidyar is the 145th richest man in the world.
First Idea • Omidyar was intrigued by the technical problem of establishing an online venue for direct person-to-person auction of collectible items. He created a simple prototype on his personal web page, and launched an online service called Auction Web as a sole proprietorship on Labor Day weekend in 1995. The business exploded as correspondents began to register trade goods of an unimaginable variety.
- Pierre was born in Paris, France on june 21, • 1967. • - As a child, Pierre moved to maryland with his • Family at age six. • Pierre graduated from Tufts University in 1988 • with a degree in computer science. • The site was Launched labor day, September 4th, • 1995. • In 1997, benchmark capital invested 6.5 million in • eBay’s future.