Masayoshi Son is a Japanese Entrepreneur, Investor, and Philanthropist. He founded the Japanese holding company, SoftBank, and serves as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He is the Chairman of the UK-based Arm Holdings. According to Forbes, Masayoshi is the 74th richest man in the World and the second richest man in Japan with a net worth of $44.4 billion.
Get an insight into the SoftBank and Masayoshi Son Story in the post ahead!
Masayoshi was born in Tosu, Japan. He belongs to “Zainichi Koreans”, ethnic Koreans having permanent residency in Japan. He has three brothers and is the second eldest of the siblings. Taizo Son, his younger brother is the Founder of GunHo Online Entertainment and the venture capital firm Mistletoe.
At age 16, he moved out from Japan to California for higher studies. He then lived with his friends and family in South San Francisco. He met his wife, Masami Ohno while studying at the university. The couple bears two children. He currently resides with residesmily in Tokyo.
Masayoshi Son- Education
Masayoshi went to California and finished high school in just three weeks by taking the necessitated exams at Serramonte High. After that, he pursued a Bachelor of Arts specializing in Economics and also studied Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
He completed his graduation in 1980. He pursued his interest in business before Japan’s McDonald’s president, Den Fujita, and on the advice of the latter, he started studying English and Computer Science.
Masayoshi Son- Professional Life
Masayoshi Son and Softbank Story
At age 19, Masayoshi got besotted by an integrated circuit featured in a magazine and he realized that computer technology would fuel the next commercial revolution.
While pursuing his studies, he developed an electronic translator that was sold to Sharp Corporation for $ 1.7 million. He earned $ 1.5 million by importing used video games and installing them in dormitories and restaurants.
After graduating in 1980, he started Unison in Oakland, CA, which was acquired by Kyocera. He is one of the active investors and holds maximum stakes at companies like Yahoo!, and Alibaba through the means of his venture SoftBank.
Masayoshi founded SoftBank Group Corporation on 3 September 1981. The company is headquartered in Minato, Tokyo and he serves as its Founder and CEO. He also owns a professional Japanese baseball team, which he named SoftBank Hawks.
SoftBank is a multinational conglomerate holding venture which holds stakes in many technology, energy, and financial companies. It also runs Vision Fund which is the world’s largest technology-focused venture capital firm, with over $ 100 billion in the capital.
Masayoshi Son- Vision Fund Investments
Vision Fund Logo
The $ 100 billion Vision Fund is an investment vehicle that runs for SoftBank. It invests in emerging technologies like, robotics, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things. The company aims to double its portfolio of AI companies to reform real estate, transportation, and retail.
He makes personal connections with the CEOs of all companies funded by Vision Fund. He plans to raise $100 billion for a new fund. Every few years, he invests about $ 50 billion each year in startups.
The graph shows some of the investments made by the Vision Fund in its first round
In 2020, Vision Fund was recorded to have invested in 88 companies including ride-share companies Grab, Coupang, and Paytm. As of the year 2022, the vision fund has around 475 companies included in its portfolio.
Masayoshi Son- Investor
He is an active investor such that his holding company, SoftBank holds 25 % of the Alibaba company. Moreover, his stake in Yahoo! had diminished by 7%. He then established Yahoo! Japan in September 2001, where he holds a controllable interest. He stepped down from the Alibaba board in June 2020.
Post hyperinflation of SoftBank’s equity, he was strained to pivot towards Yahoo! BB and BB Phone. SoftBank has an accumulated debt of about $1.3 billion to date. Still, Yahoo! BB acquired Japan Telecom, which was then the third-largest broadband and landline provider with 600,00 residential and 170,000 commercial subscribers in the year 2020. Thereafter, Yahoo! BB is Japan’s leading broadband provider.
Masayoshi Son- Arm Holdings
Arm Holdings was successfully purchased by SoftBank in 2016 for the amount $ 31.4 billion
Masayoshi serves as the Chairman of the US-based software design company, Arm Holdings. In July 2016, there was an announcement that SoftBank is planning to acquire Arm Holdings for $31.4 billion, which would be the largest-ever purchase of a European technology company.
Arm Holdings was officially acquired by SoftBank in September 2016. The company approved the complete transaction. The total acquisition price counted to $34 billion. Moreover, SoftBank further acquired Sprint Corporation by purchasing 76% of its share.
Sprint Corporation was acquired by SoftBank by purchasing 76% of shares
Masayoshi Son- Philanthropy
Masayoshi vowed to donate $120 million and his remaining salary until retirement to support victims of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in the year 2011.
Post devastating effects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011, he criticized the nuclear industry for creating a problem that worries the Japanese thoroughly. He thus invested in a nationwide solar power network for Japan. It was announced in March 2018 that Masayoshi was investing in the biggest ever solar project.
Masayoshi Son – Latest News
11 May 2022- Masayoshi recorded another point but with the loss of about $18.6 billion from Softbank’s Vision Fund Inc in the last quarter of March.
23 May 2022- Masayoshi Son was reported to meet Indian Prime minister “Narendra Singh Modi”. The meeting was mainly to discuss the role of Softbank in the technology, energy, and finance sector of India and its development.
30 May 2022- After acquiring the loss, the Softbank firm gets the paycheck compensation cut from its executive employees with no change in the paycheck of the CEO.
Conclusion
Masayoshi Son is entitled to the second richest man in Japan and 74th richest man in the world according to the Forbes Rich List. He is also the founder and CEO of Softbank. Masayoshi Son is an industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. Many other important aspects of Masayoshi Son have been shared in the above context.
FAQs
Who is the CEO of Softbank?
Masayoshi Son is the founder and CEO of Softbank.
How much of SoftBank does Masayoshi Son own?
Masayoshi Son owns about 21.25% of SoftBank.
Why is SoftBank called SoftBank?
The word “Soft” stands for the synonym of the bank. Hence the word “SoftBank” stands for the general idea of having banks of software. And the reason behind using the word bank in the title is to give the general idea of being a key source of infrastructure for the society.
Who is the richest man in Japan in 2022?
Tadashi Yanai is the richest man in Japan with a net worth of US$26.1 billion.
Does SoftBank own ARM?
ARM was acquired by SoftBank in the year 2016 for a deal of $31.4 billion.
Who doesn’t likes shopping, but to go out to a store for a handful of things is very cliché. Online shopping/e-commerce is the new trend that people are really benefiting from. Consumers can find the products of their interest by visiting the website of the retailer with just a few clicks directly or by searching among alternative vendors using a shopping search engine. An online store evokes the physical analogy of purchasing products or services regularly. One of the largest online retailing companies is Amazon, founded by Mr. Jeff Bezos.
Jeff is an American businessman, founder, and executive chairman of Amazon. Jeff Bezos is a person who has brought new reforms to the e-commerce business. He has diversified the e-commerce business into many segments with a listing of around 20 million products. He is also a big enthusiast of aerospace services, thus founded his own aerospace manufacturing company Blue Origin.
Miami Palmetto Senior High
School(1982) &Princeton University
Title
Founder & Executive
Chairman of Amazon, Founder of Blue Origin, Founder of Bezos Expeditions
Spouse
MacKenzie Scott (m.
1993–2019)
Net Worth
$ $150.1 billion (April 2022)
Jeff Bezos – Personal Life
Jeff Bezos with his mother Jacklyn Bezos
Jeff Bezoss’ aka Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen was born in New Mexico. His parents Theodore Jorgensen and Jacklyn Jorgensen were college students when they got married and completed their classes on the night shift while bringing baby Jeff along. After they got divorced, his mother married a Cuban immigrant Mike Bezos, who adopted Jeff when he was 4 years old and changed his name from Jorgensen to Bezos. Bezos was brought up in Miami and completed his schooling in the Miami Palmetto Senior High School. Jeff worked at McDonald’s as a short-order line cook during the breakfast shift, when he was in high school.
Jeff graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science. After Bezos completed college, he started working for Filtel, a telecommunication company tasked with building a network for international trade. There in 1992, he met MacKenzie Tuttle, who was a novelist and the two fell in love, and got married the next year. They both moved to Seattle in 1994 where Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.
Jeff Bezos – Career
In the early stage after graduation, Bezos was offered jobs from Intel, Bell Labs, and Andersen Consulting. Bezos started his career working with Fitel, a company that built networks for international trade. During that period, he was promoted to head of development and director of customer service. Jeff became a product manager at Bankers Trust, and that is when he switched into the banking business. He worked there from 1988 to 1990. During the mid-1990 he shifted to D.E. Shaw & Co. a hedge fund dealing with mathematical modelling. He worked there till 1994, in the duration he was the fourth senior vice president of the company. On 5th July 1994, a phenomenon struck in Bezos garage and he created Amazon. Bezos called his new firm Cadabra at first but subsequently changed it to Amazon in honor of the Amazon River in South America. His passion for aviation and aerospace crafts never waned as Amazon’s retail company grew. He explored different opportunities and by the year 2000, he started his own company Blue Origin, which is an aerospace manufacturing and suborbital spaceflight services company.
The Blue Origin-launched New Shepard vehicle reached space in 2015, and also landed successfully back on the Earth. Bezos also bought The Washington Post, the major American newspaper, in 2013 for $250 million. He also owns a venture capital firm, Bezos Expeditions, through which it manages many other investments. Bezos co-founded biotechnology company Altos Labs with Yuri Milner, the founder of Mail.ru, in September 2021.
Jeff Bezos – Amazon
Jeff Bezos- Amazon, Founder
Amazon was established as an online bookstore. He started Amazon with an initial investment of $300,000 which he took from his parents. Although Amazon began as an online bookshop, Bezos had always intended to extend the company’s offerings to various other product categories. Three years after Bezos launched the IPO of Amazon and listed the company. After the expansion in 1998, Bezos diversified into the online sale of music and video, and by the end of the year, he had expanded the company’s products to include a variety of other consumer goods. Amazon was running well and Bezos needed funds, thus he borrowed $2 Billion from American Banks and launched Amazon Web services, which was a big failure. Huge losses were incurred at that time. Taking a rebound in 2003 from the instability Amazon turned a profit of $400 million in the financial year. After a great research Amazon launched Kindle in 2007 which was an e-book reader device that was similar to a video game device. By the year 2013, Amazon was recognized as the largest shopping retailer in the world. With this great success, Jeff was featured in the Forbes list of richest people in the world, and on 27th July 2017, Bezos became the world’s wealthiest person over Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates when his estimated net worth increased to just over $90 billion. On November 24, 2017, his net worth topped $100 billion for the first time, and on March 6, 2018, Forbes named him the world’s wealthiest person, with a net worth of $112 billion. Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon on July 5, 2021, after exactly 27 years of founding it. His net worth is currently estimated at $150.1 bn, as of April 2022.
Jeff Bezos- Blue Origin, Founder | Space Travel Startup
In 2000, Bezos founded the company Blue Origin, a human space flight startup. Bezos always had an interest in space travel and development on other planets for the livelihood of the human race. Blue Origin had a quiet profile after its creation until 2006 when it bought a huge plot of land in West Texas for a launch and test site. Following the company’s rise to prominence in the late 2000s, Bezos expressed an interest in lowering the expense of human space flight while simultaneously improving the safety of extra-terrestrial travel. During a short-hop test flight in September 2011, one of the company’s unmanned prototype vehicles crashed. Despite the fact that the disaster was seen as a setback, news sources emphasized how far the business had progressed in spaceflight since its inception. Bezos has been superstitiously wearing his “lucky” Texas Cowboy boots to all rocket launches since the accident.
Bezos met with Virgin Galactic chairman Richard Branson in May 2013 to explore commercial spaceflight prospects and tactics. He has been compared to Branson and Elon Musk as all three are billionaires who prioritize spaceflight among their business interests.
Jeff Bezos took a flight into space on his own rocket made by Blue Origin on July 20, 2021, thereby becoming the second billionaire to fly into space in the same month. The crew of his spaceflight also included his brother. Blue origin has also focused on starting a suborbital tourism business in the future.
Jeff Bezos – Net Worth
Bezos was one of the youngest billionaires of America. He became a millionaire in 1997 when he launched the first IPO of his company Amazon which gave a revenue of $54 million. He was first included in the Forbes World’s billionaires list in 1999 with a net worth of $10.1 billion. After the economic recession, his wealth decreased by 17.7%. By 2010, he had risen from 68th place to 43rd place thanks to the % improvement. After the great success of Amazon and boom in the market, Bezos in 2015, rose to be the 5th richest person in the world. After some increases in Amazon’s stock price, he surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the world’s wealthiest person in July 2017. At present (April 2022), Jeff Bezos is the third richest man in the world with a total wealth of $150.1 bn. He was dropped to the second position in 2021 when Elon Musk became the richest man, and eventually dropped another ranking.
Jeff Bezos – Philanthropy
Bezos being a successful businessman, is a great philanthropist too. He has donated much of his income to the needful people of America. Bezos and his family first donated $15 million to his alma mater, Princeton University. He then pledged $35 million to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Then in 2013, he pledged $500,000 to World reader, a non-profit founded by a former Amazon employee. Bezos in 2017, gave $ 1 million to the press community, and a year later he tweeted that he will donate $2 billion to a fund deal to the American homeless to establish non-profit schools.
In September 2018, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos announced a philanthropic fund of $2 billion to carry out both the initiatives, which he called Bezos Day 1 Fund. Behind this fund will be two groups – the Day 1 Family Fund and the Day 1 Academies Fund. Jeff Bezos plans to help homeless families and create preschool education in low-income areas.
“MacKenzie and I share a belief in the potential for hard work from anyone to serve others. We all have that capacity,” Jeff Bezos wrote on Twitter.
The world’s richest man then, with an estimated wealth of over $150 billion, Jeff Bezos planned to create a network of non-profit preschools for students who belong to low-income communities. Additionally, Bezos hopes to help the existing non-profit organizations to tackle the homeless crisis by making food and shelter accessible to the homeless destitute.
The Day1 Family Fund will cater to homeless households by providing the existing organizations, performing the “needle-moving work”, with a yearly allowance. On the other hand, the Day1 Academies Fund will administer the launching and operating of a network of top-quality, Montessori-inspired preschools offering full scholarships to the student.
“We’ll use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon. Most important among those will be genuine, intense customer obsession. The child will be the customer,” wrote the tech mogul on a notice posted on his Twitter handle.
This development was unveiled after a year the Amazon founder posted on Twitter urging his 222,000 followers for suggestions on philanthropic offerings that would address urgent needs and also have a lasting impact on society. In less than six hours after his request on the networking site, there were more than 3,600 replies, suggesting contributions to affordable housing, improvement in healthcare facilities, veterans’ organizations and LGBT causes, etc.
He’s been donating billions of dollars and a study denotes that Jeff in a current situation donates approximately 25% of his income to many NGOs and centres that help the poor and the people in need. In April 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Bezos donated $100 million to food banks through Feeding America.
In 1999, Bezos received his first major award when Time named him Person of the Year.
In 2008, he was selected by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s best leaders.
Bezos was awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.
In 2011, The Economist gave Bezos and Gregg Zehr an Innovation Award for the Amazon Kindle.
In 2012, Bezos was named Businessperson of the Year by Fortune.
He is also a member of the Bilderberg Group and attended the 2011 Bilderberg conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and the 2013 conference in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was a member of the Executive Committee of The Business Council in 2011 and 2012.
2014 – 2018, he was ranked as the best-performing CEO in the world by Harvard Business Review.
He has also been featured in Fortune’s list of 50 great leaders of the world for three straight years, topping the list in 2015.
In February 2018, Bezos was elected by the National Academy of Engineering for “leadership and innovation in space exploration, autonomous systems, and building a commercial pathway for human space flight”.
In March 2018, at the Explorers Club annual dinner, he was awarded the Buzz Aldrin Space Exploration Award in recognition of his work with Blue Origin.
FAQs
What is the full name of Jeff Bezos?
The full name of Jeff Bezos is Jeffrey Preston Bezos.
How old is Jeff Bezos?
He was born on 12 January 1964. He is 58 years old (2022).
How did Jeff Bezos start Amazon?
Jeff Bezos has started Amazon as an online bookstore.
How old was Jeff Bezos when he became a billionaire?
He became a billionaire in 1999 when he was 35 years old.
What is Jeff Bezos’ net worth?
He has a net worth of $150.1 Billion (April 2022).
If you are struck with any startup reminiscence, then you will ferret for some reputed capital venture who could listen to your ideas right? But what if you are a part of Wipro where you can access its business services, consultation and digital marketing?
Moreover, I will be a mentor or business solution to you. It would be stupendous to be a part of Wipro- Western India Vegetables Products Limited, an Indian multinational corporation that originated in Bangalore by Muhammed Hasham Premji.
The company commenced in 1945 and attained many achievements from being a beginner to a virtuosity enterprise. Wipro bestows Business consultation, IT services, Outsourcing, business investor and also opened its healthcare services. So, extrapolate, Wipro is an all-around business solution corporation that focuses on enhancing entrepreneurs as well as generating employees.
Wipro has been operating since 1945 and ultimately engrossed many Indian businesses for its excellent services, which is highly based on vegetable and advanced oil products.
As of 2021, Wipro accomplished the third position as the largest Indian IT services firm with its net capital of 1.65 trillion by overruling HCL Technologies capital.
Besides, Wipro never reneged in astounding us with its new plans, whereas now Wipro corporation set to achieve zero Greenhouse gas emission. In the other words, they have targeted to reduce 55 % of GHG by 2030, apprehending global warming and climate change.
Wipro was set up as a manufacturer of vegetable and refined oil
Wipro Company Products – Vegetable Oil
Some people sound implausible, if I say Wipro is basically operated as a vegetable and refined oil company, but it’s credible. Wipro built a refined oil manufacturer under the brand names- Kisan, Sunflower and Camel in Amainer, Maharashtra during British rule.
Furthermore,’ it is proven that Wipro is the acronym of Western India Palm Refined Oil Limited.
Azim Premji’s rank was dropped from 2nd to 17th position by donating
Azim Premji – Founder of Wipro
In 2018, Azim Premji secured 2nd rank according to the Forbes India Rich List, and consecutive year, he dropped to 17th position among 100 Richest Indians 2019.
You would be wondering why there is a gradual fall? Because Azim Premji being a philanthropist, donated 13.1 million to poor people in India. According to the report, it is stated that Azim Premji, owner of Wipro obtained the second rank in Forbes Richest Indian 2018 with $21 billion in his account. Later the next year, he dropped to 17th rank with a net worth of 7.2 billion in 2019.
US-based Association of Diversity council, Wipro was the first Indian corporation to be awarded the 2nd rank for employee diversity in 2011, with 120,00 employees of 74 nationalities in 54 countries.
Leadership at the age of 21
If a big company was handed it over to you at the age of 25, what would you do? Of course, you will be wondering if someone could help you. But this huge enterprise which has been the talk of the town since 1945 was entrusted to a 21-year old boy Azim Premji. Yes, after Muhammed Premji, his dad passed away, he took over the company Wipro as its chairman in 1966.
Wipro became the First software technology & services company to be certified
In February 2001, Wipro became the first software technology and services company in India to get ISO:14001 certification for complying with the international standards for Environmental Management System (EMS) in three major software development and technology centres situated in Bangalore.
Wipro technologies became the world’s first company that has a PCMM level 5 and SEI CMM level 5 certification.
Wipro ranked 1st in the Asian Sustainability Rating of Indian companies
Wipro Limited was ranked 1st in the Asian Sustainability Rating (ASRTM) of Indian companies in 2010 and scored 5th ranking among Asian companies. The ASRTM is a benchmark tool for Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) which is developed by CSR Asia and Responsible Research.
The ASRTM ranking is calculated based on sustainable indicators in four different categories: General, Environment, Social and Governance of companies irrespective of the sector in which they belong and the ranking is calculated only on publicly available information for non-biased judgement.
In 2004, Wipro became the first to get the highest category ‘SVG1’ rating from credit rating agency IRCA for stakeholders value creation and government practices. This rating signifies the sound corporate governance practices of Wipro.
The Bangalore based company retained the top position in stakeholder value ranking in 2009 and 2012. The ranking was given on the basis of improving transparency and disclosure standards, the company’s satisfactory relationship with key stakeholders, the high promoter holding in the company, strong internal audit system, etc.
Forbes Global 2000 list
Wipro stood in 769th position in the Forbes Global 2020 list of 2021, where sales is at 1214th rank, profit annually earned at 460th position and the market value of Wipro estimated at 518th position in the Global 2000 list.
Moreover, According to the Forbes Global list, Wipro has been ranked at 193rd rank for World’s Best Employers 2019, Top regarded Companies in 2019 which secured the 168th place, Being the top multinational performers Wipro gained the position 119th in 2017 and awarded 441st rank for America’s best employers in 2017.
Secured most ethical company for the 10 consecutive years
Being constant in your heyday must be astounding right? Then guess what? Wipro was recognised as World’s most ethical company for 10 consecutive years in succession by the Ethisphere Institute.
It is stated that Wipro is a company of unwavering commitment to integrity, fairness and transparency backed by strong values which came out that Wipro is a reputed global wide trusted company so far now.
Conclusion
Wipro is a globally recognized business organisation, which is quite known for business solutions, consultation, healthcare, employment and all-rounder business services.
Wipro originated in Bangalore, Karnataka in India by a normal human named Mohamed Premji. Haplessly, the throne was given to his son Azim Premji at the age of 21 after his short life span. Azim Premji developed Wipro into a Multinational company by generating its best services to the users in terms of aiding business consultation, employment opportunities, Outsourcing, technology, capital venture etc.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Wipro?
Muhammed Hasham Premji founded Wipro in 1945 as a cooking oil company.
Who is the CEO of Wipro?
Thierry Delaporte is the CEO of Wipro since 2020.
Is Wipro an Indian company?
Yes, Wipro is an Indian company founded by Hasham Premji in 1945.
What is full form of wipro?
The Full form of WIPRO is Western India Palm Refined Oil Limited.
What are Wipro company products?
The products of Wipro include:
Skincare products
Male grooming products
Toiletries
Wellness products
Household products
Electrical wire devices
Domestic and commercial Lighting
What is the first product of Wipro?
Vegetable oil is the first product of Wipro.
Which companies are under Wipro?
The Wipro subsidiaries are divided into four different parts:
Born in Herndon, Virginia, a city, right outside Washington DC. On the 3rd of December 1979. The 41 years old is an American entrepreneur who made a fortune at the young age of 24, as a president at Facebook. Parker enjoys an expensive lifestyle. He has also come forward with his views opposing the tech giants’ algorithms for keeping us hooked in the drama-documentary the social dilemma. He is married to a singer, Alexandra Lenas, and has two children, Winter Victoria and Zephyr Emerson.
Peter Thiel on Parker:
“I’ve told Sean, he may be the long-lost grandson of Howard Hughes—a brilliant entrepreneur who is somehow transforming the United States and yet is not understood by society. Sean is one of the great serial entrepreneurs of his generation, someone who is really changing the world and turning the wheel of history.” – Peter Thiel
Here are some not so very well-known facts about Sean Parker:
He learned How to program while he was in second grade itself at the age of seven, by his dad on an Atari 800 computer. He was also an avid reader.
Hacking as a teenager
At the age of 14, when computers were gaining popularity around the 1990s, he became part of the underground community of cybercriminals. He left college for Silicon, met Shawn Fanning on a portal, and that led to the creation of Napster.
Hacking as a teenager. He was sentenced to community service when tracked by the FBI using his ISP as he was a minor. Sean Parker was just a teenager when he could hack into universities as well as companies.
Co-founder of Napster
He co-founded Napster with Shawn Fanning in 1999, at the age of 19. Napster was a file-sharing service, one of the fastest-growing as well as the most controversial businesses. Though it was not entirely legal, it changed the industry of music with how the globe consumes music. By the way, Napster did shut down eventually after several lawsuits were filed. With the downfall of Napster came a social networking site.
Founding President at Facebook
Sean Parker with Mark Zuckerberg
In 2004, he played an important role in designing, transitioning, and investing in the site’s early developing stages. He worked with Mark Zuckerberg and was his crucial mentor. He made his fortune at the age of 24 in billions as he owned the cache stocks in the Facebook. When Sean found out about the Facebook, he saw potential in its closely-knit community for college students. He got the co-founder of PayPal to invest in the Facebook, as it was formerly known. He believed in the potential of the site more than Zuckerberg, claiming it was the next big thing.
Stepping down from Facebook
For his partying habits, that did not remain a secret. Allegations were made, and Sean Parker was arrested a year later for allegedly possessing cocaine. No official charges were filed, but that meant saying goodbye to Facebook for Sean.
Partnering up with Shawn Fanning yet again in 2012. They launched a group video chat app which was similar to chat roulette. This service app was a flop. Their app Airtime was relaunched later in 2016 on both the platforms iOS and Android.
His wedding made headlines
In 2013 Sean married singer, Alexandra Lenas in a forest. It got everyone’s attention in the media. In the lavish wedding where he had over 364 guests, all of their clothes were designed by Ngila Dickson; she is costume designer for Lord of the Rings, with a nine feet tall wedding cake and a three-day wedding ceremony. Plus, he donated $1.5 million to the ancient redwood forest. The cost of the wedding was approximately $10 million.
Bringing Spotify to life
Sean Parker with Spotify Founder – Daniel Ek
Around 2006-2014, Sean was a managing partner at Theils Founder Funds. His interest in music led him to invest in Spotify. He served on Spotify’s company’s board until the year 2017 and played a major role in successfully bringing it to the market in US.
He paid a whopping $20 million for Bacchus House, NYC west village, which is known for its party-animal past in 2010. In 2010, Sean Parker bought Ellen DeGeneres Brody House for $55 million in Los Angeles. This property, among the others that he owns, is a nine-bedroom containing various pieces forming Parker’s Art collection. The house has a very clean, spacious and minimalistic look to it.
The Social Networking Site: Plaxoo
In 2009 Sean Parker launched Plaxo. Plaxo was a contact management startup. This website, too, was unfortunately shut down in 2017. After running for fifteen years of helping the people enrich their address books. Before shutting down the website, the website let its existing users download their data.
Sean Parker rightly predicted the future of Facebook
Four years ago. Back in the interview with Bloomberg Quicktake, he hinted at what might be ahead for Facebook and the next big thing and what it could end up owning in the future. Not only Sean Parker is well-read, but also has nuanced opinions on ranging topics apart from the tech industry.
Chairperson of the Parker foundation
He had mentioned back then that Life sciences was the next big thing for him. As a child, Sean would get asthma attacks which at times landed him in the hospitals Now is also a philanthropist, the head of the Parker foundation, and also donates to political candidates. With the key focus areas being life sciences, public health, civic engagement, and Art.
Even after failing multiple times, Sean has never stopped himself from doing the next big thing.
The wealthiest human is the one who believes in giving and sharing. When you contribute to someone’s success and well-being, you can have inner peace and that’s what life is. And those at the top have learned this for a long time and believe in contributing to people and the community’s well-being. These high-profile people choose to donate their money to those communities and people who need their support. And such noble people are called ‘Philanthropists’.
A philanthropist is someone who works for the benefit of the community and donates as much as they can. They often provide food resources to the starving country people and contribute to the betterment of major social and financial issues.
The money these rich people earn comes from the public and that’s why it’s their major duty to hold the responsibility for the public’s well-being. And the philanthropist not only agrees with this but also works for their people and community.
They spent some part of their earnings in the development of areas that required their help and support. And to honour and acknowledge such Nobel people around, we have brought this article for the top philanthropists. Let’s get started!
Andrew Carnegie is known as history’s richest person. Although he is dead for almost a century still, when it comes to the biggest philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie tops the list of all time.
Andrew Carnegie donated around 90% of his total wealth. He made the largest deal in history through the U.S based burgeoning Steel Industry, which is around $298.3 billion according to the 2007 dollars value.
Andrew Carnegie was originally from Scotland and he donated almost everything he owned. He donated in every possible field, especially in the education sector (established schools and universities). Carnegie built around 300 libraries for public usage for free across the country.
Moreover, he also supported the civic institutions, established 700 Church organs and many more.
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates
Net Worth: $74 billion
Lifetime Donations: $28 billion
Bill Gates and Melinda Gates
The co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, Bill Gates is known as the biggest entrepreneur of the tech era. Bill Gates has been honoured with the ‘World’s Richest Man’ many times.
He has been financing majorly in his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (the world’s leading philanthropist foundation) with the coalition of Warren Buffet. This foundation focuses on global issues such as education, healthcare, poverty and increasing IT access.
Warren Buffet
Net Worth: $58.7 billion
Lifetime Donations: $25 billion
Warren Buffet
Warren Buffet is known as the most generous and wealthiest man in the world. Also, he is the most charitable and decent among the list of philanthropists. Warren Buffet is quite famous for his economic as well as successful investment advice.
Warren Buffet has an alliance with Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, in which they work for the improvement of the current financial crisis. They promote the other billionaires to donate some amount of their income for philanthropic purposes. Warren Buffet contributes around $25 billion of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Azim Hashim Premji
Net Worth: $32.8 billion
Lifetime Donations: $21 billion
Azim Hashim Premji
The Indian Business Tycoon, Azim Premji is also one of the biggest philanthropists in India. He is the former chairman of Wipro Limited. And now, he is the non-executive member of the board and founder.
Many know this, Azim Hashim Premji is widely famous as the Czar of the Indian IT industry.
Azim Premji took Wipro to the next level of diversification and advancement. And his determination is what took Wipro among the world’s leaders in the industry of software. In fact, according to Asiaweek, in 2010, Azim Premji was counted among the top 20 most powerful men in the world.
In 2013, Premji donated half of his total wealth through the signing of the Giving Pledge. He began with a $2.2 billion donation to the Azim Premji Foundation which focused on the Indian Education system.
The youth’s inspiration, Mark Zuckerberg is the founder and CEO of Facebook. Zuckerberg is known as the youngest self-made billionaire in the world. He has signed the Giving Pledge and utter profanity that he would donate half of his lifetime wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg along with his wife Priscilla donated around $25 million in the struggle against Ebola. Also, they donated around $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
Mark Zuckerberg has widely donated in the education sector, around $120 million to improve the condition of education.
J.K. Rowling
Net Worth: $1 billion
Lifetime donation: $160 million
JK Rowling
J.K. Rowling is a well-known extremely successful author and generally, known as the author of the world-famous book series, Harry Potter. She is also counted among the world’s high-impact philanthropists.
She built a global charity foundation named Lumos (after a spell from her wizarding books). The foundation aimed to help children who have been dreadfully separated from their families and now live in orphanages.
Serena Williams is known as one of the biggest superstars on the tennis court. And she is as big a superstar as a philanthropist also. Serena Williams along with her sister Venus developed a Resource Centre in their hometown- Compton and named The Yetunde Price Resource Center (after their sister who was a gang violence victim).
Their resource centre provides aids for the community members of Compton and encourages healing and resiliency for the locals.
Conclusion
The philanthropists believe in making changes and developing those things which matter and have a huge impact on society. They work together with several underground operations to prevent some major dreadful crimes around the country.
With the growing economy, the number of philanthropists on the world scale is also increasing. There has been the establishment of many foundations and charitable organisations. And the philanthropists are the true inspiration and role models of today’s generation.
FAQ
What does a philanthropist person mean?
Philanthropist is a person who donates his wealth, skills or time for the betterment of the society.
Who is the number one philanthropist in the world?
Jamsetji Tata is one of the world’s biggest philanthropists, he has donated around 104 billion.
Is philanthropy the same as charity?
No, Philanthropy involves helping people over a long term while charity focused on providing immediate relief.
Sonu Sood known for his remarkable humanitarian works in India for the migrant workers during the Pandemic has left a mark of him in all our hearts. He is an actor, model and film producer. He was born on 30th July 1973 at Moga, Punjab, India. Sonu Sood made his debut as Shaheed Bhagat Singh in 2002 in the movie Shaheed-E-Azam directed by Sukumar Nair.
In 2009, he received the Filmfare award for the best supporting actor for his work in the blockbuster Telugu movie “Arundhati”. A few of his considerable movies in Bollywood are Happy New Year, Shootout at Wadala, Jodhaa Akbar, Simmba and so on.
Sonu Sood helped a lot of stranded people reach home by both road and air. He did this in association with Spicejet. Honouring his deeds Spicejet has dedicated him to an aircraft livery saying “A salute to the saviour Sonu Sood” in a Boeing 737 aircraft.
Sonu Sood started rocking the Endorsement world from the end of the year 2020. Enlisting below the very few yet significant endorsements of Sonu Sood.
It is a rural fintech company under spice digital founded in the year 2000. It provides amenities like Aadhar enabled payments, insurances, cash withdrawals, airtime recharges and mini ATM.
It also provides amenities as a cash collection centre for NBFC/Bank’s customers, representatives and agents. It roped Sonu Sood in December 2020 with the tagline “Spice money toh life bani”.
Dilip Modi founder of spice money states that through spice money they wish to promote self-reliance and entrepreneurship to every remote corner of India. Sonu Sood is elated about this endorsement. He says with Spice Money he’s fulfilling his dreams of making his countrymen socioeconomically independent and self-reliant using technological means.
Shyam Steel
Shyam Steel is a TMT bar producing company leading its kind in India. It was founded in 1953. They basically manufacture Sponge iron, Billets and TMT rebars. It operates all over India from its manufacturing units of West Bengal.
In December 2020 they roped in Sonu Sood as their “Build in Ambassador”. Their program aims at distributing e rickshaws in various parts of India to people who lost their livelihood in the Pandemic. Hence who can be a better goodwill ambassador in such a noble deed other than Sonu Sood? The distribution would be based on several socio-economic parameters.
Lenskart
Lenskart was introduced to the people of India in 2010 by an ex Microsoft techie. In November 2020, during Diwali Sonu Sood was roped by them in a campaign “Blu Wali Diwali”. The tagline of this advertisement was “See the good with Lenskart”.
Oyo
Oyo a hospitality chain of hotels was introduced in India by Ritesh Agarwal in the year 2013. It has leased and franchised hotels, living spaces and homes. Sonu Sood has been an asset honour of this firm since 2019.
In October 2020 he was roped in for a campaign called “Sanitised before your eyes” with the tagline “Pehle Spray fir stay”. This campaign was to ensure the efforts of the company to ensure the safest and most Sanitised experience to win the trust of its customers.
Rohit Kapoor the chief executive officer of Oyo South Asia and India stated that Sonu Sood being the face of this campaign makes them extremely happy as his ideologies and their brand fits perfectly.
ISM EduTech
ISM was launched in India in the year 2010. It helps Indian students to study for a medical degree from abroad. EdTech roped Sonu Sood in September 2020 in a program to help students with high capacities stranded in the pandemic study abroad.
According to them, Sonu Sood is a real-life hero with an objective similar to theirs. He stood up for stranded migrant workers and they aspire to stand up for stranded students hence Sonu Sood would be the best ambassador for this campaign.
Mfine
It is a mobile healthcare platform or an app helping people to reach out to hospitals and medical services virtually. It provides all possible kinds of medical services virtually. It also has a 10-minute facility for doctor consultation. It was founded in 2017.
In September 2020 Mfine roped Sonu Sood for their telemedicine campaign. Being their user himself Sonu Sood was elated about the endorsement. Arjun Choudhary, the chief business officer at Mfine says that Sonu Sood’s work has turned him into a beacon of hope and trust. With his face value, they hope to impact people about the quality medication they provide.
Sonu Sood is a messiah after his work during the pandemic. Whatever he has done is beyond all praises. Hence his assurance as of brands is hoped to be as pure as his intentions.
FAQ
What is the net worth of Sonu Sood?
The net worth of Sonu Sood is $17 million.
What is the profession of Sonu Sood?
Sonu Sood is a Actor, Model, Film Producer, and Humanitarian.
What is the age of Sonu Sood?
Sonu Sood was born on 30 July 1973 and is 48 years old.
Warren Buffet is known as one of the best investors in the history of the stock market. His principles and teachings have always been widely used and regarded by the financial analysts and are one of the top 10 richest men in the world. Warren Buffet is the 8th richest man in the world and is also known for his pledging and charitable works. The 90 year old billionaire has announced to resign from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Let’s look at the reason behind it.
On 23 June 2021, the billionaire and the most famous investor in the world, Warren Buffet has announced that he is resigning from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has donated more than half of his wealth towards donation and charitable purposes since he had pledged 15 years ago in order to give away his fortune by running Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Why did Warren Buffet Resigned from Gates Foundation?
Warren Buffet did not provide any specific reason as to why he was stepping down from the position. He has said in a statement that he has been an inactive trustee of the organization for a very long time.
Warren Buffet has been resigning from the posts of all the corporate boards that he is part of other than Berkshire Hathaway. However, the decision to step down from the board of the Gates Foundation comes at an odd time when Bill Gates and Melinda Gates has announced to end their 27 years of marriage.
On the same day, Warren Buffet also announced that he has given away USD 4.1 billion worth of the shares of Berkshire Hathaway as part of his pledge to donate 90% of his wealth. Warren Buffet is halfway there while considering the most recent donation.
He conveyed that over many decades he has been able to gather a lot of wealth by just doing what he loves the most to do. He added that compound interest, a long runway, associates, and the country have worked their magic.
Warren Buffet has announced to donate USD 4.1 billion in shares to five different foundations which include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. However, it is estimated that the major share of the donation was given away to the Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation has received around USD 3.2 billion and the total donation made by the billionaire is around USD 27 billion.
Warren Buffet’s donation also goes to another foundation named Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation which is run by the children of Warren Buffet Howard, Susan and Peter. The foundation is named after his late wife. The other two foundations where he has donated the shares are the Novo Foundation and the Sherwood Foundation.
Warren Buffet Net Worth
Bill and Melinda Gates on Warren Buffet Resigning from Gates Foundation
Bill Gates had conveyed in a statement about Warren Buffet’s resignation and said that, he is grateful for the great friendship with Warren Buffet and added that he would always have a sense of maintaining a deep accountability to Buffet.
Melinda Gates had also conveyed her message saying that, the teachings of Warren Buffet will help the foundation in charting a way forward.
Suzman had sent an email to the employees of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where he had discussed with Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates on how to strengthen the decision making and governance and added that he would share more information about it in the month of July.
He said that he has been discussing about long-term stability and the sustainability about the Foundation due to the recent announcement of the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates. He also added that he is fully concentrated on following the guidance provided by Warren Buffet in order to use to resources provided by Buffet, Bill and Melinda in the best way possible.
Conclusion
According to certain estimations and findings of the Forbes magazine, if Warren Buffet did not donate most of his wealth to charitable purposes he would have had a net worth that would be equal to the CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos who is the world’s richest person.
FAQ
What companies do Warren Buffett Own?
Warren Buffett runs Berkshire Hathaway, which owns more than 60 companies, including insurer Geico, battery maker Duracell and restaurant chain Dairy Queen.
What is the net worth of Warren Buffett?
The net worth of Warren Buffett is estimated to be around 10,500 crores USD.
What is the purpose of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.
Usually investment firms only fund a startup when they see potential to grow their money. However philanthropic investment firms fund in startups that help achieve their philanthropic endeavors like solving a country’s problems or empowering the civil society.
One such philanthropic investment firm and a non-profit organization is Omidyar Network India, which was established in 2004 by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pamela Kerr. Omidyar Network India is part of the US based Omidyar Group which is a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives that are dedicated in creating opportunity for people to improve their lives.
Omidyar Network India has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra with over a 50 employees in the country. Omidyar Network invests in innovative organization and bold entrepreneurs that will eventually catalyze economic, social or political change. As of 2017, the firm had invested in more than 60 companies within a decade, and raised more $350 million by 2020.
So far the organization has committed over $992 million to profit, nonprofit and public companies that aim in fostering economic advancement and that are trying to solve the problems of India’s hardest and most difficult problems and challenges.
Omidyar Network India makes equity investments upcoming companies and provide grants to non-profit organizations in the areas of Digital Identity, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance and Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights. The organization invests in 3 levels which are :
Supporting new and upcoming market innovators,
Help in building institutional & market infrastructure and
Working with the Indian Government to promote inclusion, entrepreneurship, competition, and ensure necessary safeguards and protections.
Here are some of the startups funded by Omidyar Network India
Quikr
Quikr is the India’s top online classifies platform that helps people of a particular city meet, trade, buy and sell household goods, cars, bikes, local services and even find jobs, among other services. Quikr was founded in 2008 by Pranay Chulet and has its headquarters based in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The company is currently has its footprint in 1000 different cities around the world. Quikr aims on empowering people to independently connect with different buyers and sellers. The company has so far raised over $350 million in 7 rounds in order to fulfill its dream of disrupting the ecommerce market in country and empower people.
In 2009, the company raised over Rs 200 million in their second round of funding which was led by Omidyar Network and Matrix Partners India. Quikr has a long list of investors like Tiger global, Kinnevik, Matrix Partners, Omidyar Network, Norwest Venture, Nokia growth Partners, Warburg Pincus and eBay, etc.
HealthKart
HealthKart is known to be India’s largest online nutrition and fitness platform that offers products, services and even expert advice or assistance to fitness enthusiasts. The company also has leading subsidiaries like MuscleBlaze for (sports and fitness) and Healthkart for (health).
HealthKart sells everything from protein supplements to vitamin smoothies at affordable prices. The company has it’s headquarters in Gurgaon and sells more than 200 brand products and authorized vendors that is listed on their website. It is known for nutrition products that are sold especially to elderly people, personal care, chronic care, eye and skin care.
The startup raised over Rs 27 crore in their second round of funding from their existing investor Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network India. With this the company expanded its product portfolio and is also developing an online magazine about health and fitness.
Dailyhunt is one of the top news and local language content app in India. Currently, the company has over 150 plus million app installations with more than 100,000 news articles that are available in 14 different languages.
The company was founded in 2007 by Virendra Gupta and its parent company is Verse Innovation. Dailyhunt claims to have 150 million monthly users and 27 million daily users. It also has 650 publication partners, while their content is created by machine learning algorithm that delivers real time personalized content.
The company raised over Rs 24.61 crore in series E2 funding from Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital and the Renu Sehgal Trust. Omidyar also funds other news aggregators like Pratilipi and Helofy. The competitors of Dailyhunt are NewsDog which is backed by Tencent and Helo backed by Toutiao.
1mg
1mg Website
1mg is one of the top online pharmacy and integrated health application in India and is known for its wide range of medicines, health products, online consultation, booking lab tests and providing information on doctors, clinics, diagnostic centres, pharmacies, etc.
The company promotes transparency around medicine information and is the one stop shop for medical search and transaction experience. During the pandemic, the platform has become popular as it delivers medicines and health products at the safety of the homes in more than 1000 cities across India from Licensed pharmacies.
In 2016, 1mg raised over $15 million in their series B funding round from Maverick Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Omidyar Network India. The company at that time said that it was going to use the funds to expand their online pharmacy and diagnostics and also launch personalized health feeds for their consumers.
Scripbox is an online mutual funds platform, which was founded by Sanjiv Singhal in 2012. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka and uses proprietary algorithms to curate a portfolio out of 8000 other mutual funds in country, they are then divided into equity, debt and tax savings.
The company aims to educate young working professionals to save and grow their wealth and also encouraging people to explore inflation beating instruments rather than the usual inflation par instruments like fixed deposits and gold. As according to E R Ashok Kumar, the CEO of Scripbox, equities will give people over 15% returns than compared to the traditional forms of investing.
The company raised an undisclosed amount in their series B round investment from Omidyar Network India and Accel partners. The company joins Omidyars’s other investment made in the sector of personal savings such as Juntos from US and Tandem from UK. Scripbox was planning to expand to 1000 cities by 2020 with its funds.
Transerve
Transerve is a platform that offers geospatial tech based SAAS solutions. The platform allows solutions for sustainable growth and urban planning. Transerve is used by both individuals and companies for visualizing and sharing spatial data and map visualization through Map APIs.
The platform is a data collector, has location intelligence and helps in mapping precisely so the companies can geo locate data and then make smart and accurate decisions. The company also built many apps and platforms like CityOS in order to solve problems which are related to urban setup, Watsan for waters supply and sanitation solutions and deploys Lidar for heritage restoration and highway engineering.
The company aims in providing solutions to modernize a city’s municipal information system, which is why it went on to raise $1.6 million in Series A funding from IL and FS Investment Managers and Omidyar Network.
Vedantu is a well-known Ed tech company that allows teachers to provide Live tuitions to students online. The online tutoring platform has more than 500 of India’s best curated teachers and over 1 million hours to over 40,000 students across 1000 plus cities from 30 countries.
Vedantu uses a built in technology known as WAVE to create a marketplace model for teachers, where students can browse, discover and choose to learn from a particular teacher. So far the app offers teaching classes for 6th to 12th grades and also for co-curricular and competitive examinations.
Vedantu raised $11 million in Series B funding round from Omidyar Network in 2018. It also went on to raise $12.5 million in Series C-1 round of funding from Legend Capital and Omidyar’s Ohana Holding in 2020.
ZestMoney
ZestMoney is India’s fastest growing Fintech startup that was founded in 2015 by Lizzie Chapman, Priya Sharma and Ashish Anantharaman. ZestMoney uses mobile technology, AI and digital banking facilities to make life more affordable to millions of Indians by managing their credit for them and helping them pay in affordable EMIs.
The platform was made with the aim of improving lives of the people who don’t have an access to credit card or other financial option due to insufficient credit history.
The Bengaluru based digital lending startup raised over $20 million funding in Series B round from Quona Capital, Reinventure, Omidyar Network, Ribbit Capital and PayU. The company is said to use these funds for expanding their platform with EMI-based financing for e-commerce and for other online purchases.
Credflow is a New Delhi based Fintech startup, that offers small and medium enterprises (SMEs) solutions for cash flow management. With the help of the platform SMEs can manage their finances better with timely insights of pending amounts by customers, sending regular payment reminders, validating invoices and negotiating discounts for early payment, among others.
So far over 5000 SMEs are said to have used Credflow to process invoices that are worth over Rs 70,000 crore. The main aim of Credflow is to help small businesses grow exponentially by managing their banking, payments, and treasury.
Credflow raised $2.1 million in their seed round of funding from Stellaris Venture, Omidyar Network and Flourish Ventures. The company said that they would use the funds to develop its platform, strengthen its technology and come up with new products in order to expand their customer base.
WhiteHat Jr
WhiteHat Jr Website
WhiteHat Jr is a Mumbai based Edtech startup that offers live online 1:1 classes on coding and math. The platform is also built on the foundational skills like literacy and numeracy from an early stage.
WhiteHat Jr helps in connecting top certified teachers that can teach children topics such as e-learning, coding, early childhood education, computational thinking, logic, algorithmic thinking, etc. After learning the kids are encouraged to come up with creative outcome like animations and apps.
The startup raised over $1.3 million in a seed funding round from Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar’s Network India in 2018. It also raised $10 million in their Series A funding round by their existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Omidyar’s Network India in 2019. The company said that they would use the funds to strengthen their platform and expand their curriculum and marketing to increase consumer awareness.
Newslaundry
Newlaundry is a well-known independent news media company that provides its readers with media critique, reportage, satirical commentary, podcasts, documentaries, comics and animation content. The media company was founded by former journalists Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen in 2012.
Newslaundry was also the first subscription based website in India, as unlike other news websites like The Wire, The Quint, Scroll, etc the company relies on public subscriptions for revenue instead of advertisements. In 2016, the media company raised Rs 3.1 crore from Omidyar Network, Omidyar now owns 18.4% stake in the company.
Over the years Omidyar Network Indian helped in driving empowerment and social impact at a big scale, by investing in startups and entrepreneurs who aim in providing solutions to solve Indian chronic problems. Even during the Covid 19 pandemic, Omidyar Network funded over Rs. 10.75 crores to 67 projects out of 2000 under the Rapid response funding initiative in 2020. The investment firm will continue to help many upcoming startup grow and bolster a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Omidyar Network India?
Omidyar Network India is part of the US based Omidyar Group which is a diverse collection of companies, organizations and initiatives that are dedicated creating opportunity for people to improve their lives.
Who is the founder of Omidyar Network India?
The philanthropic investment firm and a non-profit organization was founded by Pierre Omidyar (also the founder of eBay) and his wife Pamela Kerr.
What are the areas that Omidyar Network India funds?
The areas in which Omidyar Network India funds are Digital Identity, Education, Emerging Tech, Financial Inclusion, Governance and Citizen Engagement, and Property Rights.
What are some of the Top startups funded by Omidyar Network India?
The startups funded by Omidyar Network India are Newslaundry, WhiteHat Jr, Credflow, ZestMoney, Vedantu, Transerve, Scripbox, Dailyhunt, 1mg, HealthKart and Quikr.
Mukesh Wadhumal“Micky”Jagtiani, popularly known as Micky Jagtiani is an Indian businessman, who is the Owner and Chairman of the UAE-based venture, Landmark Group. The company has a global presence and is classified into retail, hospitality and healthcare sectors. He lead the company with more than 27 diverse brands concepts. Forbes ranked him #52 in the India’s richest man 2020 list and #945 in the Billionaires 2020 list with a net worth of $2.8 billion, as of April 2021. As a philanthropist, he established a philanthropic firm named LIFE Foundation.
Mukesh Jagtiani was born in Kuwait and he comes from a Sindhi heritage. He is married to Renuka Jagtiani , who also assists him in coping up with professional responsibilities of his company. The couple has three children and the family currently lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Micky Jagtiani – Education
Micky completed his elementary education by studying in different cities of India including, Chennai, Mumbai, and Beirut. He studied from Brummana High School in Lebanon.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in accounting and business management from the University of Mumbai. He was further admitted in an accounting school in London, from where he dropped out.
Micky Jagtiani – Professional Life
Micky started his career as a taxi-driver and hotel cleaner in London. He then returned to Gulf and found that he lost his family within a year, due to an illness.
After dropping out of the college, Micky returned to Bahrain and took his deceased brother’s shop and the $6000 left by his family for him, and turned it into a baby products shop and named it Babyshop. He worked for 10 years in the shop and expanded the business by opening 6 new shops.
Micky Jagtiani – startup
With the significance of the Gulf War struck, he migrated to Dubai and founded the Landmark Group. The company gradually expanded into fashion, furniture, and budget hotels in Middle East and Southeast Asia. It variably employs about 50000+ people and has more than 2,300 stores across 22 countries including, the Persian Gulf region, Middle East and India.
Micky Jagtiani – Founder of Landmark Group
Landmark Group Logo
In July 1973, Micky founded Landmark Group based in Dubai, UAE. It is a privately-held firm and comes under the category of retail, hospitality and healthcare. As of 2016, the company raised a revenue of $7 billion.
Under the leadership of Micky, the company has established its services across diverse sectors like, apparel, footwear, consumer electronics, cosmetics & beauty products, baby products, and home improvement. In addition to hospitality & leisure, healthcare and mall management.
Micky Jagtiani – Success story
He became a billionaire businessman, mall developer and the Chairman of the Dubai-based retail group, Landmark International in 2008. He acquired a 6% stake in the UK high-street retailer Debenhams and Forbes named the 16th richest Indian with a net worth of $2 billion. He launched his family office with assets of worth $5 billion. He further wants to expand his business from Gulf to China.
Micky established LIFE(Landmark International Foundation of Empowerment) to help underprivileged children in India. He worked to built schools, healthcare development programs, shelter for impoverished children, vocational and non-formal schools, community clinics and medical camps for slum-dwellers and an old age home as well.
He also started a Beat Diabetes Initiative, which is an awareness campaign with 60,000 participants across 7 countries including, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, KSA and India.
Micky Jagtiani – Controversies
A controversy was raised against Landmark, when Micky suspended the sales of all Trump-branded products in its stores owing to the anti-muslim remarks by the U.S president during the election campaigns.
Peter Thiel is a German-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, a person who makes investments in companies in exchange for an equity stake. He is the Co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund. He became Facebook’s first outside investor after acquiring 10% stake for $500,00 in August 2004. He was ranked 4th on the Forbes Midas List of 2014 with a net worth of $2.2 billion. He was named on the Forbes 400 list in 2020, with a net worth of $2.1billion. He is an active Philanthropist and conducts most of his philanthropic activities through the Thiel Foundation.
Peter Thiel- Biography
Name
Peter Andreas Thiel
Born
11 October, 1967
Birthplace
Fraqnkfurt, West Germany (now Germany)
Age
53 (2021)
Nationality
German- American
Citizenship
Germany (1967-1978); United States (1978-present); New Zealand (2011-present)
Peter was born in Frankfurt, Germany. His family shifted to United States, later to Southern Africa and finally settled in California in 1977. He is a brilliant chess player and holds the title of Life Master, a chess title awarded by the United States Chess Federation (USCF).
He married his long-time partner, Matt Danzeisen in October 2017. His wife works as a portfolio manager at Thiel Capital. The couple bear a daughter.
Peter Thiel- Education
Peter received his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Stanford University in 1989. He further earned his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Stanford Law School in 1992.
Peter Thiel- Professional Life
After completing his education, he started working as a judicial law clerk for Judge James Larry Edmondson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He has also worked for Sullivan & Cromwell, as a securities lawyer. He was also a speechwriter for former- U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennet. He was a derivative trader at Credit Suisse.
Peter Thiel- Startups
He co-founded his first startup named Thiel Capital Management in 1996. He is the Co-founder of PayPal and served as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from 1999 to 2002. His CEO position ended owing to the sale of PayPal to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion.
He then co-founded a global macro-hedge fund called Clarium Capital. In 2004, he launched a big data-analysis company called Palantir Technologies. The following year, he established the Founders Fund, which was a venture capital fund.
In 2012, he sold his majority shares in Facebook for over $1 billion but retained his position on the board of directors. In 2010, he co-founded an internationally focused venture firm, Valar Ventures. In 2012, he co-founded Mithril Capital Management, where he serves as the investment committee chair. He served as a partner at Y Combinator from 2015 to 2017.
Apparently, Peter’s attention went towards the development of the internet and personal computer that had launched the dot-com boom. He raised $1 million to establish Thiel Capital Management and commenced his career as a venture capitalist.
When Max Levchin introduced him to his cryptographic based company, Confinity, which was cordially launched in 1998. With the launch of Confinity, they realized that they could develop a software to assist in making online payments.
They aimed at creating a type of digital wallet for the convenience and security reasons of the customer through data encryption on digital devices. Confinity executed the idea by launching PayPal in 1999. PayPal gradually evolved with new possibilities for handling money. Moreover, Peter is considered as the “Don of the PayPal Mafia”.
Peter Thiel- Co-founder Former CEO of PayPal
PayPal Logo
Peter served as the CEO of PayPal from 1999 to 2002. Under his leadership, PayPal grew through mergers like Elon Musk‘s online financial services companies like, X.com, and Pixo. These mergers helped PayPal to expand its market via wireless phone and gradually transformed it into a safer and more user-friendly tool.
Thus, PayPal enabled users to transfer money through a free online registration and email without the hassle of exchanging bank account information. The company went public on 15 February, 2002. Peter retained his CEO position at PayPal until the company was sold to eBay for $1.5 billion in October 2002. At the time of acquisition, Peter had a 3.7% stake in the company which was worth $55 million.
Peter, the creator of PayPal, established a private foundation called Thiel Foundation, through which he governs the grant-making bodies Breakout Labs and Thiel Fellowship. He funds non-profit research into artificial intelligence, seasteading and life extension. He basically carries out all his philanthropic activities through Thiel foundation.
Peter Thiel- Honors & Awards
Peter received a TechCrunch Crunchie Award for Venture Capitalist of the Year in February 2013.
He received the Alumnus of the Year award from an organization called Students For Liberty in 2012.
He was awarded an honorary degree from Universidad Francisco Marroquin on 7 November, 2009.
He was honored as a Young Global leader by the World Economic Forum as one of the most distinguished leaders under the age of 40 (2007).
He won the Herman Lay Award for Entrepreneurship in 2006.
It’s an easy and quick way to send and request money online. You can transfer money (abroad) to family, online shops, friends, and auction sites like eBay.
Is PayPal safe?
Yes, PayPal is safe.
Is PayPal safe to link bank account?
Yes, PayPal provides 100% protection against unauthorized payments sent from your account.
Rishabh Rathi
