Pierre Omidyar

[RedWine]

Pierre Omidyar was born in Paris, France. He moved to Maryland with his family when his physician father began his residency at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. Pierre became fascinated with computers while still in high school and graduated from Tufts University in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science.

After graduation he worked for Claris, a subsidiary of Apple Computer, developing software for the Macintosh. In 1991, he co-founded Ink Development Corp. with three friends. The company included an Internet shopping segment and was later renamed eShop Inc. Omidyar worked as a software engineer for eShop until the end of 1994, when he became a developer services engineer for General Magic, a mobile communication platform company. In 1996, eShop was sold to Microsoft, but Omidyar remained fascinated by the technical challenges of online commerce.

While living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area, he met and became engaged to Pamela Wesley, a graduate student in biology who later embarked on a career as a management consultant. One night at dinner she mentioned an old hobby, collecting and trading Pez candy dispensers. The candy has been packaged for many years in a wide variety of colorful plastic dispensers, many of them modeled on classic cartoon characters. Although these nostalgic novelty items were collected and traded by a large community of enthusiasts across the United States, there was no facility for trading them in the Bay Area.


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.

Omidyar incorporated the enterprise; the small fee he collected on each sale financed the expansion of the site. The revenue soon outstripped his salary at General Magic and Omidyar decided to dedicate his full attention to his new enterprise. Business expanded through word of mouth, and Auction Web added a Feedback Forum, allowing buyers and sellers to rate each other for honesty and reliability.


Omidyar changed the company's name to eBay in 1997 and began to advertise the service aggressively. By the middle of that year, eBay was hosting nearly 800,000 auctions a day. By the time eBay went public in 1998, the site had more than a million registered users. By the end of the year, the value of Omidyar's personal stake in the company was nearly $3 billion. Pierre Omidyar has served as Chairman of the Board since its incorporation. At first he also served as Chief Financial Officer, President and CEO, but he relinquished these positions one by one, the last when he hired former Hasbro executive Margaret Whitman to serve as CEO in 1998.

The rapid expansion of eBay's traffic did not come without growing pains. In 1999 the company suffered a number of service interruptions, one lasting 22 hours, but Omidyar moved quickly to regain the confidence of the site's customer base. The company made 10,000 phone calls to the site's top users to apologize for the interruption and assure them that everything possible would be done to keep the site up and running in the future. As other online ventures came and went, eBay has continued to grow and prosper.

In 2003, eBay enjoyed sales of over $2 billion. As of this writing, eBay has more than 95 million registered users, selling more than 45,000 categories of merchandise. Through strategic acquisitions involving some buying and selling of its own, eBay is expanding in Europe and Asia, with particular emphasis on the world's two largest potential markets, China and India. Pierre and Pamela were married, and as the company continues to grow, they devote more of their resources to wide-ranging philanthropy. Pierre Omidyar serves on the Board of Trustees of Tufts University, The Santa Fe Institute and The Omidyar Foundation. Pierre and Pamela Omidyar have resolved to give away all but one percent of their fortune over the next 20 years.

[IQ]

WOW damesh garm
irani ye na?

[RedWine]

WOW damesh garm
irani ye na?
Iranian bahaii. !

[IQ]

oh ok :)

[RedWine]

"Almost every industry analyst and business reporter I talk to observes that eBay's strength is that its system is self-sustaining -- able to adapt to user needs, without any heavy intervention from a central authority of some sort. So people often say to me - "when you built the system, you must have known that making it self-sustainable was the only way eBay could grow to serve 40 million users a day." Well… nope. I made the system self-sustaining for one reason: Back when I launched eBay on Labor Day 1995, eBay wasn't my business - it was my hobby. I had to build a system that was self-sustaining…

By building a simple system, with just a few guiding principles, eBay was open to organic growth - it could achieve a certain degree of self-organization. So I guess what I'm trying to tell you is: Whatever future you're building… Don't try to program everything. 5 Year Plans never worked for the Soviet Union - in fact, if anything, central planning contributed to its fall. Chances are, central planning won't work any better for any of us.

Build a platform - prepare for the unexpected... …And you'll know you're successful when the platform you've built serves you in unexpected ways. That's certainly true of the lessons I've learned in the process of building eBay. Because in the deepest sense, eBay wasn't a hobby. And it wasn't a business. It was - and is - a community: An organic, evolving, self-organizing web of individual relationships, formed around shared interests.

These were the five values I saw as essential:

We believe people are basically good
We believe everyone has something to contribute.
We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.
We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual.
We encourage you to treat others the way that you want to be treated"


http://img414.imageshack.us/img414/8105/omidyarpierrebig27dx.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[soccerboy_mahdi]

wooww ,, niceee ,,

[RedWine]

World's Richest: #43 Pierre Omidyar, Net Worth: $10.1 billion
French émigré and programmer started online auction site in 1995, allowed consumers to buy and sell everything from Alaskan acreage to vintage haute couture. Knew idea was a hit when traffic zoomed within first few weeks. Recent 10th anniversary gala punctuated by first-quarter-record $1 billion sales. But Ebay stock lately on bumpy ride: criticized for increasing vendor fees, inadequate policing of bogus bids; shares sank 40%. Jumped 20% when second-quarter sales last year topped expectations. With Meg Whitman (see) running Ebay day-to-day, concentrates on venture capital, philanthropy. Omidyar Network makes grants, donations to myriad nonprofit and for-profit businesses.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8321/omidyar3gs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[RedWine]

Pierre Omidyar invented the online auction site that became eBay as a lark. But when his whim became a business that made Omidyar a billionaire, sudden wealth brought with it an overwhelming responsibility. "There was this sense of 'Oh boy, what do we do to make sure that this wealth doesn't get wasted?' " he says. "We've got to put it to good use."

Now 39, Omidyar has devoted himself full time to the challenge of "responsibly investing" one of the dot-com era's largest fortunes, around $10 billion. He left eBay five years ago and abandoned Silicon Valley for a quieter life in Nevada, where he and his wife, Pam, started a family foundation. In 2004, they converted it into the Omidyar Network—a philanthropic venture-capital fund that, unlike traditional charities, can invest in profitmaking businesses as well as nonprofits. The recipients, says Omidyar, are chosen because they "help people tap into their own power."

That philosophy has put Omidyar on the cutting edge of foundation work and created an eclectic portfolio of good works. In the past two years, the Omidyar Network has committed (he shuns the term "donation") nearly $80 million to several dozen organizations. About half went to profitmaking ventures that create what Omidyar calls "deep social benefit." One is InnoCentive, a collaborative research community that allows pharmaceutical companies to post challenges to scientists around the world; another is World of Good, which imports the work of artisans in developing countries for sale by U.S. retailers.

The rest goes to nonprofits such as KaBOOM!, which organizes communities to build their own playgrounds, and Modest Needs, a group that channels small amounts of money to help poor working families who've been hit by unexpected expenses. Recipients of the gifts often become donors when they are back on their feet. Omidyar says his philanthropic approach is motivated by the lessons of eBay, which helped millions of ordinary people become entrepreneurs. The stories that move Omidyar inevitably involve ordinary people discovering their own power: a grandmother who talked a local store into feeding volunteers who built a playground in her housing project; a mother in the Dominican Republic who used a $68 loan to open a fruit stand and cleared enough in profit to send her children to school.

Omidyar's greatest passion is microfinance, the practice of making loans as small as $40 to entrepreneurs in developing countries. "It's not about alleviating poverty through charity," he says. "It's about giving someone the tools they need to make their own life successful, actually trusting them with something they might not have been allowed to touch before, which is money." He has given millions to the Grameen Bank, a leading private microfinance lender. And last year he and Pam gave $100 million to Tufts University, their alma mater, to establish a microfinance investment fund. Omidyar hopes this project will prove to other institutional investors that microfinance is a smart way to earn high returns. And these are small-scale tools available to everyone, not just dot-com billionaires. "Business can be a force for good," he says. "You can make the world a better place and make money at the same time." It's a lesson Omidyar has learned well—and one he wants to share.

[Nutcase]

another persian guy to be proud of :)
i personally enjoy ebay a lot, selling and buying.

[Armageddon]

he is half persian half french! and doesn't speak farsi! but yeah, his sexy brain is still persian and we are proud of that!:D

[RedWine]

he is half persian half french! and doesn't speak farsi! but yeah, his sexy brain is still persian and we are proud of that!:D

He's learnin' to talk Farsi ! but is very hard for him to keep it well !

[horiyeh]

he is half persian half french! and doesn't speak farsi! but yeah, his sexy brain is still persian and we are proud of that!:D
lool..yeh:smt064:smt064:p:p

[RedWine]

One of eBay's most senior executives is leaving the online auction firm, prompting a management restructuring.
Jeff Jordan, who has been running the online payments business PayPal since 2004, is to step down in the autumn.

Mr Jordan, who headed eBay's core US business between 2000 and 2004, was seen by some as a potential successor to chief executive Meg Whitman.

EBay is facing growing competition from web search giant Google which recently launched its own online payments firm.

'Successful career'

Google Checkout allows shoppers to set up a single account with all their credit card and delivery details, enabling online retailers to sell products through their advertising on Google pages.

Rivalry between the two is growing with eBay customers unable to use the new Google service.

Although analysts believe that Checkout will pose a threat to PayPal, they see the latter - which has 100 million customers and operates in 55 countries - as continuing to lead the market.

The firm's revenues exceeded £1bn last year for the first time.

While I am sorry to see him go, I wish him the best

Meg Whitman, eBay chief executive

Mr Jordan, who joined eBay in 1999, is leaving to spend more time with his family.

His role at PayPal will be filled by Rajiv Dutta, eBay's former chief financial officer and head of strategy, who has been heading internet phone firm Skype since it was bought by eBay last year.

"Jeff Jordan has had a long and successful career at PayPal and eBay, building two of the most powerful e-commerce and payment brands on the internet," Ms Whitman said.

"While I am sorry to see him go, I wish him the best."

In other changes, Lorrie Norrington will become president of eBay's international operations.

A former General Electric executive, Ms Norrington has been running price comparison website, Shopping.com, also owned by eBay.

She will succeed Matt Bannick who is to oversee eBay's initiatives in the developing world.

[RedWine]

در دورانى كه ديگر كمتر از معجزه اقتصاد نوين ياد مى شود، يك ايرانى مقيم آمريكا باعث شده تا هنوز هم اعتبار دست اندركاران اقتصاد نوين و آينده آن حفظ شود. طى دهه نود چنان اقتصاد نوين همه كس و همه چيز را متوجه خود ساخت كه همگان باور كردند به زودى ساختارهاى سنتى اقتصاد و صنعت تحت تأثير آن بسيار كمرنگ و كم رونق خواهند شد.

رشد سرسام آور اينترنت و شركت هاى نوپاى اينترنتى حتى نوعى فرهنگ جديد را در بين مديران و فعالان اقتصادى ايجاد كرد. اين فرهنگ از پوشش و لباس گرفته تا نحوه حرف زدن و فكر كردن را تحت تأثير خود قرار مى داد.

به عنوان مثال در بسيارى از شركت هاى نوين و نوپا لباس رسمى از كت و شلوار و كراوات به يك تى شرت و شلوار ساده بدل شد. مديران شركت هاى اينترنتى كه يك شبه ثروتمند شده بودند، معتقد بودند بين فضاى سنتى خانه و محيط شركت نبايد مرزى گذاشت و لباس خانه و محل كار بايد تا حد ممكن نزديك به هم باشد تا بدين ترتيب مرز ميان كار و «بقيه زندگى» از ميان رفته و مرز هاى كار و اداره از ميان بروند.

در دوران رياست جمهورى بيل كلينتون رشد بسيار بالا و بى سابقه بورس اين تحول را مضاعف كرد. اما اكنون خبر چندانى از آن سرو صداها و جار و جنجال هاى خيره كننده نيست. بااين حال پى يراميديار بيش از هر كس ديگرى باعث مى شود تا تصور گذشت از اقتصاد نوين حفظ شود. اين مرد ايرانى الاصل با بنيان نهادن سايت حراج اينترنتى Ebay به يكى از سردمداران اقتصاد نوين بدل شده است.

قصه از كجا شروع شد

همانند بسيارى از داستان هاى موفقيت آميز در رشته اينترنت داستان سايت Ebay هم در يك اتاق نشيمن آغاز شد. پيراميديار كه تخصص وى در زمينه برنامه سازى رايانه اى است در اوقات فراغت خويش و در اتاق نشيمن خانه اش چند سايت اينترنتى را تحت يك مجموعه واحد و با آدرس www.ebay.com گرد آورده و اداره مى كرد. يك بار وقتى كه تعطيلات آخر هفته اش طولانى شد تصميم گرفت جايى را براى برگزارى حراج در اينترنت شكل دهد. وى اين كار را انجام داد و حاصل كارش را «حراج شبكه» ناميد. براى آن كه كارايى سايت خود را امتحان كند يك دستگاه سوراخ كن ليزرى را كه ايراد فنى هم داشت به حراج گذاشت دو هفته بعد اين دستگاه به قيمت ۱۴ دلار حراج شد. بدين ترتيب اولين كالا در اين سايت حراج شد و رسماً سايت مذكور آغاز به كار كرد. اين اتفاق در سال ۱۹۹۵ روى داد و از آن به بعد چنان رشدى در Ebay پديد آمد كه وضعيت فعلى آن با شرايط سال ۱۹۹۵ اصلاً قابل مقايسه نيست. سايت مذكور پس از شكل گيرى در سال ۱۹۹۵ تا مدتى با همان نام «حراج شبكه» فعاليت مى كرد. پس از مدتى اميديار نامش را تغيير داد و آن را Ebay ناميد. ايده تشكيل اين سايت به گفته خود اميد يار خيلى ساده و البته ايده آليستى بود: «از طريق اينترنت مى توان بازارى كامل و جامع ايجاد كرد كه در آن وضعيت عرضه و تقاضا براى همگان شفاف و روشن باشد.» اخيراً مصاحبه اى از اميديار چاپ شده كه وى طى آن با يادآورى آن دوران مى گويد: «مى خواستم چيزى متفاوت انجام داده باشم تا هر فرد خود به تنهايى بتواند هم توليد كننده و هم مصرف كننده باشد.» به تازگى هم يك نويسنده آمريكايى به نام آدام كوهن كتابى را با نام يى بى (Ebayمن) منتشر ساخت كه در آن به رموز موفقيت اميديار و سايتش پرداخته است. به اعتقاد كوهن، اميديار خيلى زود دريافت كه ايده ساده اش يعنى همان چيزى كه چند سطر بالاتر از آن ياد كرديم مى تواند بسيار موفقيت آميز باشد و ثروت كلانى را نصيب وى سازد. او ابتدا كارش را براى تفريح و سپرى كردن اوقات فراغت انجام مى داد اما همين سرگرمى بدل به شركتى با رشد فوق العاده بالا شد. دو سال بعد از آن كه اولين حراج در سال ۱۹۹۵ صورت گرفت شركت به حدى رشد كرده بود كه روزانه بيش از يك ميليون نفر از سايت Ebay بازديد مى كردند.

بزرگ ترين فروشگاه دنيا

رشد اين شركت اينترنتى و سايت آن به حدى بالا است كه امروز ديگر هيچ فروشگاهى را چه در ميان سايت هاى حراج اينترنتى و چه در ميان ليست بزرگترين فروشگاه ها و سوپر ماركت هاى جهان نمى توان با آن مقايسه كرد. هيچ فروشگاهى را نمى توان در دنيا پيدا كرد كه ميزان خريد و فروش كالا در آن به اندازه اين سايت اينترنتى باشد. امروز به طور متوسط روزانه ۱۲ ميليون عدد كالا در سايت Ebay به فروش مى رود. تعداد مشتريان ثبت شده Ebay هم ۱۴۴ ميليون نفر است. به عبارت ديگر ۱۴۴ ميليون نفر از مردم كره زمين مشتريان رسمى و دائم آن محسوب مى شوند. يكى از بهترين سال هاى اميديار و سايتش سال ۱۹۹۷ بود كه در آن سال بالاترين رشد اين فروشگاه اينترنتى به دست آمد. در آن سال همچنين اولين مديران شركت منصوب شدند. اميديار در همين سال هم تصميم گرفت كه براى تداوم رشد شركتش مديران با تجربه را وارد Ebay كرده و خود نقش مشاور و «رئيس در سايه» را برعهده گيرد. او در تأسيس شركت يك شريك زيرك هم داشت: جف اسكول. اسكول نيز اين ديدگاه اميديار را قبول داشت كه اگر چه ايده وى بسيار خوب بوده اما آنها خود به تنهايى نمى توانند در اقتصاد پر رقابت امروز هر كارى را انجام دهند. اين دو مديرى را به رياست شركت خويش برگزيدند كه هنوز هم رياست Ebay را برعهده دارد. وى كه مگ ويتمن نام دارد اندكى پس از آغاز رياست خود، توانست در سال ۱۹۹۸ Ebay را با موفقيت وارد بورس سازد. حضور موفق Ebay در بورس ثروت بنيانگذار آن يعنى اميديار را چند برابر كرد. در آن زمان ديگر ايده ساده مرد جوان موجب پديد آمدن بزرگ ترين فروشگاه و مركز حراج دنيا شده بود. آدام كوهن كه براى نوشتن كتاب خود اجازه يافته بود تمامى سوراخ ها و گوشه هاى ناديده شركت را مورد بررسى قرار دهد، در كتاب خودمصاحبه هاى متعددى با اميديار و تعداد زيادى از پرسنل شركت انجام داده و حتى نظرات سرمايه گذاران را هم جويا شده است. وى در پايان تمامى اين اقدامات نتيجه مى گيرد كه در ميان شركت هاى بزرگ دنيا، نهاد اداره كننده سايت Ebay يكى از كم تنش ترين هاى آنهاست. او يكى از دلايل اين امر را نوع نگاه و رفتار مديريتى اميديار مى داند. وى خود نيز طى مدت تحقيقات خويش به يكى از شيفتگان و طرفداران سرسخت اميديار و سايت وى بدل شده است. لذا تقريباً تمام كتابش كه بيش از ۳۰۰ صفحه است صرف تعريف و تمجيد از مرد جوان شده است.

مشابهت با بيل گيتس

بسيارى معتقدند آن كارى كه اميديار انجام مى دهد نمونه مشابهى است با عملكرد غول نرم افزارسازى دنيا يعنى بيل گيتس و شركت وى- مايكروسافت. هر دوى اينها در عالم رايانه سير مى كنند و هر دو نيز انحصارگرند. گيتس در رشته نرم افزارسازى قدرت بلامنازع دنياست و او از اين جايگاه نيز به هر وسيله اى كه شده دفاع مى كند- ولو با شيوه هاى نه چندان اخلاقى. مخالفان سايت Ebay و شخص اميديار هم مى گويند همه چيز آن پول و مسائل مادى است و آنقدر بر اين امر اصرار مى شود كه حتى حاضرند برخى موضوعات و پيش شرط هاى لازم را ناديده بگيرند. در حال حاضر مى توان گفت Ebay تنها سايت جدى حراج در اينترنت است و سايرين در مقابل آن به هيچ وجه مجالى براى فعاليت ندارند. اميديار در مقابل اين مخالفان بارها كوشيده با يك عبارت خاص و كلى جواب بدهد: «انسان اساساً موجود خوبى است. اگر به او فرصت خوب عمل كردن داده شود عموماً رفتارش نيز خوب خواهد بود.» در بسيارى از صفحات اينترنتى مرتبط با Ebay وى همين عبارت را هم به صورت يك پند اخلاقى در گوشه اى از صفحه آورده است.

زندگى خصوصى

اميديار به رغم مشابهت در رفتار به بيل گيتس برخى ويژگى هاى جالب دارد. غالباً لباس ساده به تن دارد و در اغلب عكس هايى كه از وى به چاپ مى رسد كراوات و كت و شلوار نپوشيده است. پيراهن معمولى و كاپشن چرمى ظاهراً لباس هاى محبوبش هستند- درست مثل مديران اقتصاد نوين.

در سايت اينترنتى شخصى خويش كه در آن با مخاطبان و علاقه مندان پيغام رد و بدل مى كند، خودش را چنين معرفى كرده است: «من بيشتر عمرم فردى طرفدار تكنولوژى بوده ام. اگر چه شهرتم به واسطه ابداع Ebay است. اما سعى ام بر آن است كه دنيا را به مكانى بهتر بدل كنم.»

اميديار در حال حاضر ثروتمندترين ايرانى است و در ليست ثروتمندترين ساكنان آمريكا هم مكان بيست و هفتم را به خود اختصاص داده است. البته به رغم بحث ايرانى بودن وى، تنها يكى از والدينش ايرانى است و خودش هم در پاريس به دنيا آمده.

در سال ۱۹۶۷ يعنى زمانى كه خانواده اش در پاريس زندگى مى كردند، به دنيا آمد. پس از آن پدرش براى تحصيل در رشته فيزيك عازم مريلند آمريكا شد تا در دانشگاه جان هاپكينز رشته محبوبش را دنبال كند.

پى ير اميديار كه به همراه پدر و مادرش به آمريكا رفته بود طى دوران دبيرستان عاشق رايانه شد. بالاخره هم توانست در سال ۱۹۸۸ در رشته رايانه از دانشگاه «تافتس» فارغ التحصيل شود. پس از فارغ التحصيلى در شركت اپل (Apple)- سازنده رايانه- مشغول به كار شد. طى همين دوران با خانمى به نام پاملا آشنا شد و مدتى بعد هم با وى ازدواج كرد. جالب است بدانيد كه خانم پاملا نيز فاميل خود را به اميديار تغيير داده است.

اين زوج همانند بيل گيتس و همسرش اعلام كرده اند كه قصد دارند طى سال هاى آينده بخش عمده ثروت خود را خرج كنند. آنها گفته اند كه تابيست سال آينده به جز يك درصد از ثروتشان بقيه آن را خرج مى كنند.

اميديار چندان علاقه اى به موضوعات سياسى ندارد و معمولاً در مورد ايران نيز اظهار نظر چندانى نمى كند. او چند سال قبل بخشى از ثروت خود را در سايت گوگل كه بزرگ ترين موتور جست و جوى دنياست سرمايه گذارى كرد. چند ماه قبل ورود موفق گوگل به بورس باعث شد تا از اين رهگذر نيز مبلغ كلان ديگرى نصيبش شده و باز هم بر ثروتش افزوده شود. مى گويند كسى تاكنون چهره او را بدون ريش نديده است.

[RedWine]

Pierre Omidyar
Interview on the founding of EBay

"I saw on the Internet the opportunity to create a level playing field where individuals could compete with big companies and get the benefit of participating in an efficient market."--Pierre Omidyar

YouTube - Highlights from Vegas 2006/Origins of eBay and Intuit