Pierre Omidyar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pierre Omidyar
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Omidyar in 2007
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Parviz Morad Omidyar
June 21, 1967 Paris, France
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| Citizenship | Iran France United States |
| Education | Tufts University (BS) |
| Occupation | Founder of eBay Founder of Honolulu Civil Beat Founder of Ulupono Initiative Founder of Omidyar Network Founder of First Look Media |
| Board member of | eBay |
| Spouse(s) | Pamela Kerr |
Pierre Morad Omidyar (born Parviz Morad Omidyar on June 21, 1967) is a French-born American businessman. He is a technology expert, a software engineer, and a generous giver to charity. He is best known for starting eBay, a huge online marketplace. He was the chairman of eBay from 1998 to 2015.
As of 2025, Pierre Omidyar is one of the richest people in the world. He has billions of dollars.
Pierre and his wife, Pamela, started the Omidyar Network in 2004. This organization helps make positive changes in the world. Since 2010, he has also been involved in online news. He leads an investigative news service called Honolulu Civil Beat. In 2013, he announced he would create and pay for First Look Media. This is a journalism company that includes famous journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.
Contents
Early Life and School Days
Pierre Omidyar was born in Paris, France, on June 21, 1967. His parents were from Iran and had moved to France for their studies. His mother, Elahé Mir-Djalali Omidyar, is a smart academic who earned her doctorate in language studies. His father, Cyrus Omidyar, is a surgeon.
When Pierre was a child, his family moved to the United States. His father worked as a doctor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Pierre went to Punahou School in Honolulu for two years. He is now on the school's board of trustees. He became interested in computers when he was in ninth grade at The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia. He finished high school in 1984 and then went to Tufts University. He studied computer science and graduated in 1988.
Pierre Omidyar's Career Journey
After college, Pierre Omidyar worked for Claris, a company connected to Apple Computer. He helped improve a drawing program called MacDraw. In 1991, he helped start a company called Ink Development. This company later changed its name to eShop Inc. and focused on online shopping.
Microsoft bought eShop in 1996. Pierre Omidyar made about $1 million from this deal.
Starting eBay: An Online Marketplace
In 1995, when he was 28, Pierre Omidyar began writing the computer code for a new online service. He wanted to create a place where people could buy and sell collectible items directly to each other. He made a simple test version on his own website.
On September 4, 1995, he launched his online service called Auction Web. This service later became the famous auction site, eBay.
Auction Web was just one part of Omidyar's website, eBay.com. His website also had other sections, including one about the Ebola virus.
The very first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer. Pierre was surprised that anyone would buy something broken. But the buyer explained that he was collecting broken laser pointers on purpose! Many other surprising sales followed. The business grew very quickly as people started listing all sorts of items to trade.
Pierre Omidyar officially made his online service a company. He charged a small fee for each sale, which helped pay for the site's growth. Soon, the money he earned from eBay was more than his salary from his other job. Nine months later, he decided to work on eBay full-time.
By 1996, eBay had hosted 250,000 auctions. In just the first month of 1997, it hosted two million auctions. By the middle of that year, eBay was handling almost 800,000 auctions every single day.
In 1997, Pierre changed the company's name from AuctionWeb to eBay. He started advertising the service a lot. The name "eBay" was his second choice. His first choice, "Echo Bay," was already taken by a Canadian mining company. So, he just dropped the "cho" and ebay.com was born.
There's a popular story that eBay was started to help Pierre's fiancée trade Pez candy dispensers. However, this story was actually made up by a public relations manager in 1997 to get media attention. This was confirmed later by eBay itself.
Later Years and New Ventures
Jeffrey Skoll joined eBay in 1996. In March 1998, Meg Whitman became the company's president and CEO. She led the company until she retired in January 2008. In September 1998, eBay became a public company, which means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market. This made both Pierre Omidyar and Jeffrey Skoll billionaires.
In 2002, eBay bought PayPal, an online payment company. Later, in 2015, PayPal became its own separate company again. Pierre Omidyar still owns a part of PayPal.
As of 2025, Pierre Omidyar is still active in the business world. In 2020, he stepped down from eBay's main board of directors. However, he still holds the title of "director emeritus," meaning he remains connected to the company.
News Media Businesses
In 2010, Pierre Omidyar started an online news service called Honolulu Civil Beat. This service focuses on important community issues in Hawaii. The website won awards for being the Best News Website in Hawaii for several years. In 2013, Honolulu Civil Beat teamed up with HuffPost to launch HuffPost Hawaii.
In 2013, after the Edward Snowden leaks about government surveillance, Omidyar announced a new journalism project. This project, called First Look Media, launched The Intercept in 2014. It features well-known journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.
Film Production Work
Pierre Omidyar has also been an executive producer for some films. This means he helped fund and oversee the making of these movies.
- Merchants of Doubt (2014)
- Spotlight (2015)
Omidyar Group and Omidyar Network
The Omidyar Group
The Omidyar Group is a collection of different companies and projects connected to Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam. These include their charity work and business efforts. Two important parts of this group are the Omidyar Network and Luminate Group.
Omidyar Network: Helping People Thrive
The Omidyar Network is a special kind of investment firm. It uses the power of business to create chances for people to make their lives better. Pierre and Pam Omidyar started it in 2004. The organization invests in and helps grow new and creative groups. These groups work to bring about positive changes in money, society, and politics.
The Omidyar Network has given over $992 million to both for-profit companies and non-profit organizations. These funds help people get ahead financially and encourage them to take part in their communities. They focus on areas like property rights, how governments work, education, and making sure everyone can use financial services and the internet.
Luminate Group: Information for Everyone
The Luminate Group was started in 2018. Its goal is to make sure everyone has the information they need to understand and influence decisions that affect their lives. It also aims to help people stand up for their rights.
Personal Life and Giving Back
Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pamela own homes in Henderson, Nevada, and Honolulu, Hawaii. As of 2019, his wealth was estimated to be around $13.1 billion. He gives a lot of money to political candidates and groups, mostly supporting the Democratic Party.
Pierre Omidyar is a follower of the Dalai Lama. In 2010, he joined Bill Gates and Warren Buffett in signing The Giving Pledge. This means he plans to give away most of his wealth to charity during his lifetime. In 2019, he donated about $500 million to different charitable causes.
Awards and Honors
- Honorary doctorate from Tufts University (2011)
- 1999 EY Entrepreneur of The Year National Winner
See also
In Spanish: Pierre Omidyar para niños
- Iranian diaspora
- Iranian Americans
- The World's Billionaires
