Naveen Jain
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Naveen Jain | |
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Born | September 6, 1959 |
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Occupation | Founder and CEO, Intelius Founder and CEO (1996-2002), Infospace |
Website Naveen Jain Naveen Jain (Intelius) |
Naveen K. Jain is an entrepreneur and software executive, founder of InfoSpace and Intelius.
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Background
Born in 1959, Jain left New Delhi, India in 1979 through a business-exchange program to explore the emerging U.S. high-technology market. He first worked for Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys) but was not acclimated to the climate of New Jersey.[1][2]
Naveen was ranked 121 on the 400 Richest Americans in 2000, with an net worth of USD$2,200 million.[3]
Microsoft and MSN
In 1989 Jain joined Microsoft in Redmond, Washington. In an interview with Red Herring Jain said, "My job was to define what a product should do from a consumer point of view and what it is that Microsoft wanted the program to be," blending visions of software coders with market demands.
InfoSpace
Jain founded InfoSpace in March 1996 and was its Chief Executive Officer until 2002.[1] Between 1995 and 2000, Jain was featured in several business publications which compared him favorably to Bill Gates, noted his manic demeanor, and pointed out quirks in his personality while noting his personal worth, which was approaching one billion dollars.[2][4][5] During his time as CEO, he was accused of misleading investors and pursuing "lazy Susan" deals with his brother Atul Jain. When stock fell from a peak of $1,000 per share to $2.67 during the dot com "crash", Jain was fired as CEO and was subject to several lawsuits that were later settled. In a multi-part investigation, the Seattle Times reported that "InfoSpace's success was an illusion, built on accounting tricks and the hype of charismatic founder Jain." A federal judge ruled that Jain broke insider trading laws, but a settlement was reached between Jain and InfoSpace that saw him repay $65 million to his former company. Jain remained on the board of directors through June of 2005.[1][6][7][8]
Freei
In 1999, Jain served on the board of directors of Freei, aka FreeInternet.com, an online service provider that provided dial-up connections without charge, instead using advertisements to gain revenue. Along with serving on the board, Jain's company InfoSpace provided integrated search and content features, such as news, maps, and weather forecasts to the ISP. Jain also invested approximately $5 Million in the service before it filed for bankruptcy in mid-2000, shortly after filing for an IPO on March 31, 2000.[9][10]
Intelius
In 2003 he founded Intelius.[11]. Intelius is headquarters in Bellevue, Washington specializing in public records information and offering service to consumers and businesses which include background checks and identity theft protection.[12][13][14][15][16] Founded in 2003 with origins in Microsoft and InfoSpace[13][15][17] and employing a staff of 113,[15] Intelius owns more than 50 percent of the online people search market[14] and is ranked as one of the top 100 electronic commerce sites on the Internet.[12][14] It had $55 million in revenue in 2006 and has been profitable since 2004.[18]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Heath, David; Pian Chan, Sharon; Dot-con Job: Part 1: Dubious Deals, The Seattle Times, 2005
- ^ a b Smarter than Bill, Red Herring, June 30, 1997
- ^ Forbes.com: Forbes 400 Richest in America 2000. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
- ^ Skill Shop
- ^ Techno-poet who is smarter than Bill Gates. - Sunday Business (London, England) - HighBeam Research
- ^ Heath, David; Pian Chan, Sharon; Dot-con Job: Part 2: Cashing Out, The Seattle Times, 2005
- ^ Pian Chan, Sharon; InfoSpace sues fired chief exec, The Seattle Times, March 11, 2003
- ^ InfoSpace bubble-era accounting highly "complicated", USA Today, March 10, 2005
- ^ Gates, Dominic; Freei Files For Bankruptcy, Infoworld, October 9, 2000
- ^ Freei.Net Offers Comprehensive New Portal Featuring Services From InfoSpace.com, Business Wire, January 17, 2000
- ^ The Seattle Start-Up Index - O'Reilly Radar. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
- ^ a b Intelius, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ a b Intelius - profile. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ a b c If in doubt, check it out : Profile of Naveen Jain. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ a b c Nina Shapiro (April 11, 2007). "Intelius Says it's Capable of Conducting a Full Background Check on Anyone". . Seattle Weekly Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ John Swartz and Byron Acohido (April 1, 2007). "Who's guarding your data in the cybervault?". . USA Today Retrieved on 2007-04-07.
- ^ Intelius Founders Win Lawsuit. Retrieved on 2007-04-13.
- ^ Tim Mullaney (December 26, 2006). "Intelius, Founded by InfoSpace's Jain, Considers Going Public". . Bloomberg Retrieved on 04-17-2007.