use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
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UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, occupation = Internet entrepreneur
, years_active =
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, known_for = Founding ''LivePlace.com'',
Myspace.com and ''eUniverse Inc''
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, footnotes =
Brad Greenspan is an internet entrepreneur best known for overseeing ''eUniverse''’s launch of
Myspace.com in August 2003.
Greenspan founded ''eUniverse, Inc''. an internet company which in 1999 acquired ''CDUniverse.com'' with approximately 300,000 monthly users. It survived the 2001 .com-bust, diversified, listed to
Nasdaq
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...
, and grew to over 49 million monthly unique visitors by the end of 2001 while becoming cash flow positive.
Education and career
Brad Greenspan after five years of college earned a
University of California Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
Political Science undergraduate degree. During his junior year he earned a finders fee for matching electric automobile battery company ''Electrosource, Inc''. with Liviakis Financial an investor relations firm helping the tiny publicly traded
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
based startup raise needed additional financing. Started investment bank ''Palisades Capital'' in 1995 headquartered in his room inside the Sigma Nu fraternity on the corner of Strathmore and Gayley Ave. in
Westwood, California
Westwood is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located 20 miles (32 km) west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5,128 feet (1,563 m). Its population is 1,541 as of the 2020 cens ...
. By the end of 1998, Palisades Capital had helped five public companies raise over $60,000,000 in financing specializing in Reg-D financing for publicly traded technology companies including $45,000,000 for ''Hayes Modems''’s merger with ''Access Beyond''.
After Greenspan started California incorporated Entertainment Universe, Inc. in 1998, Palisades Capital recruited New York investment bank Gerard Klauer to co-syndicate $7 million dollar private placement facilitating its reverse merger, name change to ''eUniverse, Inc''., and allowing it to be traded on the otc bulletin board stock ticker ''EUNI'', growing to one of the largest online entertainment networks by 2001, and launching 100% owned Myspace.com in 2003.
Products
The first new ''eUniverse'' product released under Greenspan’s leadership was ''
LivePlace''. Launched during the fall Internet World 1999, Computer Technology Review described it as a “self contained java applet” platform where “users make their online selves known to others online” using “chat in new ways to build communities on the fly”, and “collaborative browsing”. Greenspan described it as “technology that turns a website into a public place”. ''eUniverse'' in its 2000 10K described “Community Building Technology” “LivePlace community-building Software”
The eUniverse Network
Prior to the launch of Myspace, Greenspan beginning as executive chairman before adding the CEO title in June 2000, grew eUniverse into one of the largest entertainment networks on the internet. ''MediaPost''’s Everybody Loves eUniverse article described the company as offering its visitors an escape from the grind of their daily routines with entertainment offerings ranging from games and funny greetings to jokes, newsletters, and short animation.
According to
Nielsen-Netrating, the eUniverse Network was the sixth-largest internet property for the week ending October 28, 2001, surpassing
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
.
Greenspan is the only U.S. CEO to have created three separate #1 websites ranked by U.S. monthly unique audience: Nielsen Netratings ranked Flowgo.com the #1 entertainment website in 2001 with ''MediaPost'' noting its “astounding 300% growth in traffic during the past year”, ''Skilljam.com'' the #1 play for cash skilled gaming website in September 2003, and Myspace.com which became the #1 Social Network in February 2004.
''Flowgo.com'' launched in late 2000 offered new daily flash cartoons, funpages, and greeting card, becoming the #1 entertainment website on the internet in June 2001 with 12,980,000 unique monthly visitors according to Nielsen NetRatings.
Other notable ''eUniverse'' websites included leading game website ''Madblast.com'' launched in 2001, dating service ''CupidJunction.com'' launched in 2001, and flash entertainment website ''Justsaywow.com'' launched in 2000 which boasted a daily email newsletter with over 50
million subscribers.
Strategic Microsoft Gaming Partnership
Greenspan led efforts to capture strategic partnerships for ''Skilljam.com'' a skilled online gaming property launched by eUniverse in 2002. In March 2003, Skilljam announced it had struck an exclusive multi-year partnership to run skilled pay-per-play gaming for Microsoft's MSN property. Forbes described the partnership in a March 18, 2003 article titled “Win Bill Gates’ Money”.
Greenspan resigned from ''eUniverse'' in late October 2003 as CEO and as a Director in December 2003, stating that he felt that other "directors have breached their fiduciary duties
to the Company and its stockholders." The company was sold to News Corp in 2005 for $12.00 per share in cash, which Greenspan, the largest non-insider stockholder opposed. In September 2005 Greenspan formed FreeMySpace LLC for the purpose of giving shareholders the “opportunity to participate in the exciting future of MySpace.com as a free and independently thriving business”.
On September 23, 2005, an investor group led by Greenspan, FreeMySpace LLC urged shareholders to vote against News Corp's offer which “significantly undervalued” MySpace which had the “potential to achieve values in the coming years approaching that of other publicly traded online companies such as Google, Yahoo, and eBay." FreeMySpace made a counteroffer allowing each shareholder to sell up to 50% of their shares at $13.50 a “significant premium to the proposed News Corp offer” continue to own shares in MySpace's publicly traded parent company which would be “transformed to focus exclusively on MySpace, divest non-MySpace assets to generate resources necessary for growth and development and be renamed and trade as MySpace.
MySpace’s publicly traded parent company rejected ''FreeMySpace LLC''’s offer calling it “speculative” before completing the transaction with News Corp in early October 2005.
LiveUniverse
In 2006, Greenspan launched Los Angeles based LiveUniverse, Inc., a network of entertainment websites, out of business.
LiveVideo, Inc. and its livevideo.com (now defunct) social network launched in 2008 were one of the first live-streaming platforms. In September 2021, Greenspan's LiveVideo.com Inc. was successful in UDRP arbitration Livevideo.com Inc. v. Patrick Ty / EE88 which ordered the LiveVideo.com domain transferred back to LiveVideo.com Inc. a company where Greenspan serves as president.
LiveUniverse bought up other internet properties but Greenspan still owes at least one of those properties over $100,000.00 plus interest.
As of August 22, 2022, the LiveVideo.com domain forwards to a ''Coming Soon 2022'' page with a ' ''LiveVideo.cvom'' logo.
Asia and Online Gaming Projects
In 2009, Greenspan was awarded an incubator fund by the Singapore Government's National Research Foundation (NRF) and agreed to live in Singapore while investing in Singapore digital media startups. Greenspan's ''BroadwebAsia'' partnered with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) in 2008 to launch ''MLB.coms first Chinese website ''MLB.cn''.
MySpace
The
MySpace service was founded in August 2003 as a new initiative and 100% owned division of publicly-traded internet company ''eUniverse'', which later in mid-2004 changed its name to ''Intermix''. ''eUniverse'' created and marketed the Myspace website, providing the division with a complete infrastructure of finance, human resources, technical expertise, bandwidth, and server capacity right out of the gate so the MySpace team wasn't distracted with typical start-up issues. The project was overseen by Brad Greenspan, eUniverse's Founder, chairman, CEO, with
Chris DeWolfe
Chris DeWolfe (born ) is an American technology entrepreneur. He co-founded Myspace in 2003 and was its chief executive officer (CEO) until 2009. DeWolfe has been the CEO of Jam City (company), Jam City, a video game developer, since he co-foun ...
, MySpace's former CEO, Josh Berman,
Tom Anderson
Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of the social networking service, social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. He was later president of Myspa ...
, MySpace's former president, and a team of programmers and resources provided by eUniverse.
Brad Greenspan & The MySpace Report
In October 2006, Brad Greenspan launched a website, called freemyspace.com, and published reports that called for the
Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
, the
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
, and the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Committee on Finance to investigate News Corp's acquisition of MySpace as "one of the largest
merger and acquisition
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
scandals in U.S. history." The report's main allegation is that News Corp. should have valued MySpace at US$20 billion rather than US$327 million, and had, in effect, defrauded Intermix shareholders through an unfair deal process. The report received a mixed response from financial commentators in the press. A lawsuit led by Greenspan challenging the acquisition was dismissed by a judge.
Greenspan's claims were validated when in June 2010 Judge George H. King ruled in favor of shareholders in a summary judgment decision. According to Gretchen Morgenson of
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, "Viewed as a whole, Judge King wrote, the evidence indicates that “there are at least triable issues of fact” about whether Mr. Rosenblatt acted in good faith or tilted the auction in favor of the News Corporation “for a purpose other than maximizing shareholder value.”
A trial might also determine if the rest of the Intermix board improperly put Mr. Rosenblatt in charge of the auction process and then turned a blind eye to his actions, the judge concluded." Further, the Judge refused to dismiss the damage report finding "shareholders suffered economic damages in the News Corporation bid of $506 million to $667 million"
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenspan, Brad
American Internet celebrities
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American computer businesspeople
Myspace
University of California, Los Angeles alumni