Richard Marc Rosenblatt (born April 6, 1969) is an American serial
entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
. He built, operated, and sold over US$3.3 billion of
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
media and content-aggregation companies.
[Jackson,Ro]
"His Companies Have Sold for Over $1.3 Billion: Can Demand Media's Richard Rosenblatt Do It Again with Domains?"
''DN Journal''. Retrieved November 21, 2008. Formerly the chairman and
CEO of Demand Media, Rosenblatt left the company on October 14, 2013, and currently serves as founder, chairman and CEO of Whip Media.
He is also the co-founder and chairman of Autograph.
Early life
Rosenblatt was born in
Woodland Hills, California
Woodland Hills is a neighborhood bordering the Santa Monica Mountains in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
Woodland Hills is in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, which is located east of Ca ...
, United States, and was raised in Southern California by his physicist father, Martin, and mother Jane, who was a Health Sciences professor. Rosenblatt went on to earn a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
from
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 ...
, and a
J.D. from
University of Southern California Law School
The USC Gould School of Law, located in Los Angeles, California, is the law school of the University of Southern California. The oldest law school in the Southwestern United States, USC Law traces its beginnings to 1896 and became affiliated with ...
(class of 1994). After graduating from law school, Rosenblatt took a job at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, but quit after six months, citing boredom.
[Weintraub, Arlen]
"Can This Man Cure Dr. Koop.com?"
BusinessWeek. October 1, 2001. Retrieved January 8, 2009.[Brown, Erik]
Forbes. September 26, 2007. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
Career
In October 1994, Rosenblatt co-founded iMALL and served as head of internet media and
web development. iMALL's products included a suite of tools to build
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managem ...
stores and transact commerce over the internet.
["iMALL Completes Year of Transition, Reports Fourth Quarter Results"](_blank)
Business Wire (link published by AllBusiness). March 18, 1999. Retrieved November 21, 2008. Rosenblatt replaced one of the founders, Craig Pickering, as CEO in July 1996 and took on the additional role of chairman of the board in January 1997. Rosenblatt oversaw a restructuring and rebuilding of the business. In 1998, iMALL partnered up with First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) in a deal that provided access to roughly 2 million merchants and included a $14 million equity stake in iMALL.
In April 1999, Verio, Inc. teamed up with iMALL and First Data to create VerioStore, a product selling e-commerce services.
bnet. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
Computergram International (link published by Article Archives). April 7, 1999. Retrieved November 21, 2008. Later that same year,
IBM bought iMALL and First Data's technology for their e-commerce services.
[Hollander, Jame]
"Red Hot iMall Stock Headed for Nasdaq NMS"
TechNewsWorld. May 19, 1999. Retrieved November 21, 2008. In July 1999, Rosenblatt negotiated the sale of iMALL to
Excite@Home
@Home Network was a high-speed cable Internet service provider from 1996 to 2002. It was founded by Milo Medin, cable companies Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), Comcast, and Cox Communications, and William Randolph Hearst III, who was their f ...
for $565 million. In 1999, iMALL and two of its founders were sued by the
Federal Trade Commission, though Rosenblatt was not among those named in the suit.
[Menn, Josep]
“Champion of the Obscure”
Los Angeles Times. July 16, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008. Rosenblatt became the Sr. VP of e-commerce for Excite@Home for a short period of time.
[“Excite@Home Buys iMall, Makes Deal With First Data”](_blank)
Computergram International (linked by bnet). July 14, 1999. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
Following iMALL's sale, Rosenblatt became the founding investor and vice chairman of Great Domains. The company became a leader in the secondary domain market and was acquired by
VeriSign, Inc. in October 2000 for $100 million.
In August 2000, Rosenblatt became the interim CEO of the ailing DrKoop.com.
His participation was part of a larger effort by investors to reconfigure the business into a hybrid online and offline venture that was structured to be less dependent on the erratic flow of advertising dollars.
[Konrad, Rache]
“Dr. Koop hopes Buy will get sales in shape”
cnet. March 14, 2001. Retrieved November 15, 2008. The turn-around was nearly complete when the Internet market collapsed and
9/11 occurred, causing the company to file for
bankruptcy in December 2001.
[ “SEC legal document”](_blank)
Retrieved November 18, 2008.
Rosenblatt became CEO of Superdudes.net, an online gaming community where users created their own
Superhero character and participated in global social networking in 2002.
In February 2004, Rosenblatt became CEO of
Intermix Media
Intermix Media, Inc. ( AMX symbol: MIX; formerly eUniverse) is an American Internet marketing company that owned the MySpace social network.
The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, California and is a subsidiary of Fox Interactive Media, In ...
(formerly eUniverse, Inc.), where he led the growth of ''
Myspace.com'' from an unknown website into a popular Internet property. In 2005 Intermix was sold to
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
for US$649 million, $580 million of which was cash, with an additional $69 million paid to private
shareholders.
[Francisco, Bamb]
“News Corp. to Pay $580M for Intermix”
MarketWatch. July 18, 2005. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
, News Corp. July 18, 2005. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
In 2005, former New York Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against Intermix, but Rosenblatt was not among those named in the suit. Spitzer accused the company of installing advertising software without notifying unsuspecting consumers. Intermix acknowledged Spitzer's allegation, but stated that it was part of an outdated practice put in place by previous leadership, and the company no longer installed software without first notifying the customer.
[Hines, Matt]
“Intermix hit with spyware suit”
CNET News. April 28, 2005. Retrieved December 11, 2008. The case against Intermix was later settled for a monetary sum, though there was no admission of guilt. The founder and former CEO of Intermix Media Inc.,
Brad Greenspan
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, was fined US$750,000 as part of an agreement with Spitzer to end the investigation against him.
[Regan, Keit]
"Spitzer, Intermix Ex-CEO Agree on Settlement"
, TechNewsWorld (link published by E-Commerce Times). October 21, 2005. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
In 2006, Greenspan filed a lawsuit against Intermix, claiming the executives and directors, Rosenblatt among them, withheld key information to shareholders regarding the potential revenue generated by the sale of Intermix to News Corp. Greenspan specifically said the sale cheated shareholders by not including the growth potential of ''MySpace.com'' in the agreed upon sales figure.
[Gardner, Eri]
thres (link published by AllBusiness). October 9, 2006. Retrieved December 2, 2008.[Scott, Kati]
“MySpace execs facing lawsuit over sale to News Corp”
Pocket-lint. August 4, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008. The case was dismissed on Friday, October 6, 2006, when Judge
Carolyn Kuhl determined that shareholders of Intermix Media, Inc. had been lawfully informed prior to voting on the transaction.
[“Suit over sale of MySpace dismissed”](_blank)
Bloomberg News (link published by seattlepi.com). October 10, 2006. Retrieved December 2, 2008.[Hefflinger, Mar]
“Judge Dismisses Shareholder Suit Over News Corp. Purchase of MySpace”
, digitalmediawire. October 10, 2006. Retrieved December 2, 2008. On August 1, 2008, a judge ordered that one count could proceed in the class action shareholder suit brought against the Intermix executives
[McCarthy, Carolin]
cnetnews. August 1, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008.[“MySpace Shareholders Suit to go to Trial”](_blank)
CIOinsight (link published by Reuters). August 1, 2008. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
Rosenblatt then co-founded Demand Media with private-equity executive Colo. The company launched in May 2006 with US$120 million in equity, and announced the acquisitions of eNom, Inc. and ''
eHow.com''. By March 2008, Demand Media raised the total amount of equity to US$355 million.
[Ali, Rafa]
“Demand Media Raises Another $35 Million; Total Comes to $355 Million”
paidContent.org. March 24, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008.[Menn, Josep]
Los Angeles Times. June 16, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008. In January 2008, Demand Media partnered with
Lance Armstrong
Lance Edward Armstrong ('' né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering fr ...
and the
(LAF) to build the daily health, lifestyle and fitness website, ''Livestrong.com''.
[Ali, Rafa]
“Lance Armstrong Takes Significant Stake In Demand Media; Launching Wellness Site Together”
January 27, 2008. Retrieved December 2, 2008. Demand Media completed its IPO in January 2011 with a 33% increase in price on its first day of trading and market value of over $2 billion. Demand Media's board announced Rosenblatt's resignation from both the chairman and CEO roles in an October 14, 2013 news release that also included Rosenblatt's response: "I realize that all journeys must ultimately come to an end and want to wish Shawn and the entire team success as they continue to grow the business."
In 2014, Rosenblatt joined as CEO of Whipclip, a startup offering a legalized way to share TV clips. The startup expanded by partnering with notable TV channels and record labels to make and share TV and music video clips. It acquired French startup TVShow Time in May 2017 and rebranded as TV Time. TV Time later acquired content value management platform, Mediamorph, to become Whip Media Group.
In 2021, Rosenblatt co-founded Autograph with NFL quarterback
Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots organization, with which ...
and serves as the chairman of the company. Autograph is an experience-driven
NFT platform to create digital collectibles.
Rosenblatt was on the board of FRS and iCrossing, Inc, now acquired by Hearst.
He was the owner of nightclubs named Air Conditioned but sold it to his partner, Gary John Collins. He sits on the boards of Cameo, DraftKings and Imagine Entertainment.
Rosenblatt is a co-lecturer with
Peter Guber
Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's most recent films from Mandalay Entertainment include '' The Kids Are All ...
under UCLA's MBA program for the course, "New Media: The Convergence of the Poet and the Engineer."
[Fritz, Be]
“Guber, Rosenblatt to teach at UCLA”
Variety. January 15, 2009. Retrieved January 15, 2009. He was USC Entrepreneur of the Year 2008.
Recognition
Rosenblatt was USC Entrepreneur of the Year 2008.
He was recognized as one of ''The 50 Smartest People in Tech'' by
Fortune magazine and one of the ''Most Admired CEOs'' by
Los Angeles Business Journal
The ''Los Angeles Business Journal'', established in 1979, is a weekly newspaper and online news source in Los Angeles, California, which provides coverage of local business news. According to the ''Journals website, it has a weekly print circul ...
.
Philanthropy
In June 2010, Rosenblatt was associated with "several philanthropic organizations," including the Floor Members Outreach Program, the NYSE Fallen Heroes Fund, and, the NYSE Foundation.
Personal life
Rosenblatt is married to his wife of 28 years, Lisa Rosenblatt. In 2011, he purchased a US$26 million Tuscan mansion located in
Brentwood, Los Angeles
Brentwood is a suburban neighborhood in the Westside region of Los Angeles.
History
General
Modern development began after the establishment of the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors in the 1880s. A sma ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenblatt, Richard
1969 births
Living people
20th-century American Jews
USC Gould School of Law alumni
American chief executives
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles
People from Brentwood, Los Angeles
21st-century American Jews