Colin Needham (born 26 January 1967) is a British computer engineer who is known as the founder and CEO of

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

. He has been general manager of IMDb since its acquisition by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

in 1998.

Early life

Needham was born in Denton, Lancashire, and grew up on Stockport Road. He attended

Audenshaw School Audenshaw School is an all-boys secondary school in Audenshaw, Greater Manchester, England. Previously, the school was known as Audenshaw Grammar School. It opened to boys in 1932. History On 29 July 1932, Audenshaw Grammar School for Boys was ...

and

Clarendon Sixth Form College Clarendon Sixth Form College is a sixth-form college on Camp Street in Ashton-under-Lyne in the metropolitan borough of Tameside. In October 2015, the college relocated to a new building in Ashton town centre, from the previous site on Clarendo ...

in Hyde. He graduated from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

with a BSc (Hons) in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in 1988.

Career

IMDb was started in 1990 while Needham was working as an engineer in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

(HP). The site evolved from what was initially his personal movie database, which became an internet bulletin board made from simple records, kept on a succession of early computers and contributed to by several persons, all of whom Needham outlasted. By the summer of 1996, thanks to IMDb's first film-related

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

(for ''

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

''), Needham had quit HP to work on IMDb full-time as a paid employee. In 1999, he collected two

Webby Awards The Webby Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a judging body composed of over two thousand industry experts and technology innovators. Categories includ ...

for IMDb. In February 2017, Needham decided to remove the message boards from IMDb, stating that the message boards "are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide".

Personal life

Needham married Karen Gaskin in 1989. They have twin daughters and live in

Filton Filton is a town and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England, north of Bristol. Along with nearby Patchway and Bradley Stoke, Filton forms part of the Bristol urban area and has become an overflow settlement for the city. Filton Church ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

. He is a fan of early 20th-century classical Russian composers, particularly

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

References

External links

*
Col Needham
interview – The Open Mind, 21 February 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Needham, Colin British Internet celebrities Businesspeople from Manchester Amazon (company) people 1967 births Living people People from Denton, Greater Manchester People from South Gloucestershire District Alumni of the University of Leeds