Sean Martin Howard is an Australian entrepreneur, founder of
OzEmail, at one time Australia's largest Internet company.
In the 1980s Howard founded ''
Australian Personal Computer
''APC'' (formerly known as Australian Personal Computer) is a computer magazine in Australia. It is published monthly and comes with a cover-mounted DVD of software. It is published by Future Australia.
The tagline on the front of the magazin ...
'', Australia's top-selling computer magazine. He also developed the
Microtex 666 service that ran on the Viatel system. In 1988 he became an original investor in
ISYS Search Software, one of the pioneer search engine products. In 1992 he sold his Computer Publications business, including Microtex, to
Australian Consolidated Press
Are Media is an Australian media company that was formed after the 2020 purchase of the assets of Bauer Media Australia, which had in turn acquired the assets of Pacific Magazines, AP Magazines and Australian Consolidated Press during the 2010s ...
. Howard founded the pioneering public email service Oz-E-Mail. In 1994 businessmen
Malcolm Turnbull and Trevor Kennedy invested and the business was relaunched as internet service provider
OzEmail. In 1996
OzEmail was listed on the
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 ...
stock exchange. In 1997 OzEmail Phone was launched and in 1998 the company was listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange.
In December 1998 American telco
WorldCom took a 14.9% stake in OzEmail and in March 1999 WorldCom completed the acquisition for a total of $520 million. In July 2002 WorldCom declared bankruptcy and sold the Australian ISP business to
iiNet in 2005 for $110 million.
In 2000 Howard joined the board of the telco
Optus as a non-executive director. He was a director of the WebCentral Group, a web and application hosting company when it was taken over by
Melbourne IT in 2006.
At the
2015 Australia Day Honours The 2015 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2015 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove.
The Australia Day Honours are the first of the two major annual honours lists, announced on Australia Day (26 January), with ...
, Howard was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to a range of charitable organisations, particularly youth welfare and medical research, as a major benefactor and supporter, and to business.
References
Living people
Australian company founders
Officers of the Order of Australia
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
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