Niklas Zennström (; born 16 February 1966) is a Swedish entrepreneur and technology investor. He is co-founder of the charity organization Zennström Philanthropies.

Education

Zennström attended high school at Katedralskolan, Uppsala. He has dual degrees in

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

( BSc) and Engineering Physics ( MSc) from

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

. He spent his final year of schooling at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, US.

Career

Zennström started his professional career in 1991 at the European telecom operator Tele2. He went on to work in various business development roles including launching and being responsible for the European Internet Service Provider business get2net and as CEO of the everyday.com portal. In 2000, Zennström and Janus Friis co-founded Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file sharing application. In 2003, with Zennström as CEO, the program became the world's most downloaded Internet software. After facing lawsuits filed by members of the United States' music and motion picture industry, Kazaa was sold to Sharman Networks. Zennström then founded and was CEO at Joltid, a software company meant to develop and market

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...

solutions and traffic optimization technologies. He also co-founded Altnet, another peer-to-peer network. Zennström is best known for founding Skype Technologies, a

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company. In October 2005, Skype was acquired by eBay for €2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) with the potential to earn further performance-based bonuses up to €1.2bn. Zennström was CEO of Skype from its inception until September 2007. He went on to launch Joost in 2007, an online video distribution service. In 2009, Zennström was part of the investment consortium that bought back Skype Technologies from eBay and re-joined the Skype board. In May 2011, Skype was purchased by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

for $8.5 billion (~$ in ). It is reported that Zennström and Friis made approximately $1bn between them from the sale. In November 2014, Zennström was inducted into SUP46's Swedish Startup Hall of Fame. Zennström is founder and former president of the European Tech Alliance (EUTA), a group of tech companies located around in Europe. The EUTA focuses on promoting Europe's tech industry. Currently, Zennström runs Atomico, a London-based venture capital firm which primarily invests in tech companies. Through Atomico he has invested in over 200 companies on four continents, including Supercell, Rovio, Last.fm, Klarna, and

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

Philanthropy

With his wife Catherine, Zennström founded Zennström Philanthropies which funds and donates to causes like tackling climate change and social entrepreneurship.

Honors and awards

Zennström was recognized by Time Magazine as one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2006, and has received numerous other awards for innovation and entrepreneurship. In 2006, he was voted Entrepreneur of the Year in the European Business Leaders Awards (EBLA). In October 2009, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, awarded Zennström the KTH Great Prize "for his outstanding entrepreneurial and technological skills". In September 2011, Zennström received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Oxford University's Oxford Internet Institute. In February 2013, Zennström was awarded H. M. The King's Medal of 12th size with a bright blue ribbon for significant contributions to Swedish industry and society. In October 2013, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, IVA, awarded Zennström the gold medal for his "highly successful entrepreneurial achievements, creative innovation, high technical competence and outstanding leadership".

Personal life

Zennström is married to Catherine Zennström. He is a keen yachtsman and has built and raced yachts in the TP 52.

References

External links

Atomico Ventures

Zennström Philanthropies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zennstrom, Niklas 1966 births Living people Swedish billionaires Skype people Swedish technology company founders Swedish chief executives Swedish chairpersons of corporations Venture capitalists Businesspeople in software Swedish company founders University of Michigan alumni People from Järfälla Municipality