Jeffrey Skoll
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Skoll is a Canadian-born engineer
and internet entrepreneur
who lives in Los Angeles, California
. With an estimated net worth of $US 3.2 billion (as of March 2011), Skoll was ranked by Forbes
as the 7th wealthiest Canadian and 347th in the world.
He was the first employee and also first president of internet auction firm eBay
, and used the wealth this gave him to become a philanthropist and to found the independent movie production company Participant Media.
in the late seventies.
When Jeff Skoll was fourteen his father was diagnosed with cancer
which prompted him to discuss with his son how much he regretted not having had the time to do everything he had planned in life. A keen reader, Skoll was influenced by authors such as Aldous Huxley
and Ayn Rand
and intended to become an author writing motivational books and books on tackling the world's problems.
He graduated with a BASc
with honors in 1987 from the University of Toronto
's electrical engineering
program. While an undergraduate student, he co-edited the engineering students' satirical newspaper The Toike Oike. He paid his way through college by pumping gas in North York, Ontario
. After graduating he backpacked around the world for several months before returning and founding two businesses in Toronto: Skoll Engineering, an information technology
consulting firm and Micros on the Move Ltd., a computer rental firm.
He left Canada in 1993 to study a Masters of Business Administration at Stanford Business School, graduating in 1995. After Stanford he went to work at Knight-Ridder where he was working on internet projects for the publishing company.
founder Pierre Omidyar
who hired him as the company's first president and first full-time employee. While eBay was already profitable at the time Skoll joined, he wrote the business plan
that eBay followed from its emergence as a start-up to a great success. He remained President until the arrival of Meg Whitman
in January 1998 when he became Vice President
, Strategic Planning and Analysis until back problems necessitated his departure from full-time employment at the company. In 1998, he championed the creation of the eBay Foundation which was allocated pre-IPO stock now worth $32 million. Once eBay's second largest stockholder, behind Omidyar, he subsequently cashed out a portion of his company holdings, yielding him around $2 billion.
(formerly Participant Productions), a Los Angeles
based media company he created to fund feature films and documentaries that promote social values while still being commercially viable. Its first three films were Syriana
, Good Night, and Good Luck, and North Country
along with the documentary Murderball. These films accounted for 11 Oscar nominations in 2006.
Subsequent films have included An Inconvenient Truth
, American Gun
, Fast Food Nation
, and The World According to Sesame Street
. An Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars in 2007 and has been credited with extending the public debate over climate change. Other films in 2007 included Charlie Wilson's War
with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, The Kite Runner
directed by Marc Forster, Angels in the Dust
about an AIDS
orphanage in South Africa
, Darfur Now
about the genocide
in Darfur with Don Cheadle
, and Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, a film about Jimmy Carter
directed by Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme
.
Films in 2008 included The Visitor
, by Thomas McCarthy with Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abbass; Chicago 10
, based on the 1968 Democratic convention protests; and Standard Operating Procedure, a documentary about Abu Ghraib
by Errol Morris
. "Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards" Retrieved 11 February 2010. documentary about the annual dolphin
slaughter in Taiji, Japan; The Crazies
, an updated version of the George A. Romero
biotoxin thriller from 1973; and Pressure Cooker
, a documentary about an inner-city school cooking contest, set in Philadelphia. One announced 2010 release, set for Earth Day
on April 22, is Oceans, a documentary about the oceans by Jacques Perrin, director of the Oscar-winning Winged Migration.
Films in 2010 included "Waiting for Superman
."
The company also has publishing and television divisions, and operates Takepart.com, an online site catering to social activists.
and has been honoured many times for his generosity. He has given the eponymous Skoll Foundation
approximately $1 billion of eBay stock since its formation in 1999. The Foundation supports "social entrepreneurship
". Skoll chairs the Foundation and today makes grants in excess of $80 million per year. The Skoll Foundation's assets rank it as the largest foundation for social entrepreneurship in the world.
Skoll's largest charitable donation was a $30 million contribution to the Alliance for Climate Protection Campaign.
Skoll's recent honors and awards include The Producers Guild of America Visionary Award (2009), Time Magazine's 100 People of the Year (2006), Wired Magazine's Rave Award (2006), the National Leadership Award for Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley (2004) and the Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the International Association of Fundraising Professionals (2003). In 2003, Skoll was the commencement speaker and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto
.
In addition, Skoll has financed The Gandhi Project in partnership with Relief International which created a dubbed version in Arabic
of the film Gandhi
. They used Palestinian voice actors and artists to make the film particularly relevant to Palestinians. With Skoll's support, it is being screened throughout Palestine to promote non-violence, self-reliance, economic development, and empowerment.
from Tesla Motors
, a battery electric sportscar
with a 250-mile range, the third Tesla off the line P2/VINF003. He is also an investor in the company.
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and internet entrepreneur
Internet entrepreneur
An Internet entrepreneur is an entrepreneur that applies innovation to create new businesses on the Internet.Internet entrepreneurs are part of the more general category of digital entrepreneurs...
who lives in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. With an estimated net worth of $US 3.2 billion (as of March 2011), Skoll was ranked by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
as the 7th wealthiest Canadian and 347th in the world.
He was the first employee and also first president of internet auction firm eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
, and used the wealth this gave him to become a philanthropist and to found the independent movie production company Participant Media.
Early life
Jeff Skoll was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada into a Jewish family, his mother a teacher and his father a chemical company owner who sold industrial chemicals. The family settled in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in the late seventies.
When Jeff Skoll was fourteen his father was diagnosed with cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
which prompted him to discuss with his son how much he regretted not having had the time to do everything he had planned in life. A keen reader, Skoll was influenced by authors such as Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
and Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
and intended to become an author writing motivational books and books on tackling the world's problems.
He graduated with a BASc
Bachelor of Applied Science
The Bachelor of Applied Science, often abbreviated as BAS, BSAS. BASc or BAppSc is an undergraduate degree awarded for a course of study that generally lasts three to four years in the United Kingdom and Australia, and four to six years in Canada, the Netherlands and the United States.-Usage:In...
with honors in 1987 from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
's electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
program. While an undergraduate student, he co-edited the engineering students' satirical newspaper The Toike Oike. He paid his way through college by pumping gas in North York, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. After graduating he backpacked around the world for several months before returning and founding two businesses in Toronto: Skoll Engineering, an information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
consulting firm and Micros on the Move Ltd., a computer rental firm.
He left Canada in 1993 to study a Masters of Business Administration at Stanford Business School, graduating in 1995. After Stanford he went to work at Knight-Ridder where he was working on internet projects for the publishing company.
Skoll's eBay era
In 1996 Skoll met eBay'sEBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
founder Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Morad Omidyar is a French-Iranian American entrepreneur and philanthropist/economist, and the founder/chairman of the eBay auction site...
who hired him as the company's first president and first full-time employee. While eBay was already profitable at the time Skoll joined, he wrote the business plan
Business plan
A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals....
that eBay followed from its emergence as a start-up to a great success. He remained President until the arrival of Meg Whitman
Meg Whitman
Margaret Cushing "Meg" Whitman is an American business executive. She is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett-Packard. A native of Long Island, New York, she is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School...
in January 1998 when he became Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
, Strategic Planning and Analysis until back problems necessitated his departure from full-time employment at the company. In 1998, he championed the creation of the eBay Foundation which was allocated pre-IPO stock now worth $32 million. Once eBay's second largest stockholder, behind Omidyar, he subsequently cashed out a portion of his company holdings, yielding him around $2 billion.
Participant Media
Skoll is also the founder, chairman and owner of Participant MediaParticipant Productions
Participant Media is an American film and television production company which finances and produces socially relevant films and documentaries. The company is described as being politically active: its films are typically based on current events and topical subjects and presented in such a way to...
(formerly Participant Productions), a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
based media company he created to fund feature films and documentaries that promote social values while still being commercially viable. Its first three films were Syriana
Syriana
Syriana is a 2005 geopolitical thriller film written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, and executive produced by George Clooney, who also stars in the film with an ensemble cast. Gaghan's screenplay is loosely adapted from Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil...
, Good Night, and Good Luck, and North Country
North Country (film)
North Country is a 2005 American drama film directed by Niki Caro. The screenplay by Michael Seitzman was inspired by the 2002 book Class Action: The Story of Lois Jenson and the Landmark Case That Changed Sexual Harassment Law by Clara Bingham and Laura Leedy Gansler, which chronicled the case of...
along with the documentary Murderball. These films accounted for 11 Oscar nominations in 2006.
Subsequent films have included An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
, American Gun
American Gun
American Gun is a 2005 film produced by Participant Productions, IFC Films, IFC First Take, and Spirit Dance Entertainment. It was written in 2001 by Steven Bagatourian and Aric Avelino and directed by Avelino as his directorial debut....
, Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry....
, and The World According to Sesame Street
The World According to Sesame Street
The World According to Sesame Street is a 2005 feature-length documentary created by Participant Productions, looking at the cultural impact of the children's television series Sesame Street, and the complexities of creating international adaptations...
. An Inconvenient Truth won two Oscars in 2007 and has been credited with extending the public debate over climate change. Other films in 2007 included Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War is a 2007 American biographical comedy drama film recounting the true story of U.S. Congressman Charlie Wilson who partnered with "bare knuckle attitude" CIA operative Gust Avrakotos to launch Operation Cyclone, a program to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen in their...
with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner
The Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007....
directed by Marc Forster, Angels in the Dust
Angels in the Dust
"Angels in the Dust" is a documentary film by filmmaker Louise Hogarth.An inspiring story about Marion Cloete, a university-trained therapist whose self-sacrificial courage motivates change and hope....
about an AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
orphanage in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Darfur Now
Darfur Now
Darfur Now is a 2007 documentary film examining the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. It was written and directed by Ted Braun and produced by Don Cheadle, Mark Jonathan Harris and Cathy Schulman. Executive Producers were Jeffrey Skoll and Omar Amanat...
about the genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
in Darfur with Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
, and Jimmy Carter Man from Plains, a film about Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
directed by Academy Award winning director Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
.
Films in 2008 included The Visitor
The Visitor (2008 film)
The Visitor is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Thomas McCarthy and produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski. Executive producers were Jeff Skoll and Omar Amanat...
, by Thomas McCarthy with Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abbass; Chicago 10
Chicago 10 (film)
Chicago 10: Speak Your Peace is a partially animated film written and directed by Brett Morgen that tells the story of the Chicago Eight...
, based on the 1968 Democratic convention protests; and Standard Operating Procedure, a documentary about Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
by Errol Morris
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris is an American director. In 2003, The Guardian put him seventh in its list of the world's 40 best directors. Also in 2003, his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Early life and...
. "Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards" Retrieved 11 February 2010. documentary about the annual dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
slaughter in Taiji, Japan; The Crazies
The Crazies (2010 film)
The Crazies is a 2010 American horror film directed by Breck Eisner. Written by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright, the film is a remake of the 1973 film of the same name by George A. Romero, who is also the executive producer and co-writer of the remake....
, an updated version of the George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
biotoxin thriller from 1973; and Pressure Cooker
Pressure Cooker (documentary)
Pressure Cooker is a 2008 award-winning documentary film directed by Mark Becker and Jennifer Grausman.-Background:The film revolves around a teacher of a culinary course, Wilma Stephenson, who has been instrumental in leading her students in working-class Northeast Philadelphia to receive large...
, a documentary about an inner-city school cooking contest, set in Philadelphia. One announced 2010 release, set for Earth Day
Earth Day
Earth Day is a day that is intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. The name and concept of Earth Day was allegedly pioneered by John McConnell in 1969 at a UNESCO Conference in San Francisco. The first Proclamation of Earth Day was by San Francisco, the...
on April 22, is Oceans, a documentary about the oceans by Jacques Perrin, director of the Oscar-winning Winged Migration.
Films in 2010 included "Waiting for Superman
Waiting for Superman
Waiting for "Superman" is a 2010 documentary film from director Davis Guggenheim and producer Lesley Chilcott. The film analyzes the failures of American public education by following several students through the educational system, hoping to be selected in a lottery for acceptance into charter...
."
The company also has publishing and television divisions, and operates Takepart.com, an online site catering to social activists.
Philanthropies
Skoll is a noted philanthropistPhilanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and has been honoured many times for his generosity. He has given the eponymous Skoll Foundation
Skoll Foundation
The Skoll Foundation is a social entrepreneurship foundation based in Silicon Valley, California, with a mission to drive large-scale change by investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs and other innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems...
approximately $1 billion of eBay stock since its formation in 1999. The Foundation supports "social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship
Social entrepreneurship is the work of social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change . While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a...
". Skoll chairs the Foundation and today makes grants in excess of $80 million per year. The Skoll Foundation's assets rank it as the largest foundation for social entrepreneurship in the world.
Skoll's largest charitable donation was a $30 million contribution to the Alliance for Climate Protection Campaign.
Skoll's recent honors and awards include The Producers Guild of America Visionary Award (2009), Time Magazine's 100 People of the Year (2006), Wired Magazine's Rave Award (2006), the National Leadership Award for Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley (2004) and the Outstanding Philanthropist Award from the International Association of Fundraising Professionals (2003). In 2003, Skoll was the commencement speaker and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
.
In addition, Skoll has financed The Gandhi Project in partnership with Relief International which created a dubbed version in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
of the film Gandhi
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
. They used Palestinian voice actors and artists to make the film particularly relevant to Palestinians. With Skoll's support, it is being screened throughout Palestine to promote non-violence, self-reliance, economic development, and empowerment.
Other interests
Skoll owns a Tesla RoadsterTesla Roadster
The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle sports car produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California. The Roadster was the first highway-capable all-electric vehicle in serial production available in the United States. Since 2008 Tesla has sold 2,024 Roadsters in 30 countries...
from Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors, Inc. is a Silicon Valley-based company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars and electric vehicle powertrain components. It was the only automaker building and selling a zero-emission sports car, the Tesla Roadster, in serial production...
, a battery electric sportscar
Battery electric vehicle
A battery electric vehicle, or BEV, is a type of electric vehicle that uses chemical energy stored in rechargeable battery packs. BEVs use electric motors and motor controllers instead of, or in addition to, internal combustion engines for propulsion.A battery-only electric vehicle or...
with a 250-mile range, the third Tesla off the line P2/VINF003. He is also an investor in the company.
Further reading
- The Observer - Hollywood's new politics Gaby Wood, January 8, 2006
- Forbes - The World's R ichest People February 13, 2006
External links
- Skoll Foundation
- Skoll Centre, Oxford University
- Participant Productions
- Jeffrey Skoll at IMDb
- Making movies that make change, talk at TEDTED (conference)TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
March 2007 - Forbes.com: Forbes World's Richest People 2004
- Jeff Skoll and Philanthropy