Useful Entrepreneurial Lessons from the Life of Halsey Minor

Halsey Minor is a tech entrepreneur known to be the founder of CNET. He studied in the University of Virginia where he earned his degree in anthropology. His first job was with Merrill Lynch until he began conceptualizing CNET in 1992.

CNET became one of the first internet-based companies that became profitable. CBS purchased CNET in 2008 for $1.7 billion and is now known as CBS Interactive. While with CNET, Minor established two spin-offs: the Snap/NBCi and Vignette Software. Both are public companies.

Minor was a co-founder and was one of the largest investors in salesforce.com, the pioneer in cloud computing and one of the most successful tech companies today.

Minor has been involved in a number of legal battles involving Chrsitie’s and Sotherby’s. The lawsuits arose from a painting which Minor bought in an auction. The outcome of the cases was both favorable and unfavorable to Minor. Minor is also involved in another lawsuit with Merrill. It was reported that Minor owed the state California taxes amounting to $10.4 million. In May 2013, Minot applied for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Los Angeles.