Fredrik Neij aka TiAMO: Captain of The Pirate Bay

Anyone who has used torrents to download music, films, television shows, and other files is very much familiar with a site called The Pirate Bay (TPB). It was co-founded by Fredrik Neij, also known as TiAMO and two other people.

Neij was born in 1978 and is a Swedish national. Aside from The Pirate Bay, Neij also founded a webhosting company in Sweden called PeRiQuito AB (PRQ) which coincidentally hosted the torrent site he is infamously linked to before they transferred it to another web hosting company which Neij is also involved in. Due to numerous raids, the TPB went offline several times, but Neij and company found ways to go back online.

In 2009, Neij, his TPB co-founders, and another person involved with the website were charged with assisting with copyright infringement and were found guilty after a 2 month trial. Neij was on the run for almost 5 years when he was arrested somewhere near the border or Thailand and Laos in November 2014.

Andrew Michael: Internet Wiz

The internet and the growing tech industry present a lot of business opportunities. There are always new innovations to be unveiled and more services to offer. One of the people who has benefitted from this goldmine of opportunities is Andrew Michael, a serial entrepreneur and founder of a number of successful and well known tech companies. A wizard when it comes to the internet, Michael has come up with some of the most innovative companies and at 35 years old, there’s no sign that he’s slowing down anytime soon.

Michael was born in Cyprus in 1980, but he grew up in Charlton Kings in Cheltenham, UK. While most of the people his age had no idea what to do with their lives, he was already creating a path for himself in the tech industry. His first crack at starting up his own tech company was when he founded Fasthosts, a web hosting company that targets small businesses as clients. He was only 17 years old when he started the company as a project for his A-Level qualifications. The company grew over time and was sold to Germany’s United Internet for £61 million or roughly $94 million in 2006. He still has a 75% stake in the company.

After Fasthosts, Michael set his sights on another startup. He founded LiveDrive in 2008. LiveDrive is a cloud storage and backup system that is based in the UK. The company was only 3 months old when Michael was offered £100 million or $155 million but he turned it down. Instead he expanded and launched the company in the United States. He sold the company in 2014 and embarked on a new project. He launched Bark.com later in 2014. This new company matches people with professionals such as personal trainers, plumbers, caterers, and the like. Michael is now working with his new company fulltime.

Liz Claiborne: Queen of Her Own Fashion Empire

After establishing herself as one of the world’s premiere fashion designers, Liz Claiborne went into business with her husband Arthur Ortenberg and founded Liz Claiborne Inc. (Now known as Kate Spade & Company) in 1976. 10 years later, the company went on to become the first company in history which was founded by a woman to make it to Fortune 500’s list of America’s Largest Corporations. Claiborne became the company’s CEO the following year until her retirement from active management in 1989.

Claiborne spent the rest of her life giving back through a foundation that she and her husband set up. The Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation does a lot of charity work but is focused on environmental preservation programs including efforts to save the elephants in Mozambique and Gabon.

Claiborne passed away in 2007 after a long and arduous battle with a rare form of abdominal cancer. She was 78 years old.

John Sculley: His Journey from One Company to the Next

John Sculley was the president of Pepsi Cola before he took the reins as CEO of Apple in 1983. During the early years of his tenure at Apple, he was able to increase the company’s sales to $8 billion from $800 million before he took over. This achievement, however, was overshadowed by the company’s downturn after Apple’s board unceremoniously ousted its founder Steve Jobs. Scully believed he was painted to be the bad guy and that the company’s problems began after the same board that ousted Jobs, let go of him as well because of a costly mistake.

After Apple, Sculley continued doing business but encountered some bad luck along the way. He became the CEO of Spectrum Information Technologies in 1994, but resigned when he found out that the company was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for fraud even before he signed on with the company. This led to a lawsuit being filed by Sculley against Peter Caserta, Spectrum’s president for damages made to his reputation. He had several other successful business ventures after that, but otherwise kept a low profile.

One of Sculley’s newest projects is a mobile phone company in India and the Middle East. His new company, Obi Mobiles, is a mobile phone manufacturer that makes smartphones that run on the Android platform. Although Obi is not in direct competition with his former company’s iPhone, the idea of cheaper phones that have the same functionality as the more expensive ones like the one Apple makes can make the people behind the iPhone and other high-end phones a little bit nervous.

Obi is now India’s fastest growing mobile phone company in India. Aside from managing his companies, Sculley also speaks at symposiums and events. He shares his wisdom gathered from decades of experience and expertise in business.

Yuri Milner: From Physicist to Business Tycoon

Yuri Milner is one of the most influential businessmen in the world, but he did not start out on that path. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1985 with a degree in Physics. He worked at one of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ institutes, called the Lebedev Physical Institute. He was also a doctoral candidate in the field of particle physics.

He left the world of science in 1990 and studied at Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania and got his MBA. From there, he went on to work at the World Bank headquartered in Washington DC until 1995 when he was appointed as the CEO of Alliance-Menatep. He also took on other roles such as investment division head at Menatep Bank and director general of New Trinity Investments.

Milner started his own internet incubator/investment fund called NetBridge in 1999. The company eventually merged with Port.ru and was renamed as Mail.ru. He also founded Digital Sky Technologies, another internet investment fund. Its global counterpart DST Global has investments in many prominent companies such as Facebook, Zynga, and Spotify.

Niklas Zennström: From Entrepreneur to Investor

The tech start up world is full of business superstars that have made millions out of a simple idea. One of them is Niklas Zennström, a Swedish entrepreneur. He is best known for co-founding several high-profile companies along with Janus Friis. Some of the most notable companies the duo has co-founded were Joost, Kazaa, and Skype.

Zennström began his career at Tele2, a European telecommunications operator. He worked in the business development arm of the company and was responsible for launching and overseeing get2net, a European ISP. He began starting up his own companies in 2000 when he founded Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file sharing program, which at the height of its popularity, was the target of numerous lawsuits filed by people from the movie and music industries. He then sold the company and continued on to start up more businesses, the most well known of which was Skype. Zennström has earned recognition from many media and business groups including Time Magazine and the European Business Leaders Awards.

In 2006, Zennström changed directions when he founded the technology investment firm Atomico. The company invests in technology companies, much like the companies he and Friis co-founded together in the past. Atomico invests in established companies and start ups from all over the globe. So far, the company has invested in over 50 companies which are scattered throughout four continents. Some of the most notable investments they have made were in Finnish video game development companies Rovio Entertainment and Supercell, music services Last.FM and Rdio, and many more. Also included in the list of companies invested in by Atomico is Skype which is now owned by Microsoft Corporation.

Aside from business, Zennström is also passionate about saving the environment. He co-founded Zennström Philanthropies in 2007 which is involved in the battle against climate change and other environmental issues.

Bernie Ecclestone: From Racer to Motorsports Magnate

Before Bernie Ecclestone gained control of the commercial rights of the Formula One Group, the company that runs the FIA Formula One Championships, he started as a racer himself. 

Ecclestone, a fisherman’s son studied Chemistry in college, but his passion for motorcycles was what made him the successful man he is today. He began his business empire by selling motorcycle parts right after the 2^nd World War. He then went into business with Fred Compton and opened up the Compton and Ecclestone motorcycle dealership. He also joined several races at the Brands Hatch racing circuit, but decided to quit after meeting a number of accidents while racing.

After his stint as a racer, he focused on his business ventures – some of which were still related to motorsports. He came back to the racing circuit in 1957, this time as the manager of Formula One racer Stuart Lewis Evans. He eventually went on to own his F1 team and is now the head honcho of the Formula One Group.

Meet the Richest Retailer in the World: Armancio Ortega Gaona

From humble beginnings, Armancio Ortega was able to build an empire and take the retail world by storm. Formerly the chairman of Inditex, Ortega still owns 59% of the Spanish company best known to be behind the international fashion brand Zara. 

Born and raised in León, Spain, Armancio Ortega Gaona was the youngest of a brood of four children. His father’s job was a railway worker, his whole family moved to A Coruña when he was only fourteen. There, he took a job at Gala, a shirtmaker shop that still exists to this day. He eventually started his own company that sells quilted bathrobes which he sourced from sewing cooperatives. He founded Zara in 1975 and worked hard to make the brand grow. In the 80s, Ortega managed to open several stores which were spread out across Galicia, Spain. The success of Zara prompted Ortega to create Inditex, a company that owns and runs many different clothing brands and companies involved in designing, producing, and distributing textiles and ready-to-wear garments. Today, Inditex is considered as one of the biggest fashion groups in the world.

Unlike many other billionaires who enjoy the spotlight, Ortega prefers to be anonymous. He would go about his life as if he were just an ordinary person, eating at the company’s cafeteria and getting his own coffee from the same shop. It was only in 1999 that a picture of Ortega was published, giving a face to the world’s 3^rd richest man. 

Now that Ortega is no longer busy with the day to day operations of Inditex, he has invested in an impressive real estate portfolio worth roughly $5 billion. One of the properties under his name is the Torre Picasso, a 43-storey building in Madrid. He is also living a quiet life with his second wife in Galicia despite his status among the world’s elite.