Chris Richmond (entrepreneur)


Chris Richmond is a businessperson and entrepreneur. He founded a television streaming site called ShareTV.com, co-founded an ad network called Proper Media and acquired ownership stakes in popular websites such as TV Tropes, Snopes and Salon.com.

Career

Richmond attended the University of Las Vegas at the age of 16. However, he dropped out after only 3 semesters to start his first business. The first website he built was a search tool called PCNames which helps to find available domain names. Richmond founded his first large website in 2007, called ShareTV.com. This became one of the first online distribution partners of HULU and TheWB, and was one of first sites to stream the Oscars online for the first time.
In 2014, Richmond, along with his business partner Drew Schoentrup, acquired TV Tropes a wiki geared toward fiction writers. To announce the purchase, Richmond and Schoentrup launched a Kickstarter campaign to ask the members for their help in improving the project. The campaign raised more than $100,000 in donations.
In 2015, Richmond helped found Proper Media. Its first official client was Snopes.com, the largest and oldest fact-checking website on the web. After a year, Proper Media purchased a significant stake in Snopes.com. There is currently a legal dispute regarding whether Proper Media purchased 50% or 40% of Snopes.com. Richmond currently serves as a board member of the Snopes Media Group.
In 2018, Richmond helped with his 3rd acquisition by acquiring Spoutable.com under Proper Media. This acquisition added eight employees and nearly doubled the reach of Proper Media.
In 2019, Richmond and his business partner completed the acquisition of Salon.com for $5 million from Salon Media Group.

Cybersquatting case

Richmond started out at ShareTV.org and was completely unable to obtain the commercial equivalent, ShareTV.com, from a cybersquatter. In 2013, Richmond won a lawsuit for ShareTV.com against the cybersquatter, despite the fact that they owned the domain seven years before ShareTV began its trademark.

Snopes.com lawsuit

Richmond is currently engaged in a lawsuit against Snopes over whether he and Drew Schoentrup own 50% or 40% of Snopes. As a result of this dispute, ad revenue was withheld from Snopes.com and its founder David Mikkelson launched a GoFundMe campaign to keep Snopes.com running.