Niklas Zennström is a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur known for founding several high-profile online ventures with Janus Friis including Skype and Kazaa. He also founded the technology investment firm Atomico and has become a significant figurehead for entrepreneurs in the tech sector. Zennström is also the co-founder of the charity organization Zennström Philanthropies.
Zennström started his professional career in 1991 at the European telecom operator Tele2. He went on to serve in various business development roles including launching and being responsible for European Internet Service Provider business get2net and as CEO of the everyday.com portal. In 2000, Zennström and Janus Friis co-founded Kazaa, the peer-to-peer file sharing application. Niklas served as CEO and the program became the world's most downloaded Internet software in 2003. After lawsuits were filed by members of the music and motion picture industry in the USA, Kazaa was sold to Sharman Networks. Zennström then founded and served as CEO at Joltid, a software company developing and marketing peer-to-peer solutions and traffic optimization technologies. Zennström also co-founded Altnet, the world's first secure peer-to-peer network promoting commercial content to consumers integrating promotion, distribution, and payment of digital content. Zennström's most notable success to date is Skype, a telephony company based on peer-to-peer principles. In October 2005, Skype was acquired by eBay for €2.1 billion plus the potential to earn further performance-based bonuses up to €1.2bn. Zennström was CEO from Skype's inception until September 2007. During that time, Skype became the global leader in Internet voice communications with more than 309m registered users within five years of launch. After the sale of Skype, Zennström went on in 2007 to launch Joost, an online video distribution service. In 2009, Zennström was part of the investment consortium that bought Skype Technologies from eBay and re-joined the Skype board. Currently, Zennström runs Atomico. Based in London, the firm primarily invests in fast growing tech companies with the ability to transform their respective industries. Through Atomico they have invested in over 50 companies on four continents, including Supercell, Rovio, Last.fm, Fon, Rdio, Fab, Klarna, and Skype. In May 2011, Skype was purchased by Microsoft for $8.5 billion. 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 president of the European Tech Alliance, a group of fast-growing tech companies that have all been built in Europe. The EUTA focusses on Europe's strength as a tech hub, and on its contribution to the European economy both in terms of driving investment and creating highly skilled jobs. The group uses their collective experience to feed into the push to strengthen Europe's digital economy.
Philanthropy
Together with his wife Catherine, he founded Zennström Philanthropies to direct their charitable giving in the fields of climate change, human rights 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. In October 2009, the , Sweden, "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 a keen yachtsman and he has built and raced yachts in the TP 52 and the 72ft mini-maxi construction classes for inshore and offshore racing.
