Pierre Omidyar is a French-American billionaire entrepreneur with Iranian parentage. Omidyar is the founder of the auction website eBay, and served as chairman there between the years 1998 and 2015. At age 31, during eBay’s initial public offering, he became a billionaire. Both he and his wife Pam are well-known philanthropists. They founded the Omidyar Network in 2004, expanding their support of many causes beyond nonprofits to include public policy and for-profits as well.
In the year 2018, Pierre Omidyar was worth close to $11 billion according to Forbes magazine. He has received an honorary doctorate from Tufts University and was ranked 2018’s third Most Influential French Entrepreneur by Richtopia.
The Omidyar Network is an investment firm dedicated to utilizing the power of markets to create an opportunity for people to improve their living circumstances. The organization helps allows the businesses and groups it supports to scale, focusing on organizations that impact economic, social, and political change in positive ways.
Over $990 million has been committed by the Omidyar Network to nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies that foster economic advancement and change. It encourages individual participation in investing that impacts a wide variety of things, from property rights to education, citizen engagement to financial inclusion. In addition, Pierre, Pam, and Richard Branson established the Nduna Foundation, which was founded by Amy Robbins.