Marc Andreessen

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Marc Andreessen
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS
)
Occupations
Known for
Spouse
​
(m. 2006)​
Children1[1]
RelativesJohn Arrillaga (father-in-law)
Websitea16z.com/author/marc-andreessen

Marc Lowell Andreessen [

World Wide Web Hall of Fame
. Andreessen's net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion.

Early life and education

Andreessen was born in

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC).[4] As an undergraduate, he interned twice at IBM in Austin, Texas.[5] He worked in the AIX graphics software development group responsible for the MIT X Window implementation and ports of the 3D language APIs: SGI's Graphics Language (GL) and PHIGS.[citation needed] He also worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, where he became familiar with Tim Berners-Lee's open standards for the World Wide Web. After being shown the ViolaWWW graphic web browser in late 1992, Andreessen and full-time salaried co-worker Eric Bina worked on creating a browser with integrated graphics that could be ported to a wide range of computers, including Windows. The result was the Mosaic web browser released in 1993.[6]

In the Web's first generation, Tim Berners-Lee launched the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and HTML standards with prototype Unix-based servers and browsers. A few people noticed that the Web might be better than

Bob Metcalfe, InfoWorld, August 21, 1995, Vol. 17, Issue 34.[7]

Career

Andreessen in 2004

Andreessen has worked at Netscape, Opsware, founded Andreessen Horowitz, and invested in many successful companies including Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.[8]

Netscape

After graduating from UIUC in 1993, Andreessen moved to

Mosaic Communications Corporation was in business in Mountain View, California, with Andreessen as co-founder and vice president of technology. The University of Illinois was unhappy with the company's use of the Mosaic name, so Mosaic Communications changed its name to Netscape Communications, and its flagship Web browser was the Netscape Navigator.[9]

Netscape's IPO in 1995 put Andreessen in the public eye. He was on the cover of Time[10][11] and other publications.[12]

Netscape was acquired in 1999 for $4.3 billion by

TR100 as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[14]

Opsware

After AOL acquired Netscape in late 1998, Andreessen founded Opsware with Ben Horowitz, Tim Howes, and In Sik Rhee.[15] Originally named Loudcloud, the company provided computing, hosting and software services to consumer-facing internet and e-commerce companies. Loudcloud sold its hosting business to EDS and changed its name to Opsware in 2003, with Andreessen serving as chairman. Acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007, it was one of the first companies to offer software as a service and to attempt cloud hosting.[16]

Andreessen Horowitz

Between 2005 and 2009, Andreessen and Horowitz separately invested a total of $80 million in 45 startups, including

Qik.[17] The two became well known as super angel investors.[17] On July 6, 2009, Andreessen and Horowitz announced their Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.[18]

Investments

Andreessen Horowitz began with an initial capitalization of $300 million;[19] within three years the firm grew to $2.7 billion under management across three funds.[20] In 2012, Andreessen Horowitz's portfolio holdings included Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, Pinterest, Twitter, and Honor, Inc.[21]

On September 1, 2009, an investor group that included Andreessen Horowitz acquired a majority stake in Skype at a valuation of $2.75 billion,[22] which was considered risky.[23] The deal paid off in May 2011 when Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion.[23] In 2010, the firm assisted Silicon Valley attorney Ted Wang in creating the first free standardized seed round financing documents, the Series Seed Documents.[24]

Andreessen joined the

online payments unit PayPal. The decision to cut ties with PayPal was a point of contention between Andreessen and investor Carl Icahn. Icahn advocated for the PayPal split while Andreessen opposed the spin-off, resulting in public disputes. Andreessen was accused by Icahn of putting his own interests in front of what was best for shareholders. Icahn published his argument in an open letter that detailed alleged conflicts of interest in eBay's 2009 sale of Skype to a group of private investors, which included Andreessen's firm.[26]

Industry influence

Andreessen advises the leaders of companies in which Andreessen Horowitz invests, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Mark Pincus of Zynga.[27]

Andreessen and Horowitz were ranked No. 6 on Vanity Fair's 2011 New Establishment List,[28] no. 1 on CNET's 2011 most influential investors list[29] and Nos. 2 and 21, respectively, on the 2012 Forbes Midas List of Tech's Top Investors.[30]

In April 2012, Andreessen and Andreessen Horowitz General Partners Ben Horowitz,

Peter Levine, Jeff Jordan, John O'Farrell, and Scott Weiss pledged to donate half their lifetime incomes from venture capital to charitable organizations.[31]

In 2012, Andreessen was named in the Time 100, an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world assembled by Time.[32] His essay "Software is eating the world" has been influential and widely cited.[33][34][35][36]

In 2013, Andreessen was one of five Internet and Web pioneers awarded the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.[37]

In April 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Andreessen published an opinion article, "It's time to build", describing the United States' COVID-19 response and suggesting technological and cultural solutions to the problem.[38][39]

In October 2023, Andreessen published a Techno-Optimist Manifesto arguing that civilization is built on technology and that "Technology is the glory of human ambition and achievement, the spearhead of progress, and the realization of our potential."[40] He has also described himself as a "TESCREAList".[41]

Ventures

Andreessen cofounded and chaired Ning, the third company he established, after Netscape and Loudcloud.[42] In September 2011, it was announced that Ning had been sold to Mode Media for a reported price of $150 million. Andreessen joined Glam Media's board of directors after the sale.[43]

He is a personal investor in companies including LinkedIn[33] and boutique bank Raine.[44]

Andreessen serves on the board of

Oculus VR,[49] OpenGov,[50] Dialpad, and TinyCo.[51] Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced in February 2018 that board member Andreessen would not seek reelection at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on April 4.[52] In his time at Hewlett Packard, Andreessen had been partially blamed for some of the company's failures, including the recruiting of Léo Apotheker as well as the acquisitions of Autonomy and Palm.[53][54]

He is advisor to

Asana and director of CollabNet.[55] He is a proponent of Bitcoin.[56] Andreessen is on an advisory board for Neom, the Saudi Arabian government's plan to build a futuristic megacity in the desert.[57][58]

Criticism

In February 2016, Andreessen posted a tweet in response to India's decision to apply

Free Basics. The tweet suggested that anti-colonialism had been catastrophic for the Indian people. Andreessen later deleted the tweet following criticism from Indians and non-Indians alike (including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg).[59][60][61] Facebook spent millions advertising Free Basics to the Indian public.[62] The project failed due to violations, setting preferential tariffs in accessing content and setting up a "walled garden" on the internet.[63][64]

Conflict of interest

In April 2016, Facebook shareholders filed a class action lawsuit to block Zuckerberg's plan to create a new class of non-voting shares. The lawsuit alleges Andreessen secretly coached Zuckerberg through a process to win board approval for the stock change, while Andreessen served as an independent board member representing stockholders.[65]

According to court documents, Andreessen shared information with Zuckerberg about their progress and concerns and helped Zuckerberg negotiate against shareholders. Court documents included transcripts of private texts between Zuckerberg and Andreessen.[66]

Personal life

Andreessen married Laura Arrillaga in 2006.[67] She is the founder of the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund and daughter of Silicon Valley real estate billionaire John Arrillaga. They have one son together.

In 2009, Andreessen issued a $25,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the 1987 unsolved murder of Barbara Blackstone, a teacher from New Lisbon High School in Wisconsin, where he had attended. At this time the case remains unsolved.

In 2021, he and his wife bought a property in Malibu for $177 million from Serge and Florence Azria. This was the highest price paid for a California property at that time.[68] As of February 2023, his net-worth is estimated at $1.7 billion by Forbes.[69]

In 2022, Andreessen advocated against the construction of 131 multifamily housing units in their affluent Atherton, California town.[70] In a letter, Andreessen and his wife wrote that they opposed permitting more than one house on a single acre of land.[71] Andreessen's comments sparked criticisms of hypocrisy, as he had previously argued for increased housing supply, in particular in California.[71][70]

Politics

In 2012, Andreessen expressed some support for Republican candidate Mitt Romney.[72] During the 2016 primary season, he endorsed Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, but after Fiorina dropped out of the race, Andreessen switched his endorsement to the Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, citing the Republican nominee Donald Trump's immigration stance.[73][74]

In July 2024, Andreessen announced he will donate to Super PACs that support Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[75]

Accolades

Andreessen was one of six inductees in the

World Wide Web Hall of Fame announced at the First International Conference on the World-Wide Web in 1994.[76][77] In March 2022, he was appointed to the Homeland Security Advisory Council by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.[78]

References

  1. ^ Tad Friend (May 18, 2015). "TOMORROW'S ADVANCE MAN – Marc Andreessen's plan to win the future".
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4042-0719-6
    .
  3. ISBN 9781404207196. Retrieved July 9, 2013 – via Google Books
    .
  4. ^ "MARC L. ANDREESSEN". ENGINEERING AT ILLINOIS. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  5. ^ Alexia Tsotsis (January 28, 2013). "Marc Andreessen On The Future Of Enterprise". TechCrunch.
  6. ISSN 1059-1028
    . Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  7. ^ Roads and Crossroads of Internet History Chapter 4: Birth of the Web
  8. ^ Appearances on C-SPAN
  9. ^ "Marc Andreessen". Centre for Computing History. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  10. ^ "Netscape's Marc Andreessen". Time. February 19, 1996. Archived from the original on February 17, 2005.
  11. Businessweek. Archived from the original
    on January 22, 2000.
  12. ^ Alan Levenson (photo credit) (April 13, 1998). "04/13/19 Cover Story". Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 4, 1999. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
  13. ^ "AOL Names Andreessen CTO". WIRED. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  14. ^ "1999 Young Innovators Under 35: Marc Andreessen, 28". MIT Technology Review. 1999. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  15. ^ Venkat, Girish. "Loudcloud: Early light on cloud computing". Business Tech News. CNET. Archived from the original on March 30, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  16. ^ Martens, China. "HP Buying Opsware in $1.6 Billion Deal". PC World. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  17. ^ a b Wong Kromhout, Wileen. "Ben Horowitz MS '90". Alumni Profiles. UCLA Engineering. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  18. ^ Maney, Kevin (July 6, 2009). "Marc Andreessen puts his money where his mouth is". Fortune Magazine. CNNMoney. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  19. ^ Tam, Pui-Wing (February 1, 2012). "Andreessen's Firm Raises $1.5 Billion". Technology. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  20. ^ Tam, Pui-Wing (April 6, 2011). "Andreessen Horowitz Raises $200 Million Co-Investment Fund". Technology. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  21. ^ "Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners Invest $11.2 Million in Meteor". News Release. MarketWatch. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  22. ^ Wauters, Robin (November 19, 2009). "Breaking: eBay Completes Skype Sale At $2.75 Billion Valuation". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  23. ^ a b Ovide, Shira (May 10, 2011). "Microsoft-Skype Deal: Andreessen Horowitz Takes Victory Lap". Deal Journal. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  24. ^ Kara Swisher. "Series Seed Documents–With an Assist From Andreessen Horowitz–To Help Entrepreneurs With Legal Hairballs". allthingsd.com. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  25. ^ "Marc Andreessen Joins EBay Board". WIRED. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  26. ^ Mac, Ryan. "Marc Andreessen Resigns From eBay Board Following Icahn Defeat". Forbes. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  27. ^ "Disrupting the disrupters". Technology Quarterly: Q3 2011. The Economist. September 3, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  28. ^ "The 2011 New Establishment List: And the Top Spot Goes to..." VF Daily. Vanity Fair. September 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  29. ^ "Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz". 12 of the most influential tech investors of 2011. CNET. Archived from the original on February 8, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  30. ^ "2012's Top Tech Investors". The Midas List. Forbes. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  31. ^ McBride, Sarah (April 25, 2012). "Andreessen Horowitz partners pledge income to charity". Reuters. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  32. ^ McCracken, Harry (April 18, 2012). "The 100 Most Influential People in the World". Time. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  33. ^ a b Andreessen, Marc (August 20, 2011). "Why Software is Eating the World". Life & Culture. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  34. ^ Singh, Tarry. "Software Ate The World, Now AI Is Eating Software". Forbes.
  35. ^ "Software is still eating the world". June 7, 2016.
  36. ISSN 0099-9660
    . Retrieved June 19, 2021.
  37. ^ "2013 Winners Announced" Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering
  38. ^ "IT'S TIME TO BUILD". Andreessen Horowitz. April 18, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  39. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  40. ^ Andreessen, Marc (October 16, 2023). "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto". Andreessen Horowitz. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  41. ^ Zuckerman, Ethan (January 16, 2024). "Two warring visions of AI". Prospect. Archived from the original on July 1, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  42. ^ Andreessen, Marc. "Merging Glam and Ning". Marc Andreessen's Blog. Marc Andreessen. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  43. ^ Rosoff, Matt. "Glam Media Buys Marc Andreessen's Ning". Articles. Business Insider. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  44. ^ Yarow, Jay. "Eric Schmidt, Sean Parker, Marc Andreessen Invest in Boutique Bank Raine". Investment. Business Insider. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  45. ^ Dan Frommer. "Marc Andreessen Joins Facebook Board". Alleyinsider.com. Retrieved October 5, 2008.
  46. ^ "Marc L. Andreessen". Executive Profile. Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  47. ^ "Silicon Valley Couple Pledge $27.5 Million Gift to Stanford Hospital for Cutting-Edge Emergency Care". News Release. Stanford Hospital & Clinics. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  48. AOL Tech
    . Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  49. ^ Chris Velazco (December 12, 2013). "Oculus VR Raises $75 Million To Help Bring Virtual Reality Goggles To The Masses". TechCrunch.
  50. ^ "OpenGov Picks Up $25 Million More And Adds Marc Andreessen To The Board". TechCrunch. October 15, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  51. ^ "TinyCo Raises $18 Million From Andreessen Horowitz For Mobile Gaming". TechCrunch. February 25, 2011.
  52. ^ "Form 8-K Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company". www.sec.gov. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  53. ^ Cox, Rob (November 21, 2012). "HP Board Member Marc Andreessen, an Internet Pioneer, Deserves Some of the Blame for the Company's Failures". The Daily Beast. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  54. ^ "HP's Board Was Such A Dysfunctional Mess That It Hired Leo Apotheker Without Really Interviewing Him". Business Insider. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  55. ^ Constine, Josh (November 2016). "Marc Andreessen joins board of Dialpad, the desk phone killer". TechCrunch.
  56. ^ Dylan Love (January 21, 2014). "Marc Andreessen Has A Great Answer For Why Bitcoin Matters". businessinsider.com.
  57. ^ "Top tech execs will help Saudi Arabia build its mega city of the future". CNN. October 11, 2018.
  58. ^ "Some Silicon Valley Superstars Ditch Saudi Advisory Board After Khashoggi Disappearance, Some Stay Silent". The Intercept. October 12, 2018.
  59. ^ "Net Neutrality: Indians fume over offensive tweet by Facebook board member". Deccan Chronicle. February 10, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  60. The Next Web
    . Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  61. Facebook.com. Archived from the original
     on February 26, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  62. ^ Bhatia, Rahul (May 12, 2016). "The inside story of Facebook's biggest setback". The Guardian. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  63. ^ Wadhwa, Vivek (February 8, 2016). "Free Basics And Facebook's Waterloo In India". TechCrunch. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  64. ^ Gilbert, David (December 23, 2015). "Facebook's Free Basics Service Shut Down In India". International Business Times. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  65. ^ Heath, Alex (December 13, 2016). "Here are the chummy behind-the-scenes text messages between Mark Zuckerberg and Marc Andreessen that surfaced in a Facebook lawsuit". Business Insider. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  66. ^ Chang, Lulu (December 9, 2016). "Marc Andreessen accused of conflict of interest based on private texts to Zuckerberg". Digital Trends. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  67. ^ Quinn, Michelle (August 15, 2007). "Andreessen Casts a Wide Net". Los Angeles Times.
  68. ^ Solomont, E.B. (October 29, 2021). "Marc Andreessen Is the Buyer of Serge Azria's Malibu Home". The Wall Street Journal.
  69. ^ "Marc Andreessen". Forbes. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  70. ^ a b Demsas, Jerusalem (August 5, 2022). "The Billionaire's Dilemma". The Atlantic. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  71. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  72. ^ Boorstin, Julia (July 17, 2012). "Marc Andreessen Talks Facebook, Romney and Yahoo". CNBC.
  73. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn (June 14, 2016). "Asked why he supports Clinton over Trump, Marc Andreessen responds: 'Is that a serious question?'". Recode.
  74. ^ Weinberger, Matt (June 15, 2016). "Marc Andreessen on why he's supporting Clinton over Trump: 'Is that a serious question?'". Business Insider. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
  75. ^ Field, Hayden; Cnbc • • (July 16, 2024). "Andreessen Horowitz founders plan to donate to pro-Trump super PAC". NBC New York. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
  76. ^ Robert Cailliau (May 1994). "WWW94 Awards". CERN. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2011.
  77. ^ Friend, Tad (May 18, 2015). "Tomorrow's advance man : Marc Andreessen's plan to win the future". Letter from California. The New Yorker. Vol. 91, no. 13. pp. 58–73. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
  78. ^ "Marc Andreessen". DHS. March 2022. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marc_Andreessen&oldid=1248524110"