Peter Currie (businessman)

Last updated
Peter L. S. Currie
Born1956 (age 66–67)
Nationality American
Alma mater Williams BA Econ/French
Stanford MBA 1982
OccupationBusiness executive

Peter L. S. Currie (born 1956) is an American business executive who was the chief financial officer for Netscape from 1995 to 1999. [1] [2] Currie has been described by Wall Street Journal reporter Jessica Vascellaro as one of the "Silicon Valley wise men". [3] He was among the advisors to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about business matters in 2009. [4] He is an investor in Internet start-ups and serves on the boards of numerous firms. [5] He is president of Currie Capital and was a charter trustee of Phillips Academy; [6] from July 2012 to June 2020, he served as the president of the school's board of trustees. [7] [8] [9]

Contents

Education and career

Currie graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover in 1974 [6] and earned a B.A. degree from Williams College in 1978 and an M.B.A. degree from Stanford University. [6] He worked in various capacities at Morgan Stanley including holding the title of Principal from 1982 to 1989. [6] He held various management positions at McCaw Cellular from 1989 to 1995 before joining Netscape. [6]

Netscape rise and fall

Netscape was a key player that "fueled the Internet revolution," according to a report in "The New York Times," and Currie was an executive vice president who worked under its CEO James L. Barksdale and founder Marc Andreessen. [10] [11] Netscape developed the Secure Sockets Layer Protocol or SSL for securing online communication which is still widely used as well as JavaScript. Currie became its chief financial officer in 1995 [6] when the company went public. [12] He was Chief Administrative Officer at Netscape from July 1997 until March 1999. [6] In addition to financial management, Currie was responsible for human resources, information technology, facilities, and operations departments. [6]

Currie owned at least 37,500 shares of stock in Netscape which he sold in 1996, according to one report. [13] Netscape was valued at $5 billion in November 1995. [14] In 1999, Netscape was bought by America Online and became a holding company. [6]

Netscape was seen as the first Internet superstar which had a meteoric rise but the firm was undone by numerous forces including well-established software firms such as Microsoft. In a conference in 2005, Currie described how "hectic and crazy things were" during the tumultuous years in the mid 1990s. [15]

Other ventures

In 1999, Currie and Barksdale and others formed a venture capital firm called Barksdale Group to invest in business start-ups, and raised at least $180 million according to one report. [16] As an investor and consultant, he focused on the enterprise software sector of the business. [6] Currie invested in an Internet start-up called Flipboard in 2010. [5] Currie claims affiliations with Corsair Communications, Critical Path, Inkling, Listen.com, Kodak Imaging Network, Kontiki, IPVALUE Management, Oracle America, Tellme Networks, Zantaz, InfoSpace.com, Clearwire, CNET, Safeco, and Palamon Capital Partners. [6] He serves on the board of directors for oilfield services giant Schlumberger. [17] [18] In 2016, Twitter released Currie from its board. [19]

Currie's advice was sought by Facebook co-founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg in 2010. [3]

Related Research Articles

Netscape Communications Corporation was an American independent computer services company with headquarters in Mountain View, California, and then Dulles, Virginia. Its Netscape web browser was once dominant but lost to Internet Explorer and other competitors in the so-called first browser war, with its market share falling from more than 90 percent in the mid-1990s to less than one percent in 2006. An early Netscape employee Brendan Eich created the JavaScript programming language, the most widely used language for client-side scripting of web pages and a founding engineer of Netscape Lou Montulli created HTTP cookies. The company also developed SSL which was used for securing online communications before its successor TLS took over.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard C. Blum</span> American investor (1935–2022)

Richard Charles Blum was an American investor and the husband of United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. He was the chairman and president of Blum Capital, an equity investment management firm. Blum was on the boards of directors of several companies, including CB Richard Ellis, where until May 2009 he served as the chairman of that board. He was a regent of the University of California from 2002 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Andreessen</span> American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer

Marc Lowell Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and software engineer. He is the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely used web browser with a graphical user interface; co-founder of Netscape; and co-founder and general partner of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He co-founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard. Andreessen is also a co-founder of Ning, a company that provides a platform for social networking websites. He sits on the board of directors of Meta Platforms. 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. As of February 2023, his net-worth is estimated at $1.7 billion by Forbes.

James Love Barksdale is an American executive who served as the president and CEO of Netscape from January 1995 until the company merged with AOL in March 1999.

Video for Windows was a suite of video-playing and editing software introduced by Microsoft in 1992. A runtime version for viewing videos only was made available as a free add-on to Windows 3.1, which then became an integral component of Windows 95. Video for Windows was mostly replaced by the July 1996 release of ActiveMovie, later known as DirectShow. Apple filed a lawsuit in 1994 alleging theft of several thousand lines of QuickTime source code to improve the software. The case was settled in 1997, when Apple agreed to make Internet Explorer the default browser over Netscape, and in exchange, Microsoft agreed to continue developing Microsoft Office and other software for Mac OS for the next 5 years, and purchase $150 million of non-voting Apple stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Parker</span> American entrepreneur and philanthropist

Sean Parker is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the file-sharing computer service Napster, and serving as the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also co-founded Plaxo, Causes, Airtime.com, and Brigade, an online platform for civic engagement. He is the founder and chairman of the Parker Foundation, which focuses on life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement. On the Forbes 2022 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked No. 1,096 with a net worth of US$2.8 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Zuckerberg</span> American internet entrepreneur and business magnate (born 1984)

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer, business magnate, internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms, of which he is the executive chairman, chief executive officer, and controlling shareholder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco General Hospital</span> Hospital in California, United States

The Priscilla Chan and MarkZuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG) is a public hospital in San Francisco, California, under the purview of the city's Department of Public Health. It serves as the only Level I trauma center for the 1.5 million residents of San Francisco and northern San Mateo County. It is the largest acute inpatient and rehabilitation hospital for psychiatric patients in the city. Additionally, it is the only acute hospital in San Francisco that provides 24-hour psychiatric emergency services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Hambrecht</span> American investment banker

William R. Hambrecht is an American investment banker and chairman of WR Hambrecht + Co which he founded in 1998. He helped persuade Google to use an Internet-based auction for their initial public offering (IPO) in 2004, instead of a more traditional method using banks and other financial companies to find buyers. He is credited with popularizing this "OpenIPO" model, using Dutch auctions to allow anyone, not just investing insiders, to buy stock in an IPO, potentially raising more money for startups. Some of the companies he has helped have an IPO like this include Overstock.com, Ravenswood Winery, Andover.net and Salon.com.

Gideon Lee Yu is a Korean-American technology, media and sports investor, executive and advisor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Cohler</span> American venture capitalist

Matt Cohler is an American venture capitalist. He worked as Vice President of Product Management for Facebook until June 2008 and was formerly a general partner at Benchmark. Cohler has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors and in 2019 was named to the New York Times and CB Insights list of top 10 venture capital investors. Cohler made the Forbes 'America's 40 Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40' list in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eduardo Saverin</span> Co-founder and ex-CFO of Facebook

Eduardo Luiz Saverin is a Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur and angel investor based in Singapore. Saverin is one of the co-founders of Facebook. In 2012, he owned 53 million Facebook shares, valued at approximately $2 billion at the time. He also invested in early-stage startups such as Qwiki and Jumio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Breyer</span> American venture capitalist (born 1961)

James W. Breyer is an American venture capitalist, founder and chief executive officer of Breyer Capital, an investment and venture philanthropy firm, and a former managing partner at Accel Partners, a venture capital firm. Breyer has invested in over 40 companies that have gone public or completed a merger, with some of these investments, including Facebook, earning over 100 times cost and many others over 25 times cost. On the Forbes 2021 list of the 400 richest Americans, he was ranked #389, with a net worth of US$2.9 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Kelly (entrepreneur)</span>

Christopher Michael Kelly is an American entrepreneur, attorney, and activist. From September 2005 to August 2009, he served as Chief Privacy Officer, first General Counsel, and Head of Global Public Policy at Facebook. As an early leader at Facebook, he helped shape it into one of the most successful businesses in history. In 2010, Kelly was a candidate in the Democratic primary for California Attorney General. Since his departure from Facebook and campaign for Attorney General, he has become an investor in films, restaurants, and technology start-ups. Kelly became a co-owner of the NBA's Sacramento Kings in May 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Facebook</span>

Facebook is a social networking service originally launched as FaceMash on October 28, 2003, before changing its name to TheFacebook on February 4, 2004. It was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and college roommates and fellow Harvard University students, in particular Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and gradually most universities in the United States and Canada, corporations, and by September 2006, to everyone with a valid email address along with an age requirement of being 13 and older.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike McCue</span> American businessman

Mike McCue is an American technology entrepreneur who founded or co-founded Paper Software, Tellme Networks, and Flipboard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Rimer</span>

Danny Rimer OBE is a partner at Index Ventures, a global venture capital firm founded in Geneva in 1992. Rimer opened the firm's London office in 2002 and its San Francisco office in 2012. He has become a leading voice on venture capital in Silicon Valley and Europe, and has been actively involved in various philanthropic and cultural activities.

The technology company Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering (IPO) on Friday, May 18, 2012. The IPO was one of the biggest in technology and Internet history, with a peak market capitalization of over $104 billion.

A bug bounty program is a deal offered by many websites, organizations and software developers by which individuals can receive recognition and compensation for reporting bugs, especially those pertaining to security exploits and vulnerabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priscilla Chan</span> American pediatrician and philanthropist

Priscilla Chan is an American philanthropist and a former pediatrician. She and her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder and CEO of Meta Platforms, established the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in December 2015, with a pledge to transfer 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then valued at $45 billion. She attended Harvard University and received her medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco.

References

  1. ↑ Michelle Quinn (June 24, 1995). "Netscape Will Go Public With Stock Sale in August". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  2. ↑ New York Times (April 29, 1999). "Microsoft Lawyer Suggests Netscape-AOL Conspiracy". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  3. 1 2 JESSICA E. VASCELLARO (March 3, 2010). "Facebook CEO in No Rush To 'Friend' Wall Street". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  4. ↑ "Yu, Zuckerberg and the Facebook fallout". Reuters. Apr 1, 2009. Archived from the original on April 3, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-14. In a back-to-the-future move, former Netscape CFO Peter Currie will be the key adviser to Facebook about financial matters,
  5. 1 2 "IPad App Flipboard Gives VCs 10.5M Reasons To Love It". Wall Street Journal. July 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Executive profile (2010). "Currie Capital LLC". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  7. ↑ Phillipian Staff (February 10, 2011). "Trustees Convene For Weekend Deliberations". The Philippian. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  8. ↑ "Currie '74 Elected to Succeed Tang as Board President July 2012". Phillips Academy. 15 February 2011. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "New members join Andover Board of Trustees". Phillips Academy. 19 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  10. ↑ Chronicle Staff Report (July 23, 1997). "Tandem Beats, Netscape Meets Street Estimates". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  11. ↑ STEVE LOHR (November 10, 1997). "Defying a Juggernaut; Netscape Maneuvers for Position in a Microsoft-Ruled World". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  12. ↑ Michelle Quinn (August 15, 1995). "ON TECHNOLOGY -- Netscape Suffers Market Madness". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  13. ↑ "Officials to Sell Netscape Stock". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 1, 1996. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  14. ↑ HERB GREENBERG (November 29, 1995). "BUSINESS INSIDER -- How Do You Spell Powerful Bull Market? N-E-T-S-C-A-P-E / Also, Novato High takes lead again in stock contest". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  15. ↑ Alan T. Saracevic (October 23, 2005). "Silicon Valley: It's where brains meet bucks". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  16. ↑ Chris Gaither and Alan Krauss (January 9, 2002). "Barksdale Closes Venture Fund". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
  17. ↑ "SCHLUMBERGER N.V. - DEF 14A". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  18. ↑ Alster, Norm (2017-01-13). "Rebuilding Infrastructure May Be Profitable for the Very Rich". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  19. ↑ "DEF 14A". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.