Category:
Richest Business › CEOs
Net Worth:
$2 Billion
Birthdate:
Jul 9, 1971 (53 years old)
Birthplace:
Cedar Falls
Gender:
Male
Profession:
Programmer, Investor, Entrepreneur, Venture capitalist, Software Engineer
Nationality:
United States of America
Marc Andreessen is an entrepreneur, software engineer, and investor who has a net worth of $2 billion. Marc Andreessen co-authored Mosaic, the first widely used web browser. He became world famous and a multi-millionaire after co-founding Netscape. He also co-founded the software company Opsware as well as the social media network platform Ning.
In recent years Andreessen has found enormous success as a venture capitalist. He is a general partner of his own venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz. He sits on the board of directors of multiple companies including Facebook and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Marc Andreessen was born on July 9, 1971 in Cedar Falls, Iowa and was raised in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. His parents are Lowell and Patricia. For his higher education, Andreessen went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an undergraduate, he interned twice at IBM in Austin, Texas, working in the AIX graphics software development group. Andreessen also worked at the University of Illinois’ National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where he learned Tim Berners-Lee’s open standards for the web.
At NCSA, along with Eric Bina, Andreessen helped author the web browser Mosaic, which went on to become integral in popularizing the Internet for general use. Often considered the first graphical web browser, it was the first to display images inline with text. Andreessen graduated from UIUC in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.
Following his college graduation, Andreessen moved to California to work at Enterprise Integration Technologies. He subsequently met with Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark, who saw great potential in the Mosaic browser. Using $4.1 million in startup money from Clark, they launched an Internet software company that was initially called Mosaic Communications Corporation, with Andreessen serving as vice president of technology. Because the University of Illinois was unhappy with the company’s use of the name Mosaic, Andreessen and Clark changed the company name to Netscape Communications. They also changed the name of their flagship web browser to Netscape Navigator
On August 9, 1995, Netscape had what would prove to be an earth-shattering Initial Public Offering. The stock was initially priced at $14 a share. By the end of the day it was trading at $75 and had a market cap of $3 billion. A month later, the stock was trading at $115. At that level, the company was worth $4 billion and the $4.1 million investment Jim Clark made just 19 months earlier, was worth $1 billion. At that point, the 24-year-old Marc Andreessen’s 2.6 million shares were worth $287 million. Jim Barksdale, the CEO, owned 3.8 million shares which were worth $420 million. It has been estimated that over 100 Netscape employees, including the front desk secretary, became millionaires from the IPO.
Over the next few years, Netscape would face fierce and arguably illegal competition from Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser. During a period that is now called “the browser wars,” Microsoft soon began shipping its Windows operating system products with IE not only included by default, but pre-selected as the web browser, by default. Microsoft would soon be sued by the United States Department of Justice, which accused the company of abusing its monopoly powers in the personal computer operating system market. Microsoft was found GUILTY and was at one point ordered to be broken up into two companies. On appeal the judgment was mostly overturned and instead Microsoft agreed to increased oversight and limitations on various business practices.
In 1999, Netscape was purchased by AOL for $4.3 billion, though the overall value was $10 billion with other considerations and milestones. As a contingent piece of the acquisition, Andreessen was named AOL’s chief technology officer. That year, he was named one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review.
Later in 1999, following the acquisition of Netscape, Andreessen co-founded the software company Loudcloud with Tim Howes, Ben Horowitz, and In Sik Rhee. The company offered computing, software, and hosting services to consumer-facing Internet companies. In 2003, Loudcloud sold its hosting business to Electronic Data Systems and changed its name to Opsware; Andreessen served as the chairman. Later, in 2007, Opsware was bought by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion.
Between 2005 and 2009, Andreessen and his business partner Ben Horowitz had invested a total of $80 million in 45 startup ventures, including Twitter. The pair quickly became known as super angel investors. As a result, they founded their own private venture capital firm, called Andreessen Horowitz, in 2009. Located in Menlo Park, the firm makes investments in gaming, education, e-commerce, cloud computing, security, and social, among other areas.
Andreessen Horowitz started with an initial capitalization of $300 million; within three years, it grew to $2.7 billion. Its portfolio holdings include GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Foursquare. Additionally, the firm was part of an investor group that purchased a majority stake in Skype for $2.75 billion. The risky acquisition paid off in 2011, when Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion.
From 2008 to 2014, Andreessen sat on the board of directors of eBay. He resigned from the board due to eBay’s decision to break off its online payments with PayPal, which he adamantly opposed. Andreessen has gone on to serve on the boards of numerous other companies, including Facebook, Stanford Hospital, Oculur VR, OpenGov, and TinyCo. He is a personal investor in companies including LinkedIn and Raine. Andreessen also works as an advisor for the web and mobile application Asana, and serves on the advisory board for the planned megacity of Neom, Saudi Arabia.
Among his other endeavors, Andreessen was the co-founder and chairman of Ning, a social media network platform designed to help individuals and organizations create custom social networks around specific interests. In 2011, Ning was bought by Mode Media for around $150 million.
Andreessen has attracted criticism over the years for his ill-informed comments. In early 2016, he was criticized for a tweet in which he suggested that anti-colonialism has been harmful to India and its people. Shortly after, he drew controversy for his support of British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos, a rightwing political commentator known for his hateful, racist, and sexist views.
Also in 2016, Andreessen received backlash for a professional conflict of interest, in which he allegedly privately coached Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg through a process to win board approval for a stock change, all while Andreessen served as an independent board member representing stockholders. Facebook shareholders filed a class action lawsuit to block Zuckerberg from creating a new class of non-voting shares.
In 2006, Andreessen wed philanthropist Laura Arrillaga. Laura’s father is the late Silicon Valley real estate billionaire John Arrillaga, who also founded the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund. Together, they have a son named John.
In October 2021, Marc and Laura paid $177 million for an incredible 7-acre, clifftop property in Malibu. This purchase set the record for most-expensive home sale in California history. In 2021 they also paid $36 million for a vacant lot in the Las Vegas suburbs.
In March 2022 Marc and Lara paid $44.5 million for a second Malibu beach home. This home sits directly on the beach with 130 feet of ocean frontage on two parcels with a 7,000 square-foot mansion that has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms and parking that can accommodate 14 cars.
Up in Northern California Marc and Laura own a mansion in Atherton, California which they purchased for $16.6 million in 2007. They listed this home for sale in March 2024 for $33.375 million. Here is a video tour of their Atherton estate:
