Cameron Howard Winklevoss (born August 21, 1981) is an American rower and
entrepreneurAn entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner
Tyler WinklevossTyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss...
. Cameron and his brother are known for co-founding HarvardConnection (later re-named
ConnectUConnectU was a social networking website launched on May 21, 2004 that was founded by Harvard students Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra in December 2002. Users could add people as friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about...
) along with Harvard classmate
Divya NarendraDivya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
. In 2004, the Winklevoss brothers sued
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
founder
Mark ZuckerbergMark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president...
for $140 million, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create the popular social networking site. In addition to ConnectU, Winklevoss also co-founded the social media website GuestofaGuest with
Rachelle HruskaRachelle J. Hruska is an American new media entrepreneur. After graduating from Creighton University in 2005, she moved to New York City where she worked in finance for 2.5 years, before co-founding GuestofaGuest.com, a new media website in May, 2007...
.
Early life and education
Cameron Winklevoss was born in
Southampton, New YorkThe Town of Southampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, U.S., partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town had a total population of 54,712...
, and raised in
Greenwich, ConnecticutGreenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 61,171. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in Connecticut and is 38+ minutes ...
. His father,
Howard E. WinklevossHoward E. Winklevoss is an actuary. He is an academician and entrepreneur who has a practice in benefits management.Winklevoss is a former professor of actuarial science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate of Grove City College. He has written more than 20 books,...
, was a professor of
actuarial scienceActuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuaries are professionals who are qualified in this field through education and experience...
at the
Wharton School of the University of PennsylvaniaThe Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
, and is the author of
Pension mathematics with numerical illustrations, and founder of
Winklevoss Consultants and
Winklevoss Technologies. Cameron began playing
classical pianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
at 6 years of age, which he studied for 12 years. At an early age, he (
left-handedLeft-handedness is the preference for the left hand over the right for everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times it was seen as a sign of the devil, and was abhorred in many cultures...
) and his identical "mirror-image" twin brother
TylerTyler Howard Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner Cameron Winklevoss...
(right-handed) demonstrated a pattern of teamwork, building
LegoLego is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts...
together and playing musical instruments. At the age of 13, they taught themselves
HTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
and started a web-page company, which developed websites for businesses.
Winklevoss went to the
Greenwich Country Day SchoolThe Greenwich Country Day School is a co-educational, independent day school in Greenwich, Connecticut, founded in 1926. As of 2005, it has some 840 students from nursery to the 9th grade level....
before attending the Brunswick School for high school. He showed a fondness for the classics in high school, studying
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and
Ancient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
. During his junior year, he co-founded the crew program with Tyler. He enrolled at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 2000 for his undergraduate studies where he majored in
economicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, earning an A.B. and graduating in 2004. At Harvard, he was a member of the men's varsity crew team, the
Porcellian ClubThe Porcellian Club is a men's-only final club at Harvard University, sometimes called the Porc or the P.C. The year of founding is usually given as 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts," or as 1794, the year of the roast pig dinner at which the club, known first as "the...
and the
Hasty Pudding ClubThe Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting...
.
In 2009, Winklevoss entered the
Said Business SchoolSaïd Business School is the business school of the University of Oxford in England, located on the north side of Frideswide Square on the former site of Oxford Rewley Road railway station. It is the University's centre of learning for graduate and undergraduate students in business, management...
at the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
to study for a
Master of Business AdministrationThe Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
. While at Oxford, he was a member of
Christ ChurchChrist Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, an Oxford Blue, and rowed in the
Blue BoatThe Blue Boat is the highest level boat representing the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge in the Universities' annual rowing clash on the River Thames: The Boat Race...
in the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
ConnectU
In December 2002, Winklevoss, along with his brother and with classmate
Divya NarendraDivya Narendra is an American businessman. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of SumZero. He also co-founded HarvardConnection with Harvard classmates Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss....
, wanted a better way to connect with fellow students at Harvard University and other universities. As a result, the three conceived of a
social networkA social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
for Harvard students named HarvardConnection, which was to expand to other schools around the country. In January 2003, they enlisted the help of fellow Harvard student,
programmerA programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
, and friend Sanjay Mavinkurve to begin building HarvardConnection. Mavinkurve began work on HarvardConnection but left the project in the spring of 2003 when he graduated and went to work for
GoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
.
After the departure of Mavinkurve, the Winklevosses and Narendra approached Narendra’s friend, Harvard student and programmer Victor Gao to work on HarvardConnection. Gao, a senior in Mather House, had opted not to become a full partner in the venture, instead agreeing to be paid in a
work for hireA work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...
capacity on a rolling basis. He was paid $400 for his work on the website code during the summer and fall of 2003; however, he excused himself thereafter due to personal obligations.
Facebook lawsuits
In 2004, ConnectU filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that creator Mark Zuckerberg had broken an oral contract with them. The suit alleged that Zuckerberg had copied their idea and illegally used
source codeIn computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
intended for the website he was hired to create. Facebook countersued in regards to Social Butterfly, a project put out by The Winklevoss Chang Group, an alleged partnership between ConnectU and i2hub, another campus service. It named among the defendants ConnectU, Cameron Winklevoss, Tyler Winklevoss, Divya Narendra, and
Wayne ChangWayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...
, founder of i2hub. A settlement agreement for both cases was reached in February 2008, reportedly valued at $65 million. However, in May 2010, it was reported that ConnectU is accusing Facebook of securities fraud on the value of the stock that was part of the settlement and wants to get the settlement undone. According to ConnectU's allegations, the value of the stock was worth $11 million instead of $45 million that Facebook presented at the time of settlement. This meant the settlement value, at the time, was $31 million, instead of the $65 million. On August 26, 2010,
The New York Times reported that Facebook shares were trading at $76 per share in the secondary market, putting the total settlement value at close to $120 million. If the lawsuit to adjust the settlement to match the difference goes through, the value will quadruple to over $466 million. According to Steven M. Davidoff, "Facebook never represented its valuation in this negotiation, and so there is no prior statement that the company needs to correct."
After defeat at the appellate court level, the Winklevoss twins decided to petition the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
to hear the case, but in June 2011 announced that they had changed their minds.
Quinn Emanuel lawsuits
One of ConnectU's law firms, Quinn Emanuel, inadvertently disclosed the confidential settlement amount in marketing material by printing "WON $65 million settlement against Facebook". Quinn Emanuel is seeking $13 million of the settlement. ConnectU fired Quinn Emanuel and sued the law firm for malpractice. On August 25, 2010, an arbitration panel ruled that Quinn Emanuel "earned its full contingency fee". It also found that Quinn Emanuel committed no malpractice.
The Winklevoss Chang Group lawsuit
On December 21, 2009, i2hub founder
Wayne ChangWayne Chang is an American entrepreneur and computer programmer. He is best known for creating i2hub, a peer-to-peer filesharing network.-Personal life:...
and The i2hub Organization launched a lawsuit against ConnectU and its founders, seeking 50% of the settlement. The complaint says, "The Winklevosses and Howard Winklevoss filed [a] patent application, U.S. Patent Application No 20060212395, on or around March 15, 2005, but did not list Chang as a co-inventor." It also states, "Through this litigation, Chang asserts his ownership interest in The Winklevoss Chang Group and ConnectU, including the settlement proceeds." Lee Gesmer of the firm Gesmer Updegrove posted the detailed 33-page complaint online.
On May 13, 2011, it was reported that Judge Peter Lauriat made a ruling against the Winklevosses. Chang's case against them could proceed. The Winklevosses had argued that the court lacks jurisdiction because the settlement with Facebook has not been distributed and therefore Chang hasn't suffered any injury. Judge Lauriat wrote, "The flaw in this argument is that defendants appear to conflate loss of the settlement proceed with loss of rights. Chang alleges that he has received nothing in return for the substantial benefits he provided to ConnectU, including the value of his work, as well as i2hub's users and goodwill." Lauriat also wrote that, although Chang's claims to the settlement are "too speculative to confer standing, his claims with respect to an ownership in ConnectU are not. They constitute an injury separate and distinct from his possible share of the settlement proceeds. The court concludes that Chang has pled sufficient facts to confer standing with respect to his claims against the Winklevoss defendants."
Regatta Riverview lawsuit
In May 2005, the Winklevoss twins were evicted from an apartment in the Regatta Riverview complex in Cambridge over failure to pay rent, repeated complaints of noisy parties, and over the arrest of Cameron for smashing plates, drawers, and a door with a hammer in a 5AM fit of drunken rage at his brother. The twins retaliated by registering false domain names such as regattaboston.org and regattaboston.net, posting defamatory information, and buying ads from Google to direct traffic to these fabricated sites. The Regatta Riverview filed suit in July 2005, and the twins settled for undisclosed terms within two days.
Guest of a Guest
Cameron is now the publisher of online site Guest of a Guest, a web log that focuses on parties and nightlife in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and The Hamptons.
Rowing
Winklevoss began rowing at the age of 15, encouraged by family friends and the example of next-door neighbor Ethan Ayer who rowed at Harvard University and Cambridge University. He began rowing at the Saugatuck Rowing Club on the
Saugatuck RiverThe Saugatuck River is a river in southwestern Connecticut in the United States. It drains part of suburban and rural Fairfield County west of Bridgeport, emptying into Long Island Sound.-Description:...
in 1997. His first coach was Irishman James Mangan who coached him and his brother throughout high school. Winklevoss' high school did not have a crew team; in his junior year, he and his brother co-founded the crew program at their high school. In the summer of 1999, he made the United States Junior National Rowing Team, competing in the
coxed pairA coxed pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat with sweep oars and is steered by a coxswain....
event with his brother at the
Junior World Rowing ChampionshipsThe World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA . A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31st December of the year in which he reaches the age of 18. After that date, he shall be classified as an Under 23 rower...
in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Cameron's rowing discipline is
sweep rowingSweep or sweep-oar rowing is a type of rowing when a rower has one oar, usually held with both hands. As each rower has only one oar, the rowers have to be paired so that there is an oar on each side of the boat. This is in contrast to sculling when a rower has two oars, one in each hand. In the...
.
Harvard
Winklevoss rowed at Harvard University for four years under legendary coach Harry Parker, while completing his undergraduate studies. In 2004, he sat 6-seat in the "engine room" of the Harvard men's varsity heavyweight
eight boatAn Eight is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or cox....
. The 2004 crew was nicknamed the "God Squad" because, according to his brother, some of them believed in God while the rest believed they
were God. As a
Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I intercollegiate varsity sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country...
in 2004, he helped the "God Squad" win the
Eastern SprintsEastern Sprints refers to the annual rowing championship for the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges . Since 1974, the "Women's Eastern Sprints" has been held as the annual championship for the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges league.*For the women's regatta, see Women's Eastern...
, the
Intercollegiate Rowing AssociationThe Intercollegiate Rowing Association runs the IRA Championship Regatta, which is considered to be the United States collegiate national championship of rowing. Since 1995, it has been held on the Cooper River in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and includes both men's and women's events for sweep boats...
Championship, and the
Harvard-Yale RegattaThe Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard–Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The...
as part of an undefeated collegiate racing season.
In the summer of 2004, Winklevoss and the "God Squad" traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland, to compete in the Lucerne
Rowing World CupThe World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA . It first began in 1997 and comprises three regattas held throughout early summer. In each event points are awarded to the top seven finishing boats and an overall winner determined after the last world cup regatta...
. They defeated the 2004
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and
FrenchThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
OlympicThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
eight boats in the semi-final to earn a spot in the grand final, in which they placed 6th. The team then traveled to the
Henley Royal RegattaHenley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
where they competed in the
Grand Challenge CupThe Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing competition for men's eights. It is the oldest and most prestigious event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing clubs...
. Winklevoss helped his team defeat the Cambridge University Blue Boat in the semi-final before they fell to the
DutchThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Olympic eight boat team (of the
Hollandia Roeiclub) in the final by
of a boat length. The Dutch team went on to win the Olympic
silver medalA silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
at the
Athens Olympic GamesThe 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
a month later.
2007 Pan American Games
In 2007, Winklevoss was named to the United States Pan American Team and competed at the
2007 Pan American GamesThe 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in...
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He won a silver medal in the men's
coxless fourA coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...
event and a
gold medalA gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
in the men's eight event on the
Lagoa Rodrigo de FreitasLagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, mostly known as "Lagoa", is a lagoon and district in the Lagoa, Zona Sul of Rio de Janeiro. The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic, allowing sea water to enter, by a canal which is bordered by the park locally known as Jardim de Alá.The lagoon is surrounded by the...
.
2008 Olympic Games
In 2008, Winklevoss was named to the United States Olympic Team and competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. He rowed with his brother in the men's
coxless pairA Coxless pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each having one oar, one on the stroke side and one on the bow side...
event which took place at the
Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing ParkThe Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park is the new, purpose-built venue for the rowing, canoeing and 10 km open-water swimming events in the 2008 Summer Olympics. It is located in Mapo Village in the Shunyi District in Beijing....
. The brothers were coached by the renowned
Ted NashTheodore "Ted" Allison Nash is an American competition rower and Olympic champion, rowing coach, and sports administrator...
. In their first heat, they failed to finish in the top three and did not qualify for the Semifinals. In the Repechage (a last chance to make the Semifinals), they took first, advancing them to the Semifinals. A strong finish in Semifinal 2 put them in the Final. They ended up finishing sixth out of the fourteen countries which had qualified for the Olympics.
2009 World Cup
In 2009, Winklevoss won a bronze medal at the
Rowing World CupThe World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA . It first began in 1997 and comprises three regattas held throughout early summer. In each event points are awarded to the top seven finishing boats and an overall winner determined after the last world cup regatta...
in Lucerne, Switzerland in the men's
coxless fourA coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars.The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on the stroke side and two on the bow side...
event.
Popular culture
Cameron and his brother Tyler are both played by actor
Armie HammerArmand Douglas "Armie" Hammer is an American actor. After appearing on television and playing the title role in 2008's Billy: The Early Years, he became known for his portrayal of the Winklevoss twins in the 2010 film The Social Network, and Clyde Tolson in J. Edgar...
in
The Social NetworkThe Social Network is a 2010 American drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires, the film portrays the founding of social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits...
(2010), a film directed by
David FincherDavid Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...
about the founding of
FacebookFacebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. Actor Josh Pence was the body double for Tyler with Hammer's face superimposed. The twins are popularly referred to collectively as "the Winklevii."
External links
- The Daily Truffle | Winklevoss Twins Come face to face with Josh Pence & Armie Hammer who play them in The Social Network