Jeffrey Peterson
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Peterson is an American technology entrepreneur
and Arizona millionaire
who is considered the pioneer of Hispanic
Internet in the United States. Known for both technological and business savvy, he is best known as the founder of Quepasa, one of the most popular Latin America
n online communities.
, California
. The son of a British
Mother and an American father, his paternal ancestors emigrated to Santa Barbara from Spain
. Peterson was educated at public schools in the Santa Barbara
, California
area. According to an article published by the Arizona Republic, Peterson was raised next door to the director of the University of California, Santa Barbara
computer laboratory, who introduced him to computer programming
at an early age in 1978.
Remotely connecting to the UCSB
mainframe computer
s via terminal and modem
for hours on end, it was here that Peterson would spend the most significant hours of his early childhood. The young guru would quickly learn to author his own Unix
and VMS
based software applications on the campus PDP-11
and DEC VAX
systems. In the early years of computing, the largely technical science of systems programming was a pastime overrun by the likes of college professors and engineers. To fit in, Peterson reportedly maintained an identity for login
on the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory PDP-10
, where he was known by his peers as "Dr. Jeffrey Peterson", at the age of eleven.
In 1981, Peterson landed his first job, as a troubleshooter for a software company focused on Commodore
computers. In 1983, he worked as a product tester for vintage hardware manufacturer LOBO Systems. During the mid 1980s, Peterson focused on the development of software for freely distributed Bulletin Board System
and Multi-User Dungeon
gaming applications. He was known among his peers as an expert at implementing customized kernel-level multitasking
solutions, who regularly pushed early hardware beyond traditional limits. Peterson, already a seasoned Assembly
and C language
developer in his early teens, contributed heavily to the emerging F/OSS
programming communities of the 1980s. He has published numerous texts, including articles on multiprocessing
, Quasi-empirical method
s, and Artificial Intelligence
.
Peterson was ridiculed about his early programming years in a satirical article published by TheStreet.com in 2004. The article, which highlights Peterson's public biography as filed in a Quepasa Proxy statement
on April 23, 2004, asks the question: "are we supposed to believe that the guy was programming computers when he was 10 years old?" Nonetheless, Peterson is credited at this age as a contributor on the inside cover of a best selling microcomputer software book in 1983.
Well acquainted with the college scene from his earlier programming years, Peterson worked as a disc jockey
at UCSB
college radio station KCSB-FM from 1986 to 1990. During the late 1980s, Peterson held the position of "Traffic Manager" on the sixteen-member executive committee at college radio station KCSB-FM that gave both Jim Rome
and Sean Hannity
their first radio broadcasting jobs.
Peterson dropped out of high school in 1988 at age 16, to pursue what would become a successful career in Investments
. He continued postliminary study in the areas of Law
and History
.
, where he quickly learned about the stock market
. He would later pass the industry exams
, becoming a Stock Broker
at age nineteen. After working for several brokerage firms, he landed in the field of Investment Banking
, where he gained experience in Corporate Finance
. Peterson would go on to work with investment groups that financed hundreds of companies primarily through Initial Public Offering
transactions during the strong stock market
conditions of the early 1990s.
Internet
users. A year later, he successfully persuaded Arizona
sports mogul Jerry Colangelo
to help raise in excess of $20 million dollars of seed capital to launch the company. Phoenix Suns
star Jason Kidd
signed on as an investor. Former Denver Broncos
quarterback John Elway
joined in, investing $500,000.
Within months, Costa Rica
n President
Jose Maria Figueres
joined the Quepasa Board of Directors
. Peterson went on to sell a stake in the Spanish language website to Sony Pictures Entertainment
and Telemundo LLC
. CNBC Chief Business Commentator and former FDIC
Chairman L. William Seidman
joined Quepasa's Board of Directors
. After meeting with Peterson during an online interview at the offices of the Miami Herald, Gloria Estefan
signed on as Quepasa's official spokesperson and investor. Quepasa billboards, a frequent sight in Hispanic cities across the United States, encouraged Latino
s to join "El Mundo Nuevo" (the New World) online. Millions of them did.
On June 24 of 1999, Quepasa went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market
. By the end of the day, Quepasa
was worth $272 million. The proud young company founder was featured in live interviews on CNN
and CNBC
. At age 26, Peterson had seen his net worth rise by $36 million. http://www.hispanicmagazine.com/1999/julaug/CoverStory/
A year later, Quepasa was named the most popular online destination for U.S. Hispanic
s, ahead of competitors Starmedia
and Yahoo! Español.
In a lawsuit
filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, Peterson was accused of competing with Quepasa. The lawsuit was settled 90 days later, with Quepasa paying $2.4 million to Peterson. Trujillo would later concede that the problem was a "personality issue". http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=456
Peterson subsequently resigned from the Board of Directors
, still Quepasa's largest single shareholder. His exit from Quepasa would "leave the company in the hands of a chief executive officer and a board of directors inexperienced in both the Internet and the technology that ran it."
In 2002, Vayala was acquired by Quepasa
.
During this time, The Arizona Republic
ran a photo of Peterson on the front cover of the Sunday edition, in a three part feature about his career. The series ran Sep. 9 and 10, 2001, concluding on September 11, 2001
, the day of infamous attacks on the World Trade Center
.
. The Chicago Tribune wrote: "Even with Internet Winter blowing cold wind across the digital landscape, many experts were surprised to hear the death rattle of America's once super-successful Hispanic-centered Web operation, Quepasa.com."
Later that year, Peterson led a group of investors through a successful proxy fight
and hostile takeover
of Quepasa, reportedly investing millions of his own money. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1055407/000109230602000028/0001092306-02-000028.txt Shortly after the takeover, Peterson was again named Chairman and Chief Executive of Quepasa.
In January 2004, the Business Journal of Phoenix reported that Quepasa was "in the midst of a revival led by its creator, Jeffrey Peterson." http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2004/02/02/story2.html By 2006, Quepasa shares had increased in value by $150 million.
On November 5, 2006, Peterson again left the company, after selling 30% of Quepasa to then-multimillionaire investor Richard Scott, who would later become Governor-elect of Florida.
, has been involved in political circles. His political affiliations have often been related to Hispanic
interests.
In 2003, Peterson was appointed to the Arizona-Mexico Commission
by then-Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano
. By 2005, he had been appointed to the Executive Committee.
In 2005, Peterson was appointed to the Cross-Border transactions committee of the Arizona Department of Real Estate. The committee is focused on international Real Estate
transactions between residents of Arizona
and Mexico
.
In 2005, Peterson was appointed as the Chair of the Technology Subcommittee of the 2006 Executive Bond Committee, by Phoenix Mayor
Phil Gordon
. The $850 million bond initiative was approved by voters in March 2006.
Peterson financially supported the March 25, 2006 and April 10, 2006 reform marches by Immigrants
.
Peterson was a co-host at a June 1, 2006 fundraiser for Arizona Senatorial Candidate Jim Pederson
featuring ex-President Bill Clinton
.
It was reported that Peterson held a fundraiser at his residence for Barack Obama
featuring Democratic National Committee
Chairman Howard Dean
and actress Scarlett Johansson
on August 21, 2008.
According to Maricopa County, Arizona property records, Peterson's residence
is listed at the same address as Arizona Senator John McCain
.
as Quepasa's spokesperson and investor in 1999. Movie producer Paul Mazursky
was an investor in Peterson's startup, Vayala Corp. The co-founder of rock band Dishwalla
is listed as a member of the Board of Directors
in an early Quepasa Registration Statement. Peterson is a childhood friend of Rap Music
producer Damizza
. In September 2005, Quepasa announced a marketing deal with Jennifer Lopez
. Even Sammy Hagar
, who markets Mexican Tequila
, has been reported to forge ties with Quepasa.
industry advisory roles. Peterson serves on the Hispanic
committee of the Interactive Advertising Bureau
in New York
. According to his public biography, he acts as a technology consultant to the Government of Mexico
.
On July 20, 2009, Peterson sold the internet domain name
demand.com to Demand Media
Inc., a company controlled by former Myspace
Chairman Richard Rosenblatt
, according to multiple news reports.
Entrepreneur
An 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...
and Arizona millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
who is considered the pioneer of Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
Internet in the United States. Known for both technological and business savvy, he is best known as the founder of Quepasa, one of the most popular Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n online communities.
Early life
Peterson grew up in Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The son of a British
United Kingdom
The 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...
Mother and an American father, his paternal ancestors emigrated to Santa Barbara from Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Peterson was educated at public schools in the Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
area. According to an article published by the Arizona Republic, Peterson was raised next door to the director of the University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
computer laboratory, who introduced him to computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
at an early age in 1978.
Remotely connecting to the UCSB
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s via terminal and modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
for hours on end, it was here that Peterson would spend the most significant hours of his early childhood. The young guru would quickly learn to author his own Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
and VMS
OpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
based software applications on the campus PDP-11
PDP-11
The PDP-11 was a series of 16-bit minicomputers sold by Digital Equipment Corporation from 1970 into the 1990s, one of a succession of products in the PDP series. The PDP-11 replaced the PDP-8 in many real-time applications, although both product lines lived in parallel for more than 10 years...
and DEC VAX
VAX
VAX was an instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1970s. A 32-bit complex instruction set computer ISA, it was designed to extend or replace DEC's various Programmed Data Processor ISAs...
systems. In the early years of computing, the largely technical science of systems programming was a pastime overrun by the likes of college professors and engineers. To fit in, Peterson reportedly maintained an identity for login
Logging (computer security)
In computer security, a login or logon is the process by which individual access to a computer system is controlled by identifying and authentifying the user referring to credentials presented by the user.A user can log in to a system to obtain access and can then log out or log off In computer...
on the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory PDP-10
PDP-10
The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
, where he was known by his peers as "Dr. Jeffrey Peterson", at the age of eleven.
In 1981, Peterson landed his first job, as a troubleshooter for a software company focused on Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
computers. In 1983, he worked as a product tester for vintage hardware manufacturer LOBO Systems. During the mid 1980s, Peterson focused on the development of software for freely distributed Bulletin Board System
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
and Multi-User Dungeon
MUD
A MUD , pronounced , is a multiplayer real-time virtual world, with the term usually referring to text-based instances of these. MUDs combine elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, player versus player, interactive fiction, and online chat...
gaming applications. He was known among his peers as an expert at implementing customized kernel-level multitasking
Computer multitasking
In computing, multitasking is a method where multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is actively executing instructions for...
solutions, who regularly pushed early hardware beyond traditional limits. Peterson, already a seasoned Assembly
Assembly language
An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...
and C language
developer in his early teens, contributed heavily to the emerging F/OSS
Free and open source software
Free and open-source software or free/libre/open-source software is software that is liberally licensed to grant users the right to use, study, change, and improve its design through the availability of its source code...
programming communities of the 1980s. He has published numerous texts, including articles on multiprocessing
Multiprocessing
Multiprocessing is the use of two or more central processing units within a single computer system. The term also refers to the ability of a system to support more than one processor and/or the ability to allocate tasks between them...
, Quasi-empirical method
Quasi-empirical method
Quasi-empirical methods are applied in science and in mathematics. The term "empirical methods" refers to experiment, disclosure of apparatus for reproduction of experiments, and other ways in which science is validated by scientists...
s, and Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
.
Peterson was ridiculed about his early programming years in a satirical article published by TheStreet.com in 2004. The article, which highlights Peterson's public biography as filed in a Quepasa Proxy statement
Proxy statement
A proxy statement is a statement required of a United States firm when soliciting shareholder votes. This statement is filed in advance of the annual meeting. The firm needs to file a proxy statement, otherwise known as a Form DEF 14A , with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...
on April 23, 2004, asks the question: "are we supposed to believe that the guy was programming computers when he was 10 years old?" Nonetheless, Peterson is credited at this age as a contributor on the inside cover of a best selling microcomputer software book in 1983.
Well acquainted with the college scene from his earlier programming years, Peterson worked as a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at UCSB
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
college radio station KCSB-FM from 1986 to 1990. During the late 1980s, Peterson held the position of "Traffic Manager" on the sixteen-member executive committee at college radio station KCSB-FM that gave both Jim Rome
Jim Rome
Jim Rome is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications....
and Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
their first radio broadcasting jobs.
Peterson dropped out of high school in 1988 at age 16, to pursue what would become a successful career in Investments
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. He continued postliminary study in the areas of Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
and History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
.
Wall Street Years
In 1989, Peterson landed a job in operations at Brokerage firm Lehman BrothersLehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
, where he quickly learned about the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
. He would later pass the industry exams
General Securities Representative Exam
The General Securities Representative Exam, commonly referred to as the Series 7 Exam, is a required exam to become a Registered Representative of a broker-dealer in the United States....
, becoming a Stock Broker
Stock broker
A stock broker or stockbroker is a regulated professional broker who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers or Agency Only Firms on behalf of investors...
at age nineteen. After working for several brokerage firms, he landed in the field of Investment Banking
Investment banking
An investment bank is a financial institution that assists individuals, corporations and governments in raising capital by underwriting and/or acting as the client's agent in the issuance of securities...
, where he gained experience in Corporate Finance
Corporate finance
Corporate finance is the area of finance dealing with monetary decisions that business enterprises make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize shareholder value while managing the firm's financial risks...
. Peterson would go on to work with investment groups that financed hundreds of companies primarily through Initial Public Offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
transactions during the strong stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
conditions of the early 1990s.
Quepasa.com
In 1997, Peterson founded Quepasa.com. The website was the first major online community to focus on U.S. HispanicHispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
users. A year later, he successfully persuaded Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
sports mogul Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo , is an American businessman and sports executive.He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major...
to help raise in excess of $20 million dollars of seed capital to launch the company. Phoenix Suns
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association and the only team in their division not to be based in California. Their home arena since 1992 has been the US...
star Jason Kidd
Jason Kidd
Jason Frederick Kidd is an American professional basketball point guard who plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. Raised in Oakland, California, Kidd played college basketball at the University of California, Berkeley and was drafted second overall by the Dallas...
signed on as an investor. Former Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
quarterback John Elway
John Elway
John Albert Elway, Jr. is a former American football quarterback and currently is the executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League . He played college football at Stanford and his entire professional career with the Denver Broncos...
joined in, investing $500,000.
Within months, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
n President
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
Jose Maria Figueres
José María Figueres
José María Figueres Olsen , is a Costa Rican politician, businessman and international expert on Sustainable Development and Technology...
joined the Quepasa Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. Peterson went on to sell a stake in the Spanish language website to Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
and Telemundo LLC
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
. CNBC Chief Business Commentator and former FDIC
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...
Chairman L. William Seidman
L. William Seidman
Lewis William "Bill" Seidman was an American economist, financial commentator, and former head of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, best known for his role in helping work to correct the Savings and Loan Crisis in the American financial sector from 1988-1991 as head of the related...
joined Quepasa's Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
. After meeting with Peterson during an online interview at the offices of the Miami Herald, Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...
signed on as Quepasa's official spokesperson and investor. Quepasa billboards, a frequent sight in Hispanic cities across the United States, encouraged Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
s to join "El Mundo Nuevo" (the New World) online. Millions of them did.
On June 24 of 1999, Quepasa went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
. By the end of the day, Quepasa
Quepasa
Quepasa Corporation is a US-based social media technology company catering to Latin Audiences worldwide. Quepasa owns and operates Quepasa.com, a social network, Quepasa Games , a social game development studio, and Quepasa Contests, a social media advertising solution -About:Headquartered in West...
was worth $272 million. The proud young company founder was featured in live interviews on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
. At age 26, Peterson had seen his net worth rise by $36 million. http://www.hispanicmagazine.com/1999/julaug/CoverStory/
A year later, Quepasa was named the most popular online destination for U.S. Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
s, ahead of competitors Starmedia
Starmedia
StarMedia is a leading Latin Internet brand, co-founded in August 1996 by Fernando Espuelas and Jack Chen as the first pan-regional Internet portal for Spanish and Portuguese speaking audiences...
and Yahoo! Español.
Quepasa Management Controversy
Shortly after the Quepasa public offering, Peterson was ousted from the company by Gary Trujillo, the new CEO that Peterson hired to run Quepasa sixty days prior. Speaking about the surprise management coup to the Arizona Republic, Peterson was quoted as saying, "He (Trujillo) breached every ounce of trust I placed in his hands."In a lawsuit
Lawsuit
A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...
filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, Peterson was accused of competing with Quepasa. The lawsuit was settled 90 days later, with Quepasa paying $2.4 million to Peterson. Trujillo would later concede that the problem was a "personality issue". http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=456
Peterson subsequently resigned from the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
, still Quepasa's largest single shareholder. His exit from Quepasa would "leave the company in the hands of a chief executive officer and a board of directors inexperienced in both the Internet and the technology that ran it."
Vayala Corporation
In July 2001, Peterson founded Internet search company Vayala Corporation with Brian Long Lu, son of Asian technology mogul Hong Liang Lu, and Mike Marriott. Vayala, a developer of large scale dynamic search technologies, was successful in securing venture capital financing with executives of Softbank Corp.SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
In 2002, Vayala was acquired by Quepasa
Quepasa
Quepasa Corporation is a US-based social media technology company catering to Latin Audiences worldwide. Quepasa owns and operates Quepasa.com, a social network, Quepasa Games , a social game development studio, and Quepasa Contests, a social media advertising solution -About:Headquartered in West...
.
During this time, The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Republic
The Arizona Republic is a daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. It was ranked tenth in US daily newspapers by circulation in 2007.-Early years:The newspaper was founded...
ran a photo of Peterson on the front cover of the Sunday edition, in a three part feature about his career. The series ran Sep. 9 and 10, 2001, concluding on September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, the day of infamous attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
.
Quepasa Takeover and Resurrection
By 2002, Quepasa shares had declined in value under the leadership of CEO Trujillo to virtual worthlessness. In media reports, Trujillo blamed the decline in Quepasa's market value on unfavorable market conditions and the ".com bubble"Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
. The Chicago Tribune wrote: "Even with Internet Winter blowing cold wind across the digital landscape, many experts were surprised to hear the death rattle of America's once super-successful Hispanic-centered Web operation, Quepasa.com."
Later that year, Peterson led a group of investors through a successful proxy fight
Proxy fight
A proxy fight or proxy battle is an event that may occur when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the corporate governance, often focusing on directorial and management positions. Corporate activists may attempt to persuade shareholders to use their proxy votes A proxy...
and hostile takeover
Takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
of Quepasa, reportedly investing millions of his own money. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1055407/000109230602000028/0001092306-02-000028.txt Shortly after the takeover, Peterson was again named Chairman and Chief Executive of Quepasa.
In January 2004, the Business Journal of Phoenix reported that Quepasa was "in the midst of a revival led by its creator, Jeffrey Peterson." http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2004/02/02/story2.html By 2006, Quepasa shares had increased in value by $150 million.
On November 5, 2006, Peterson again left the company, after selling 30% of Quepasa to then-multimillionaire investor Richard Scott, who would later become Governor-elect of Florida.
Political Activity
Peterson, a DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, has been involved in political circles. His political affiliations have often been related to Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
interests.
In 2003, Peterson was appointed to the Arizona-Mexico Commission
Arizona-Mexico Commission
The Arizona-Mexico Commission , is a public/private, membership-driven,501 non-profit organization that formulates programs and action itemsimpacting the relationship between Arizona, Mexico, and Latin America....
by then-Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano
Janet Napolitano is the third and current United States Secretary of Homeland Security, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She is the fourth person to hold the position, which was created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the 21st...
. By 2005, he had been appointed to the Executive Committee.
In 2005, Peterson was appointed to the Cross-Border transactions committee of the Arizona Department of Real Estate. The committee is focused on international Real Estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
transactions between residents of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
In 2005, Peterson was appointed as the Chair of the Technology Subcommittee of the 2006 Executive Bond Committee, by Phoenix Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Phil Gordon
Phil Gordon (politician)
Phil Gordon is an American Democratic party politician, and the 58th and current mayor of Phoenix, Arizona. He was sworn in as mayor on January 2, 2004.-Early life, education, and early career:...
. The $850 million bond initiative was approved by voters in March 2006.
Peterson financially supported the March 25, 2006 and April 10, 2006 reform marches by Immigrants
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
.
Peterson was a co-host at a June 1, 2006 fundraiser for Arizona Senatorial Candidate Jim Pederson
Jim Pederson
James "Jim" Pederson , is an American businessman, co-founder of the commercial development firm The Pederson Group, and was the Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party from 2001 to 2005...
featuring ex-President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.
It was reported that Peterson held a fundraiser at his residence for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
featuring Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
Chairman Howard Dean
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III is an American politician and physician from Vermont. He served six terms as the 79th Governor of Vermont and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. Although his U.S...
and actress Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
on August 21, 2008.
According to Maricopa County, Arizona property records, Peterson's residence
The Residences at 2211 Camelback
Built in 2006 by the Patrinely Group, the guard gated and exclusive Residences at 2211 Camelback is a prestigious, luxury townhouse building. Located in the heart of Arizona's most exclusive downtown area, the Phoenix Biltmore District, the building became famous as the primary residence of...
is listed at the same address as Arizona Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
.
Hollywood Ties
For unknown reasons, Peterson has been known to maintain ties with significant entertainment industry personalities. For example, Peterson signed Gloria EstefanGloria Estefan
Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García de Estefan; known professionally as Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-born American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen Of Latin Pop", she is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 100 million albums sold worldwide, 31.5 million of those...
as Quepasa's spokesperson and investor in 1999. Movie producer Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky
Paul Mazursky is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Personal life:He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean , a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. Mazursky was born to a Jewish family; his grandfather was an immigrant from...
was an investor in Peterson's startup, Vayala Corp. The co-founder of rock band Dishwalla
Dishwalla
Dishwalla is an American alternative rock band based out of Santa Barbara, CA. The band's name comes from a Hindi term for a person providing cable television to a neighborhood...
is listed as a member of the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
in an early Quepasa Registration Statement. Peterson is a childhood friend of Rap Music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
producer Damizza
Damizza
Damion Young, better known by his stage name, Damizza, is a record producer, artist & author known for producing artists such as Ice Cube, Shade Sheist, Snoop Dogg, Korn, Nate Dogg, Ca$his, and Mariah Carey, including Carey's single "Crybaby."...
. In September 2005, Quepasa announced a marketing deal with Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
. Even Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar
Sam Roy "Sammy" Hagar , also known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Also sings Country Music....
, who markets Mexican Tequila
Tequila
Tequila is a spirit made from the blue agave plant, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, northwest of Guadalajara, and in the highlands of the western Mexican state of Jalisco....
, has been reported to forge ties with Quepasa.
Current activities
Peterson is considered to be amongst the top authorities on Hispanic Internet in the United States. He maintains in a number of ITInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
industry advisory roles. Peterson serves on the Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
committee of the Interactive Advertising Bureau
Interactive Advertising Bureau
The Interactive Advertising Bureau is an advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry. The organization represents a large number of the most prominent media outlets in the United...
in New York
New York
New 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...
. According to his public biography, he acts as a technology consultant to the Government of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
On July 20, 2009, Peterson sold the internet domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
demand.com to Demand Media
Demand Media
Demand Media, Inc. is an online media company and content farm that operates online brands such as eHow, and Cracked, and is known for creating online content through its Demand Media Studios division based on a combination of measured consumer demand and predicted ROI...
Inc., a company controlled by former Myspace
Myspace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
Chairman Richard Rosenblatt
Richard Rosenblatt
Richard Rosenblatt is a serial entrepreneur and the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Demand Media. He has built, operated, and sold over $1.3 billion of Internet media companies.-Early life:...
, according to multiple news reports.
External links
- "How Do You Say Internet in Spanish?", by Joe Hagan, Smartmoney.com, 30 March 1999.
- "Quepasa.com, refugio de los internautas hispanos", by Micaela de la Maza, Baquia.com (Spanish language), 24 December 1999.
- "Quepasa Announces Relationship With The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)", 12 June 2003.
- Forbes.com Jeffrey Peterson Profile
- quepasa.com
- Jeffrey Peterson's LinkedIn profile