Naveen Jain
Encyclopedia
Naveen K. Jain is a business executive and entrepreneur. He is the founder of InfoSpace
, Intelius
, and Moon Express
. In 2000, Forbes ranked Jain 121 on their list of 400 Richest Americans with a net worth of 2.2 billion dollars.
, where in 1979 he earned an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
, and then moved to Jamshedpur, where in 1982 he earned his MBA at XLRI School of Business and Human Resources
.
and Tandon Computer Corporation
.
in Redmond, Washington
, working in the capacity of Program Manager. He initially began working on OS/2
and then moved on to several of Microsoft's flagship products, including MS-DOS
, Windows NT
, and Windows 95
. Jain is listed on three patents from his time with Microsoft. He later moved to the development of the Microsoft Network. Jain left Microsoft in 1996 to form InfoSpace.
in March 1996 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2000. InfoSpace provides metasearch and private-label Internet search services for consumers and businesses. While CEO, Jain was featured in several business publications with topics ranging from his personal worth
(almost one billion dollars in 1999) to his energetic demeanor and personality quirks. By 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, Naveen was ranked 121 on the Forbes 400
Richest Americans, with a net worth of USD$2.2 billion. He resumed the role of CEO in 2001, but was forced out by InfoSpace's board as chairman and CEO in December 2002. In April 2003, he resigned from the InfoSpace board.
, a Bellevue, Washington
-based Web security firm with annual revenues of $150 million and more than 350 employees. Intelius specializes in public records
information and offers service to consumers and businesses which include background checks and identity theft
protection. Co-founders include John Arnold, Ed Petersen, Kevin Marcus, Niraj Shah, and Chandan Chauhan.
The company has been subject to significant criticism and lawsuits relating to their marketing practices.
, co-founded Moon Express
, a Mountain View, California
-based company that plans to mine the moon for elements that are rare on the earth, including Niobium
, Yttrium
and Dysprosium
". The company was awarded a contract by NASA that "could be worth up to $10 million." This Reimbursable Space Act Agreement allowed NASA to invest over $500K into the commercialization of technology developed by the company.
stock trading rules. Language in documents prepared by J.P. Morgan Securities incorrectly put control of stock granted to Jain's children's trust funds in 1998 and 1999 in the Jains' account without the Jains' knowledge. The judge ruled that Jain had in essence "purchased" the stock for nothing. During that same period, Jain sold $202 million worth of stock. Jain argued that he didn't intend to take control of the trusts and blamed J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., among others, for the mistake.
While the cases were in appeal, attorneys at the Securities and Exchange Commission urged the appeals court to reverse the ruling. Attorneys representing InfoSpace shareholders agreed to settle the case, fearing the weight of the SEC brief could result in a complete reversal of their ruling during the appeal process. In late 2004, a settlement agreement resolved the numerous related lawsuits, including the Dreiling v. Jain, et al. Section 16(b) (short swing) case which was pending on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Jain v. Clarendon America Insurance Company, et al. which was pending in King County Superior Court; Jain v. InfoSpace, Inc.; and InfoSpace, Inc. v. Jain, Intelius, Inc., et al. lawsuit, which was pending before the Washington State Court of Appeals. The Settlement Agreement expressly stated that each defendant in each of the resolved lawsuits denied liability, a standard outcome for settled lawsuits. Settlements are generally reached in legal proceedings "for the sole purpose of resolving contested claims and disputes as well as avoiding the substantial costs, expenses and uncertainties associated with protracted and complex litigation." Insurance carriers paid $65 million, adjusted to $83 million, and finally settled at $105 million as of March 2009.
Following the settlement, Jain unsuccessfully sued J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc.; its lawyer, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.
, and Perkins Coie
— which jointly represented Jain and Bellevue, Washington
-based InfoSpace from 1998 to mid-2003. Jain accused the securities professionals of negligence resulting in the misappropriation of his children's trust shares, but lower courts dismissed Jain's complaints, citing federal law which prohibits lawsuits blaming security companies for risky trades. The Supreme Court
in March 2009 refused to hear an appeal from Jain of a decision against him from the Washington state Court of Appeals. Jain and his wife Anuradha had accused the defendants of being responsible for language in InfoSpace's initial public offering prospectus that contained errors, which ultimately played a part in the $247 million judgment against Jain.
In early March 2003, InfoSpace sued Jain for allegedly violating noncompete agreements in his role at newly founded Intelius. In an interview after the suit was filed, Jain said the lawsuit was without merit and was a retaliation for Jain's whistle-blowing. The court found in favor of Jain citing no evidence to support InfoSpace's claim.
On April 25, 2011, The Times Group has awarded Jain the “Light of India Business Leadership Award” for “visionary entrepreneurship”.
In 1999, Jain was awarded the Emerging Entrepreneur Award Winner for the Pacific Northwest Region by Ernst & Young.
In 2009, Jain helped raise over $200,000 at a luncheon benefiting Overlake Service League. He and his wife, Anu, co-chaired the event.
.
Jain co-chairs the education and global development initiative of the X Prize Foundation
. In this position, he has spearheaded several entrepreneurial incentive challenges to find solutions to agriculture, poverty, health and clean water. His current projects include Digital Doctor, which provides ways to give rural communities global access to primary care physicians. He is developing Addictive Education, which is a neuroscience-based program to teach students skills such as math, science and history.
Naveen is one of the founders and a board member of The Naveen & Anu Jain Family Foundation, based in Bellevue, Washington, which focuses discovering sustainable solutions to enduring human challenges ranging from space exploration to the urgent need for safe and efficient cookstoves used throughout the developing world.
. He has three children, Ankur, Priyanka
and Neal.
Jain's son, Ankur, started his own venture called Starnium at the age of 12. In 2007, he started a society of collegiate entrepreneurs called the Kairos Society, which is dedicated to "solving the world's greatest challenges." Within one year, the society went global. Now, it has more than 700 members. The society is an advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Startup America. Ankur graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2011, and is working on a business venture that will connect entrepreneurs with innovative technologies with established businesses in foreign markets.
His daughter, Priyanka, is the founder and president of iCAREweCARE.org, a social network that connects philanthropically minded high school and college students with local opportunities to give. The United Nations Foundation named her a “Teen Role Model” and “Teen Advisor.”
InfoSpace
Infospace provides metasearch and private-label Internet search services for consumers and businesses.InfoSpace's flagship metasearch site is Dogpile; its other consumer brands are WebCrawler, Nation, DoGreatGood and MetaCrawler.-History:...
, Intelius
Intelius
Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States. It provides information services to consumers and businesses, including background checks and identity theft protection. A majority of Intelius' revenue comes from selling background reports...
, and Moon Express
Moon Express
Moon Express, or MoonEx, is a privately held seed-stage company formed by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize, and ultimately mining the Moon for resources of economic value.-History:...
. In 2000, Forbes ranked Jain 121 on their list of 400 Richest Americans with a net worth of 2.2 billion dollars.
Background
Jain grew up in villages throughout Uttar Pradesh, one of India's most populated provinces, known for its low level of literacy, and in New Delhi. Later he moved to RoorkeeRoorkee
Roorkee is a city and seat of a municipal council in Uttarakhand, in far northern India. It is located on the banks of the Ganges canal on the national highway between Delhi and Dehradun. Roorkee is known for Roorkee Cantonment, one of the country's oldest cantonments, and the headquarters of...
, where in 1979 he earned an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , formerly the University of Roorkee, is a public university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India...
, and then moved to Jamshedpur, where in 1982 he earned his MBA at XLRI School of Business and Human Resources
XLRI
The XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur is a graduate business school in Jamshedpur, India. Established in 1949, XLRI is arguably the oldest business school in India and is regarded as consistently among the top 5 business schools of the country...
.
Early professional life
Jain left India in 1983 after being accepted to Burroughs via a business-exchange program to explore the emerging U.S. high-technology market. He worked at companies that included Convergent TechnologiesConvergent Technologies (Unisys)
Convergent Technologies was an American computer company formed by a small group of people who left Intel Corporation and Xerox PARC in 1979....
and Tandon Computer Corporation
Tandon Corporation
Tandon Corporation was a disk drive and PC manufacturer founded in the mid-1970s by "Jugi" Tandon. The company's original purpose was to provide magnetic read-write heads for the then-burgeoning floppy-drive market. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the product, production was carried out in...
.
Microsoft and MSN
In 1989, Jain joined MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
in Redmond, Washington
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....
, working in the capacity of Program Manager. He initially began working on OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
and then moved on to several of Microsoft's flagship products, including MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
, Windows NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
, and Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
. Jain is listed on three patents from his time with Microsoft. He later moved to the development of the Microsoft Network. Jain left Microsoft in 1996 to form InfoSpace.
InfoSpace
Jain founded InfoSpaceInfoSpace
Infospace provides metasearch and private-label Internet search services for consumers and businesses.InfoSpace's flagship metasearch site is Dogpile; its other consumer brands are WebCrawler, Nation, DoGreatGood and MetaCrawler.-History:...
in March 1996 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2000. InfoSpace provides metasearch and private-label Internet search services for consumers and businesses. While CEO, Jain was featured in several business publications with topics ranging from his personal worth
Net worth
In business, net worth is the total assets minus total outside liabilities of an individual or a company. For a company, this is called shareholders' preference and may be referred to as book value. Net worth is stated as at a particular year in time...
(almost one billion dollars in 1999) to his energetic demeanor and personality quirks. By 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, Naveen was ranked 121 on the Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
Richest Americans, with a net worth of USD$2.2 billion. He resumed the role of CEO in 2001, but was forced out by InfoSpace's board as chairman and CEO in December 2002. In April 2003, he resigned from the InfoSpace board.
Intelius
In 2003, Jain co-founded InteliusIntelius
Intelius, Inc. is a public records business headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, United States. It provides information services to consumers and businesses, including background checks and identity theft protection. A majority of Intelius' revenue comes from selling background reports...
, a Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
-based Web security firm with annual revenues of $150 million and more than 350 employees. Intelius specializes in public records
Public records
Public records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the option of checking the box as to whether the marriage is "confidential" or "Public"...
information and offers service to consumers and businesses which include background checks and identity theft
Identity theft
Identity theft is a form of stealing another person's identity in which someone pretends to be someone else by assuming that person's identity, typically in order to access resources or obtain credit and other benefits in that person's name...
protection. Co-founders include John Arnold, Ed Petersen, Kevin Marcus, Niraj Shah, and Chandan Chauhan.
The company has been subject to significant criticism and lawsuits relating to their marketing practices.
Moon Express
In April 2011, Jain, Barney Pell and Robert “Bob” RichardsBob Richards (meteorologist)
Robert "Bob" Richards , born Robert L. Schwartz, was a popular personality on KSDK-TV in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, where he worked as chief meteorologist, from 1983 until his death in 1994...
, co-founded Moon Express
Moon Express
Moon Express, or MoonEx, is a privately held seed-stage company formed by a group of Silicon Valley and space entrepreneurs, with the goal of winning the Google Lunar X Prize, and ultimately mining the Moon for resources of economic value.-History:...
, a Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
-based company that plans to mine the moon for elements that are rare on the earth, including Niobium
Niobium
Niobium or columbium , is a chemical element with the symbol Nb and atomic number 41. It's a soft, grey, ductile transition metal, which is often found in the pyrochlore mineral, the main commercial source for niobium, and columbite...
, Yttrium
Yttrium
Yttrium is a chemical element with symbol Y and atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanides and it has often been classified as a "rare earth element". Yttrium is almost always found combined with the lanthanides in rare earth minerals and is...
and Dysprosium
Dysprosium
Dysprosium is a chemical element with the symbol Dy and atomic number 66. It is a rare earth element with a metallic silver luster. Dysprosium is never found in nature as a free element, though it is found in various minerals, such as xenotime...
". The company was awarded a contract by NASA that "could be worth up to $10 million." This Reimbursable Space Act Agreement allowed NASA to invest over $500K into the commercialization of technology developed by the company.
Notable rulings
In May 2002, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman made a landmark $247 million ruling in favor of Thomas Dreiling, a small shareholder of InfoSpace who brought a lawsuit against InfoSpace as well as then CEO Jain. Under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, the judge ruled, Jain had violated six month short swingShort swing
A short swing rule restricts officers and insiders of a company from making short-term profits at the expense of the firm. It part of United States federal securities law, and is a prophylactic measure intended to guard against so-called insider trading...
stock trading rules. Language in documents prepared by J.P. Morgan Securities incorrectly put control of stock granted to Jain's children's trust funds in 1998 and 1999 in the Jains' account without the Jains' knowledge. The judge ruled that Jain had in essence "purchased" the stock for nothing. During that same period, Jain sold $202 million worth of stock. Jain argued that he didn't intend to take control of the trusts and blamed J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., among others, for the mistake.
While the cases were in appeal, attorneys at the Securities and Exchange Commission urged the appeals court to reverse the ruling. Attorneys representing InfoSpace shareholders agreed to settle the case, fearing the weight of the SEC brief could result in a complete reversal of their ruling during the appeal process. In late 2004, a settlement agreement resolved the numerous related lawsuits, including the Dreiling v. Jain, et al. Section 16(b) (short swing) case which was pending on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Jain v. Clarendon America Insurance Company, et al. which was pending in King County Superior Court; Jain v. InfoSpace, Inc.; and InfoSpace, Inc. v. Jain, Intelius, Inc., et al. lawsuit, which was pending before the Washington State Court of Appeals. The Settlement Agreement expressly stated that each defendant in each of the resolved lawsuits denied liability, a standard outcome for settled lawsuits. Settlements are generally reached in legal proceedings "for the sole purpose of resolving contested claims and disputes as well as avoiding the substantial costs, expenses and uncertainties associated with protracted and complex litigation." Insurance carriers paid $65 million, adjusted to $83 million, and finally settled at $105 million as of March 2009.
Following the settlement, Jain unsuccessfully sued J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc.; its lawyer, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is a law firm in the United States that specializes in business, securities, and intellectual property law. The firm's Chairman, Larry Sonsini, is well known as an attorney and advisor to technology companies....
, and Perkins Coie
Perkins Coie
Perkins Coie is an international law firm based in Seattle, Washington. It has been listed on the Fortune Magazine "100 Best Places to Work in America" for the past nine years. It is noted for its intellectual property, Labor and Employment, and Products Liability practice groups, and for its...
— which jointly represented Jain and Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue, Washington
Bellevue is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle, it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb. The population was 122,363 at the 2010 census.Downtown Bellevue is...
-based InfoSpace from 1998 to mid-2003. Jain accused the securities professionals of negligence resulting in the misappropriation of his children's trust shares, but lower courts dismissed Jain's complaints, citing federal law which prohibits lawsuits blaming security companies for risky trades. The Supreme Court
Supreme court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, high court, or apex court...
in March 2009 refused to hear an appeal from Jain of a decision against him from the Washington state Court of Appeals. Jain and his wife Anuradha had accused the defendants of being responsible for language in InfoSpace's initial public offering prospectus that contained errors, which ultimately played a part in the $247 million judgment against Jain.
In early March 2003, InfoSpace sued Jain for allegedly violating noncompete agreements in his role at newly founded Intelius. In an interview after the suit was filed, Jain said the lawsuit was without merit and was a retaliation for Jain's whistle-blowing. The court found in favor of Jain citing no evidence to support InfoSpace's claim.
Recognition
In August 2011, Jain was named one of the Most Admired Indian Serial Entrepreneurs by Silicon India.On April 25, 2011, The Times Group has awarded Jain the “Light of India Business Leadership Award” for “visionary entrepreneurship”.
In 1999, Jain was awarded the Emerging Entrepreneur Award Winner for the Pacific Northwest Region by Ernst & Young.
Philanthropy
In May 2011, Jain funded a $1-million award for the “Digital Doctor” competition. The prize for this competition will go to the first team to build an easy-to-use, tablet- or laptop-based system that can accurately diagnose regional diseases afflicting people in developing nations.In 2009, Jain helped raise over $200,000 at a luncheon benefiting Overlake Service League. He and his wife, Anu, co-chaired the event.
Board memberships
In June 2011, Jain was elected to the board of trustees of Singularity UniversitySingularity University
Singularity University is an academic institution in Silicon Valley whose stated aim is to "assemble, educate and inspire a cadre of leaders who strive to understand and facilitate the development of exponentially advancing technologies and apply, focus and guide these tools to address humanity’s...
.
Jain co-chairs the education and global development initiative of the X Prize Foundation
X Prize Foundation
The X PRIZE Foundation is a non-profit organization that designs and manages public competitions intended to encourage technological development that could benefit mankind....
. In this position, he has spearheaded several entrepreneurial incentive challenges to find solutions to agriculture, poverty, health and clean water. His current projects include Digital Doctor, which provides ways to give rural communities global access to primary care physicians. He is developing Addictive Education, which is a neuroscience-based program to teach students skills such as math, science and history.
Naveen is one of the founders and a board member of The Naveen & Anu Jain Family Foundation, based in Bellevue, Washington, which focuses discovering sustainable solutions to enduring human challenges ranging from space exploration to the urgent need for safe and efficient cookstoves used throughout the developing world.
Family
Jain is married and lives in Medina, WashingtonMedina, Washington
Medina is a city located in the Eastside, a region of King County, Washington, United States. Surrounded on the north, west, and south by Lake Washington, opposite Seattle, Medina is bordered by Clyde Hill and Hunts Point, as well as the satellite city of Bellevue. The city's population was 2,969...
. He has three children, Ankur, Priyanka
Priyanka Jain
- Professional background :Jain is the founder and President of iCAREweCARE, a student run non-profit that helps high school and college students with opportunities to make social changes....
and Neal.
Jain's son, Ankur, started his own venture called Starnium at the age of 12. In 2007, he started a society of collegiate entrepreneurs called the Kairos Society, which is dedicated to "solving the world's greatest challenges." Within one year, the society went global. Now, it has more than 700 members. The society is an advisor to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Startup America. Ankur graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in May 2011, and is working on a business venture that will connect entrepreneurs with innovative technologies with established businesses in foreign markets.
His daughter, Priyanka, is the founder and president of iCAREweCARE.org, a social network that connects philanthropically minded high school and college students with local opportunities to give. The United Nations Foundation named her a “Teen Role Model” and “Teen Advisor.”
External links
- Official website of Naveen Jain
- Blog at Huffington Post
- Profile at Bloomberg Businessweek
- Meet the Man Who Wants to Mine the Moon
- Sustainable philanthropy's no different from business: Naveen Jain, Moon Express