Show notes
Today, Pierre Omidyar is hailed as the architect
of a new age of digital commerce, but the founder of eBay, the
world's largest personal online trading community, became a web
entrepreneur almost by accident. In 1995, he created the
prototype for an online auction site as an experiment on his
personal web page. Almost overnight, visitors by the thousands
flocked to the site to trade collectibles and other goods, each
of them paying Omidyar a small fee for the privilege. Today, eBay
hosts millions of auctions a day, from sites based all over the
world. Omidyar's experiment became a publicly traded company and
has made him a billionaire several times over. Pierre Omidyar and
his wife Pamela plan to give away all but one percent of their
wealth within 20 years. They have already endowed Tufts
University's College of Citizenship and Public Service, an
initiative designed to "create a community of graduates who can
combine successful careers with active participation in public
service organizations for social and environmental causes, and
politics," while other Omidyar Foundation initiatives are
providing emergency communications technology to disaster areas
throughout the world. In this podcast, recorded at the 2000
International Achievement Summit in London, England, Pierre
Omidyar discusses the creation of eBay and of his foundation. In
his discussion with the Academy's student delegates, he also
touches on the regulatory issues surrounding Internet
commerce.



