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Naveen K. Jain (born 6 September 1959) is a business executive, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the founder of InfoSpace and Intelius. In 1999, Forbes listed him amongst its Top 100 Entrepreneurs, and in 2000, Jain was ranked number 141 on their list of 400 Richest Americans with a net worth of 2.2 billion dollars. During the dot com crash, Jain, along with many other dot com billionaires, dropped off the Forbes list. In 2003, Jain co-founded Intelius, a Bellevue Washington-based company that specializes in supplying public records information. {He currently serves on the Board of Singularity University and is a member of the X PRIZE Foundation's Vision Circle

Professional background

Early professional life

Jain left New Delhi, India in 1979 through a business-exchange program to explore the emerging U.S. high-technology market. He worked at companies that included Convergent Technologies and Tandon Computer Corporation.

Microsoft and MSN

In 1989, Jain joined Microsoft 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 (for which he holds three patents). He later moved to the development of the Microsoft Network. In April 1996, he left to form InfoSpace.

InfoSpace

Jain founded InfoSpace in March 1996 and served as Chief Executive Officer until 2000. Between those years 1996-2000, Jain was featured in several business publications, and received many awards, including among others the Albert Einstein Leadership in Technology award.He resumed the role of CEO in 2001, but was removed as CEO in December 2002. In 2003 Jain resigned from the Infospace Board of Directors.In a shareholder lawsuit filed in 2003, a lower court federal judge ruled that Jain had purchased shares of Infospace in violation of six month short swing trading rules, and issued a $247 million judgment against him. While on appeal in 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission came to Jain's defense, and the case was settled for $65 million.

Freei

In 1999, Jain served on the board of directors of Freei, aka FreeInternet.com, an online service provider that provided dial-up connections without charge, instead using advertisements to gain revenue. Along with serving on the board, Jain's company InfoSpace provided integrated search and content features, such as news, maps, and weather forecasts to the ISP. Jain also invested approximately $5 million in the service before it filed for bankruptcy in mid-2000, shortly after filing for an IPO on March 31, 2000.

Intelius

In 2003, Jain co-founded Intelius, a Bellevue, Washington-based company specializing in public records information and offering service to consumers and businesses which include background checks and identity theft protection. Co-founders included John Arnold, Ed Petersen, Kevin Marcus, Niraj Shah, and Chandan Chauhan.

Philanthropic Activities

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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in their 2007 article about the Indian Institutes of Technology, quoted Jain as saying that "Whether you are an IIT grad or from any school, I believe it is your duty to give back to the people who made you successful, which really is the community you live in.... You can never ever help the same person who helped you. You always have to help someone else."Jain and Intelius provide philanthropic support both locally (such as the Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, Washington, the University of Washington, and the Seattle Art Museum) as well as nationally (IAFF Firefighters and National Network to End Domestic Violence, for example). Additionally, he supports organizations which benefit the Indian and South Asian community through education, research, spreading cultural awareness, and other social needs in honor of his Indian heritage. Jain is the Co-Chairman of Education and Global Development at the X Prize Foundation, where he focuses on finding entrepreneurial solutions concerned with global challenges in education, poverty, agriculture, health and clean water. Additionally he is a trustee of the board of Singularity University which makes it their mission to educate and inspire leaders to address humanity's grand challenges through innovative technologies.

Personal life

Jain is married and has three children. He lives in Medina, Washington.

References

1. <http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/54/2000/LIR.jhtml?passListId=54&passYear=2000&passListType=Person&uniqueId=7I27&datatype=Person>
2. <http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/22/billdropoffs.html>
3. <http://singularityu.org/about/board-of-trustees/naveen-jain/>
4. <http://www.xprize.org/about/vision-circle>
5. Heath, David; Pian Chan, Sharon; Dot-con Job: Part 1: Dubious Deals, The Seattle Times, 2005
6. ^ Smarter than Bill, Red Herring, June 30, 1997
7. Intelius, Inc. Executive Profile: Naveen Jain Businessweek.com. Accessed 31 December 2010.
8. US patent 6357000  US patent 5655154  US patent 5434776 
9. "Skill Shop". The Financial Express. 26 Oct 1999. Archived from the original on Jun 02, 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
10. Techno-poet who is smarter than Bill Gates Sunday Business. 28 May 2000
11. <http://www.redherring.com/Home/1743>
12. http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?ID=39251&SessionID=kXRfHqxOZWy6c27
13. "InfoSpace severs final ties with founder Jain". Puget Sound Business Journal. April 28, 2003.
14. Heath, David (23 August 2003). "Ex-InfoSpace chief ordered to pay $247 million penalty". Seattle Times. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
15. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002200298_dotcon3mainsec08.html
16. High-flying Freeinternet.com crashes and burns. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. 13 Oct 2000.
17. Gates, Dominic; Freei Files For Bankruptcy, Infoworld, October 9, 2000 (accessed 15 Aug 2010).
18. Freei.Net Offers Comprehensive New Portal Featuring Services From InfoSpace.com, Business Wire, January 17, 2000
19. "Intelius, Inc". Retrieved 2007-04-13.
20. Nina Shapiro (April 11, 2007). "Intelius Says it's Capable of Conducting a Full Background Check on Anyone". Seattle Weekly. Retrieved 2007-04-13. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
21. Andrea James (March 2, 2007).Indian Institutes of Technology alumni are at home in Seattle. Seattle PI, accessed December 21, 2010.
22. Naveen Jain Philanthropy. Faces of Philanthropy, accessed December 21, 2010.
23. TSN:Naveen Jain. The Science Network, accessed December 21, 2010.

External links

• Official website of Naveen Jain

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• Misplaced Pages neutral point of view disputes from December 2010
• 1959 births
• Businesspeople in software
• American computer businesspeople
• American chief executives
• People from Seattle, Washington
• Living people