Niklas Zennström Extended Biography
Niklas Zennström | Janus Friis | Mattias Ljungman | Geoffrey Prentice
Niklas Zennström extended biography
Niklas is an Internet entrepreneur, who co-founded, Joost, Atomico, Skype and Kazaa among other companies. He is currently a partner of Atomico. In addition to this, he is also the co-chairman of Joost.
Niklas co-founded Skype in 2002 with Janus Friis with the vision of liberating consumers and businesses from the need to pay for talking to each other across the globe. Skype has become the global leader in Internet voice communications, attracting more than 276 million registered users within less than four years of its launch. Skype’s continuing success was officially recognised in September 2005 when eBay Inc acquired the company for 3.1 billion US Dollars. Niklas had the position as CEO from its inception until September 2007.
Niklas co-founded Joost in 2006 with Janus Friis in order to change the way people experience television as television is moving over to the Internet. By combining the best of the internet and the best of television, Joost is providing people all over the world with a unique television experience on their computers.
Prior to Skype, Niklas co-founded and served as CEO of Kazaa, the consumer file-sharing sensation that became the world’s most downloaded Internet software in 2003. Through Atomico, Niklas serves as a Board Member for several start-up companies, such as FON.
Niklas started his professional career at Tele2, the first competitive phone company in Europe, with the goal to expand the company’s Internet access business footprint across Europe. Niklas holds dual degrees in business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden. He spent his final year at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
In his career to date, Niklas has won a series of industry awards including ‘Business Leader of the Year 2006’ (European Voice), ‘Innovation in Computing and Communications 2006’ (Economist Innovation Awards) and the ‘Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award for Technology Change Agent of the Year 2006. Niklas has also been named ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ (European Business Leaders Awards 2006) and was included on Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People List 2006.
When Niklas is not creating innovative, disruptive businesses, he is a passionate sailor and enjoys offshore racing with his wife as well as skiing. He loves travelling and has a wide and eclectic taste in music. Niklas is also drawn to the diversity of modern art. Niklas is a Swedish citizen, lives in London and is happily married. He and his wife share many interests including a number of environmental and human rights causes. In particular, Niklas is passionate about engaging those with influence to respond to the dangers of global warming.