Michael Jackson (engineer)
| Michael Jackson | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Engineer, entrepreneur and investor |
| Known for | Former COO at Skype |
Michael Jackson is a partner at Mangrove Capital Partners, a venture capital firm set up by Mark Tluszcz, Gerard Lopez and Hans-Jürgen Schmitz in 2000.[1] He also serves as a board director at bitcoin company Blockchain.info[2] and was previously COO at Skype,[3] one of the most successful internet companies to come out of Europe.
Career
Jackson worked in the telecoms industry for 25 years before joining Mangrove Capital Partners, an early backer of Skype, as a venture capital investor. He completed his graduate training at the BBC and worked as lead engineer at the first competitive phone company in the UK. He then moved to Denmark and launched 9 mobile operations and 2 ISPs across Europe with Tele2.
Jackson then joined the founding team at Skype and as Chief Operating Officer (COO) was responsible for turning a rapidly growing idea into a well managed multi-million dollar business. At Skype, he gained extensive knowledge and experience in distributed P2P networks and what is needed to gain mass adoption of disruptive technology from both legal and business perspectives.[4] This included advancing the regulatory environment for telecoms services in Europe, forcing incumbent operators to open up to competition.[5] Skype was acquired by US technology company eBay and remains one of the most successful internet companies to come out of Europe. Within a month it had been downloaded 500,000 times and when it was acquired bought by eBay it was attracting 150,000 downloads a day and had 54 million users.[6] By 2013, one in three international voice calls were made using Skype.[7]
Jackson now works as a venture capital investor at Mangrove Capital Partners. He is a regularly cited by the press on topics such as fintech[8] and bitcoin.[9]
References
- ↑ Spurgeon, Brad (July 26, 2013). "Billionaires Stake Their Elite Racing Claims". New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
- ↑ Ngo, Diana (July 2, 2015). "Former Skype Exec Joins Blockchain.info Board". CoinTelegraph. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ↑ Williams-Grut, Oscar (July 8, 2016). "We had a gem here and I think we've just smashed it up". Business Insider. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ↑ Scott, Allen (September 20, 2014). "People Need to Speak, People Need to Transact". CoinTelegraph. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ↑ Jackson, Michael (May 26, 2014). "Bitcoin and Regulation". CoinDesk. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ↑ Reuters (September 13, 2005). "EBay to Buy Skype for $4B". Fox News. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ↑ Mance, Henry (August 28, 2013). "Skype's first decade reflects a trail of missed opportunities". Financial Times. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ↑ Williams, Oscar (May 2, 2016). "'We had a gem here and I think we've just smashed it up': Here are fintech's biggest fears about Brexit". Business Insider. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
- ↑ Dakers, Marion (May 2, 2016). "Australian professor Craig Wright reveals himself to be Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto". Telegraph. Retrieved July 21, 2016.