John Collison

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John Collison
Sportsfile (Web Summit) (15088695584).jpg
Collison at the
Born (1990-08-06) August 6, 1990 (age 31)
Dromineer, County Tipperary, Ireland
NationalityIrish
EducationCastletroy College
Alma materHarvard University
Known forAuctomatic; Croma; Stripe
RelativesPatrick Collison (brother)

John Collison (born August 6, 1990) is an Irish billionaire entrepreneur and the co-founder and President of Stripe which he co-founded in 2010 with his brother Patrick. Collison was the youngest self made billionaire in 2016. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his net worth was estimated at US$11.4 Billion, ranked him at 192nd richest person in The World & one of the wealthiest people from Ireland.[1]

Biography[]

In 2007, Collison founded "Shuppa"[a]with his older brother Patrick in Limerick, Ireland.[2] The company later merged with Auctomatic, which was funded by Y Combinator,[3] and Collison moved to Silicon Valley.[citation needed]

Auctomatic was a software company that built tools for the eBay platform.[4] The company was also funded by Chris Sacca.[5] Auctomatic was acquired for $5 million in March 2008, when Collison was 17.[6][7][8][9]

In 2009, Collison (having returned to finish secondary school at Castletroy College) received 8 A1 and 2 A2 grades in the Irish Leaving Certificate examination. He continued to study at Harvard University, commencing his studies in September 2009.[10] Collison is a pilot[11] and a pianist.[12]

In 2010, Collison co-founded Stripe, which received backing from Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and Sequoia Capital.[13]

In November 2016, the Collison brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires, worth at least $1.1 billion, after an investment in Stripe from CapitalG and General Catalyst valued the company at $9.2 billion.[14] In the same year, 2016, John was ranked by Forbes the 15th in the list America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40.[15]

In 2018, Stripe, under the direction of the Collison brothers, contributed $1 million to California YIMBY, a pro-housing development lobbying organization. The Collison brothers are citizens of Ireland.[16]

Forbes article[]

A profile of the brothers published in Forbes in 2021 claimed the brothers had "escaped" from Limerick, describing it as a "warzone" because of a gang feud and it was "the 'murder capital' of Europe".[17] It claimed "shootings, pipe bomb attacks, and stabbings" happened there every night.[17] It also claimed that "Some bad neighbourhoods are even walled off by a dirty graffitied 10-foot-high barrier, like the Berlin Wall".[17]

The article received a lot of publicity online, causing a backlash.[17] Patrick tweeted "Not only mistaken about Limerick but the idea of ‘overcoming’ anything is crazy. We are who we are because we grew up where we did".[17] John tweeted it was "daft".[17] Patrick O'Donovan called on the magazine and author to apologise to the people of Limerick "or the insult and hurt caused" by it.[17] He also tweeted "I am calling on them to come to Limerick where I will gladly set the record straight in respect of what our county and city has to offer as opposed to what your work of fiction depicts," and "Please let me know when suits to visit."[17] Niall Collins tweeted that the article was a "disgraceful description of Limerick, home to so many fine and decent people".[17]

The article was removed from the website on 9 April 2021.[17]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: John Collison". Bloomberg. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Shuppa Bebo profile". Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". www.ycombinator.com.
  4. ^ "Auctomatic launches better tools for eBay powersellers". 22 October 2007.
  5. ^ "Thank You, Auctomatic". Chris Sacca's 'What is left?'.
  6. ^ McDonald, Henry (28 March 2008). "The Guardian". London, UK.
  7. ^ "Getting right down to business in TY". The Irish Times. 4 April 2008.
  8. ^ "BBC News". 27 March 2008.
  9. ^ McBride, Louise (28 December 2008). "The Irish Independent".
  10. ^ "Harvard next on menu for knowledge-hungry dot.com high flyer". The Irish Times. 9 September 2009.
  11. ^ "40 under 40". 20 November 2011.
  12. ^ "The Irish Times". 9 September 2009.
  13. ^ "Stealth Payment Startup Stripe Backed By PayPal Founders". 28 March 2011.
  14. ^ Mac, Ryan. "Stripe Investment Makes Cofounder The World's Youngest Self-Made Billionaire". Forbes. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
  15. ^ "America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 2016". 12 December 2016.
  16. ^ "Tech CEO housing crisis". www.bizjournals.com. 2018. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j McDermott, Stephen (10 April 2021). "Forbes article about Stripe brothers which called Limerick 'stab city' removed after online backlash". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  1. ^ "Shuppa" is a phonetic representation of the Irish language word, siopa, meaning shop.

External links[]

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