Chamath Palihapitiya is a renowned entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and engineer. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Social Capital, a leading venture capital firm.
Palihapitiya has made significant contributions to the technology industry, most notably as an executive at Facebook. With his diverse background and successful career, he has become a prominent figure in the business world.
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- Full name: Chamath Palihapitiya
- Date of birth: September 3, 1976
- Age: 47 years
- male
- Place of birth: Sri Lanka
- Nationality: Canadian and American
- Occupation: Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist, Engineer
Early life and education
Chamath Palihapitiya was born on September 3, 1976 in Sri Lanka and is now 47 years old. He grew up in a financially struggling family, with a father who was often unemployed and a mother who worked as a low-paid housewife.
Despite these challenges, Palihapitiya showed resilience and determination from an early age. He attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute and then studied electrical engineering at the University of Waterloo, graduating in 1999.
Personal life
In his personal life, Palihapitiya has been married twice. His first marriage was to Brigette Lau, but they divorced in 2018. He has five children from his first marriage.
Palihapitiya is married to Nathalie Dompé, an Italian pharmaceutical heiress and CEO of Dompé Holdings.
They started dating in 2018 and married in a lavish ceremony at Castello Brown in Italy in July 2023.
Career
Palihapitiya’s career in the tech industry began in 2004 when he joined Winamp, a popular media player that was later acquired by AOL.
At AOL, he became the company’s youngest vice president and headed its instant messaging division. In 2007, Palihapitiya made a significant move by joining Facebook, a relatively young company. During his four years at Facebook, he played a key role in the company’s growth and success.
He led the launch of Facebook Beacon, a project aimed at personalizing user experiences but which was met with backlash.
Palihapitiya then shifted his focus to Growth Leadership, where he spearheaded efforts to drive new user growth. Under his leadership, Facebook reached the milestone of one billion users.
After leaving Facebook in 2011, Palihapitiya ventured into entrepreneurship and founded his own fund, The Social+Capital Partnership. Through this fund, he has invested in a number of successful companies, including Yammer, SecondMarket, Slack, and Box.
In 2015, the fund changed its name to Social Capital. However, the firm experienced a significant decline in performance in 2018, leading to a return of investment capital and a transition to a family office model.
Net asset value
Chamath Palihapitiya has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion.
It is important to note that net asset value can change depending on many factors, including investment performance and market conditions.
Social Media
- Instagram Name: None
- Twitter Username: @Chamath
