Eric Boyko

Eric Boyko
Born 1970 (age 47–48)
Montreal, Quebec
Residence Montreal, Quebec
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater McGill University
Occupation Founder, president & CEO,
Stingray Digital
(2007-present)
Years active 1991–present
Website stingray.com

Eric Boyko (born 1970)[1] is a Canadian tech entrepreneur and the founder, president and CEO of digital music provider Stingray Digital.

Early life and education

Boyko was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, to a Quebecois mother and Ukrainian father.[2] He earned a bachelor of commerce degree from McGill University in 1992,[3] and became a certified general accountant in 1997.[4]

Career

Campus Gourmet and eFundraising.com

Boyko started his first business, Campus Gourmet, in 1991 at the age of 19. The company sold precooked meals to students at McGill University.[2][5] He then founded the online fundraising company Universal Fundraising Group with a $2,000 loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada.[2] It was rebranded as eFundraising.com in 1998,[5] and sold to ZapMe in 2000 for $25 million.[6]

Stingray Digital

In 2007, Boyko and Alexandre Taillefer founded digital music provider Stingray Digital Media Group,[3] with Boyko serving as president and CEO since the company's inception.[7][8] The company sells commercial-free music streams to cable and satellite television providers to add to their subscribers' packages,[2] as well as a music streaming app and an online service for consumers and businesses.[9] Unlike many of its streaming music competitors, Stingray uses human curators rather than algorithms to generate playlists.[10] It was launched with the $6 million purchase of karaoke company Soundchoice, which was then renamed The Karaoke Channel.[2][3] A year later, Stingray purchased music-streaming TV channel Galaxie from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for $65 million, and renamed it Stingray Music.[3]

Seven years after its founding, Stingray had acquired 19 other companies.[11] The company went public on June 3, 2015, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.[1][12] As of September 2015, it has 135 million subscribers in 120 countries [13], and the company saw its revenues top the $100-million mark for the first time as of the close of their previous fiscal year in March 2017. [14] In June 2017, Stingray announced that it planned to hire an additional 400 people to work in its Montreal head office over the next five years. [15]

References

  1. 1 2 Josh O’Kane, “How Stingray’s thrill-seeking CEO took his passion public,” The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Steve Ladurantaye, “Eric Boyko: Stingray’s entrepreneur a go-go-go,” The Globe and Mail, November 2, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Paul Delean, “Stingray Digital in a growth groove,” Montreal Gazette, July 24, 2014.
  4. ↑ Eric Boyko, bdc.ca. Accessed November 15, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Keith Randall, “Who Said the Path to Success is Easy?” McGill Management Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2003-04, p. 17.
  6. ↑ “Montreal company hits it big with e-fundraising,” CBC News, April 3, 2000.
  7. ↑ Robert Briel, "Q&A with Stingray’s Eric Boyko," Broadband TV News, March 10, 2015.
  8. ↑ Eric Boyko CGA: Executive Profile, Bloomberg Businessweek. Accessed November 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ “Stingray Digital said to seek about $120M in IPO,” Montreal Gazette, April 24, 2015.
  10. ↑ "Why Stingray Digital is betting it all against streaming music". Canadian Business. February 25, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ Nicolas Van Praet, “Entrepreneur behind Galaxie music is betting on TV’s survival,” Financial Post, January 24, 2014.
  12. ↑ Damon van der Linde, “Stingray Digital Group Inc plans global expansion after $140M IPO,” Financial Post, June 3, 2015.
  13. ↑ Joshua Green, “Going public easier than dealing with private equity, says Stingray Digital CEO,” Business News Network, September 17, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Stingray says Montreal expansion plans could be hampered by provincial government support". BNN. June 16, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Montreal's Stingray Digital announces plan to hire 400 people". MontrealGazette.com. June 16, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
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