Jonah Peretti

Jonah Peretti
Peretti in April 2013
Born Jonah Peretti
(1974-01-01) January 1, 1974
United States
Alma mater University of California, Santa Cruz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Employer Contagious Media (2001–2006)
The Huffington Post
(2005–2011)
BuzzFeed (2006–present)
Known for BuzzFeed, The Huffington Post
Notable work Nike Sweatshop Emails[1]
Spouse(s) Andrea Harner
Relatives Chelsea Peretti (sister)
Website buzzfeed.com/jonah

Jonah Peretti (born January 1, 1974) [2] is an American Internet entrepreneur, a co-founder and the CEO of BuzzFeed [3] and co-founder of The Huffington Post, and developer of reblogging under the project "Reblog".[4][5][6]

Life and education

Peretti grew up in Oakland, California.[7] His father is of Italian and English descent and his mother is Jewish. His stepmother was African-American.[8][9] He attended The College Preparatory School in Oakland, followed by the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he graduated with a degree in environmental studies in 1996.[10][5] He taught computer science classes at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans, Louisiana in the mid-1990s.[11] He completed a postgrad at the MIT Media Lab.[12] While there, he became known for an email exchange[1] with Nike over a request to print "sweatshop" on custom order shoes that went viral.[13] He is the brother of comedian and writer Chelsea Peretti.[14]Their brother is a figurative artist residing in Pennsylvania, and his other sister is attending Drexel University. He is married to blogger Andrea Harner.[14][15]


Career

Peretti co-founded The Huffington Post, along with Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Arianna Huffington in 2005.[5] He left The Huffington Post in 2011 after it was bought by AOL for $315 million.[5][12][16]

In 2005, Peretti hosted the Contagious Media Showdown at Eyebeam, where he worked as Director of the R&D Lab from 2001 - 2006. During the process Peretti developed the concept of the "Bored-at-Work Network", which he supposes to be larger than some major television network audiences.[17]

Peretti founded the "Internet popularity contest" site BuzzFeed in November 2006.[18] After he left The Huffington Post, Peretti began working at BuzzFeed full-time.[12] While originally best known for its mix of internet memes and lists, the site gained new attention when it was the first to break the news that John McCain would endorse Mitt Romney in the 2012 Republican Primary.[12] The site continued to grow afterward, raising over $35 million in funding from investors the next year.[19] In August 2014, the site raised another $50 million from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, more than doubling its previous rounds of funding.[20] The site was reportedly valued at nearly $1 billion by Andreessen Horowitz.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 "Jonah Peretti and Nike". The Guardian. February 19, 2001. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Interview with Jonah Peretti". Riptide.
  3. ↑ "Mid-length video is either 'stuck in the middle' or the future of TV, depending on whether you ask BuzzFeed's CEO or Meg Whitman". Business Insider. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  4. ↑ New York Times, Building a Brand with a Blog, May 15, 2006
  5. 1 2 3 4 Mesure, Susie. "Jonah Peretti: And at number one on Buzzfeed's list is..." Independent.
  6. ↑ "Disruptors: Media". Forbes.
  7. ↑ "How BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti Is Building A 100-Year Media Company". Fast Company. Fast Company Magazine.
  8. ↑ "Interview: Chelsea and Jonah Peretti discuss their controversial Web site, blackpeopleloveus.com.(9:00-10:00 AM)(Broadcast transcript) - HighBeam Business: Arrive Prepared". business.highbeam.com.
  9. ↑ Contagiousmedia.org Archived April 2, 2004, at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ "The College Preparatory School", Wikipedia, 2018-08-11, retrieved 2018-10-13
  11. ↑ "Huffington Post, BuzzFeed co-founder Jonah Peretti started with teaching job at Newman School in New Orleans, website reports". NOLA.com.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Carr, David (February 5, 2012). "Significant and Silly at BuzzFeed". The New York Times. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  13. ↑ Serwer, Andy (December 5, 2013). "Inside the mind of Jonah Peretti". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  14. 1 2 @stylehatch, Style Hatch - http://stylehatch.co. "The Jolly, Abrupt, WTF Rise of BuzzFeed".
  15. ↑ Andrea Harner blog retrieved January 1, 2016
  16. ↑ Gustin, Sam (February 7, 2011). "AOL Buys Huffington Post for $315 Million, Arianna to Head AOL Media". Wired. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ Beaujon, Andrew. "BuzzFeed CEO: Understanding 'how information is shared' can be as valuable as 'traditional reporting talent'". Poynter.
  19. ↑ Rice, Andrew (April 7, 2013). "Does BuzzFeed Know the Secret?". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 26, 2014.
  20. 1 2 "BuzzFeed raises another $50 million to fund expansion". CNN. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
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