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Jodee Rich
File:Easy Riding on the Information Highway - cover.jpg
Born (1960-02-01) 1 February 1960 (age 65)
New York
Occupation(s)Founder and CEO, PeopleBrowsr

John David "Jodee" Rich (born 1960) is an Australian businessman and currently the CEO of PeopleBrowsr.

Family and education

During their travels from Germany to London and finally New York in the 1930s and 1940s, the Richheimer family anglicised their name to "Rich."[1] In 1963, Jodee Rich's father, Steven Rich, settled in Australia to manage Hunter Douglas, a venetian blind manufacturer.[2] Steven went on to create the Traveland travel agency, was the deputy chairman of the Salvation Army in 1971 and was awarded an Order of Australia in 2001.[3]  Steven Rich sold Traveland to Ansett in 1986, Ansett’s chairman, Sir Peter Abeles, described him as "an extremely shrewd businessman and a tough competitor".[4]  He subsequently created Focus Publishing[5] and at 79 was working from Focus's Bondi Junction offices every day.[6]

Jodee Rich wrote his first program in 1972 on punch cards at the age of 12. He was educated at Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, Sydney. During his Cranbrook days Rich started a business renting fish tanks.[7] At Cranbrook he met many of people who would become directors of One Tel including: Rodney Adler who later became a non-executive director of his failed business One.Tel and HIH Insurance, before going to prison,[8] James Packer,[9] and Lachlan Murdoch,[10] among others.[11] In 1980 Rich developed a commodity analysis system on 64k Apple II, which was later sold to investment banks. He studied Accounting, Economics and Computer Science at University of Sydney, earning a BEc in 1981.

Imagineering

In 1981, Rich launched Imagineering Australia and the company was floated in 1987.  Shares in Imagineering peaked at $8 [12] and he was soon a young multi-millionaire, but rising interest rates in combination with high gearing saw Imaginnering was sold to a Hong Kong group, for 10c a share in 1990[8] and is now a part of Ingram Micro.

One.Tel

Rich formed One.Tel, a service provider of GSM mobile and long distance calls, in Australia in 1995 (with James Packer as a shareholder) to challenge Australian telecommunications heavyweights Telstra and Optus.[13] In 1997 Rich published a book called “Easy Riding on the Information Highway” alongside Helen Meredith and Adam Long which aimed to introduce the internet  and explain the impact of changing digital technology. One.Tel expanded its operations overseas in 1998. In 1999, Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting and News Corporation made a $600 million investment in the business and committed to building Australia's fourth mobile network. The company acquired a GSM operation for $500 million in 2000.

One.Tel Australia was placed in administration in May 2001, after PBL and News Corporation withdrew their earlier stated support for an underwritten rights issue. One.Tel UK was sold to British Gas for $200 million and is still trading with more than 1 million customers.[14]

Beginning in December 2001, Rich was the defendant in legal proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).[8] Rich was in the witness box for over 33 days,[15] his father Steven died two weeks before Rich gave evidence in the case.[16]

Rich was exonerated when Justice Robert Austin handed down his judgment in ASIC v Rich on 18 November 2009, finding that ASIC had "failed to prove any aspect of its pleaded case".[17] Justice Austin also said in his judgment Jodee "demonstrated that he was a very well prepared witness, knowledgeable about the subject matter of his evidence, who responded to questions thoughtfully and clearly, sometimes even perceptively. This was notwithstanding the arduous circumstances of his cross examination, extending over 25 days".[18][19]

PeopleBrowsr and Kred

In 2007, Rich founded PeopleBrowsr, a company which aims to give new Top Level Domain owners the ability to launch their own social networks, with full engagement and analytics.[20] In 2011, PeopleBrowsr launched Kred Influence Measurement.[21] Rich has been quoted as saying: “I'm really excited about what we're doing in social media. I think it's something that's truly changing the world in a very positive way and it's a private business and I'm enjoying it a lot”.[22]

See also

Further reading

  • Paul Barry, Rich Kids: How the Murdochs and Packers Lost $950 Million in One.Tel, Bantam Books, revised edition, 2003, ISBN 978-1-863-25339-0

References

  1. ^ (http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879)
  2. ^ <http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879>
  3. ^ <http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879>
  4. ^ <http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879>
  5. ^ http://sydney.edu.au/senate/historyCentenaryBook.shtml
  6. ^ http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WORLD-OBITS/2006-06/1149422879
  7. ^ Chenoweth 2006: 257
  8. ^ a b c Adler settles in One.Tel bonus case Elisabeth Sexton, 27 October 2007, The Sydney Morning Herald
  9. ^ <http://www.thepowerindex.com.au/power-kids/one.tel-judgment-a-win-for-the-rich-kids/20110512153>
  10. ^ <http://www.smh.com.au/business/packer-murdoch-still-pursued-for-onetel-millions-20121125-2a1i0.html>
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/08/16/1029114007430.html>
  13. ^ <http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/05/1017206265393.html>
  14. ^ <http://www.onetel.co.uk/>
  15. ^ <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71-Tylfmrt0>
  16. ^ <http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/2762328.htm>
  17. ^ Australian Securities and Investment Commission judgement 18 November 2009
  18. ^ Jodee Rich’s Uphill pedal ends Sussanah Moran, 19 November 2009, The Australian
  19. ^ ASIC Chased wrong men Elisabeth Sexton, 19 November 2009, The Age
  20. ^ Peoplebrowsr Summary Deck Jodee Rich, June 2010
  21. ^ Schonfeld, Erick. "You Might Have Klout, But What's Your Kred?". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  22. ^ <http://www.abc.net.au/sundayprofile/stories/2762328.htm>
Notes

Chenoweth, Neil (2006). Packer's Lunch. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-74114-546-5.

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