Rumor has it that the original idea behind eBay came when he was dating Pamela Wesley, one day she asked her boyfriend (Pierre) if he knew how could she interact with other collectors to exchange dispensers. From there, the concept of a purchase intermediary came to life. The online sale and exchange of products was taking shape. AuktionMasters (1995) and a few months later came eBay (electronic bay).
As for Omidyar, he was born in Paris in 1967 but grew up in the US. In the eighties he joined the Tufts University in Boston. In 1988, he received his Computer Science degree and joined Apple’s subsidiary Claris as a programmer.
A few years later he participated in the founding of eShop and after Microsoft purchased it he continued working as a programmer at General Magic, a period in which he developed his great idea. Under the What ever it is you can get it on eBay slogan, the trade site was a leader in the person to person or P2P online market; with a simple and quick way for users to perform transactions on their own, all you needed was a credit card and a computer. In 1999, eBay began trading on the Nasdaq, later came the alliances with PayPal in 2001 and in 2005 it started working with MercadoLibre in South America.
As for today, Omidyar is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of eBay Inc. And one of the richest men in the world. But not everything in his life is business; he has also dedicated time to philanthropic activities. He has stated that he tests what he would call active philanthropy, where he worked through the foundation with non-profit organizations to improve their ability to execute, provide guidance and assist the professional development. And he has learned many lessons, some good and some not so good, since he invests part of his funds in charitable causes.