Marc Andreessen Net Worth

What is Marc Andreessen's Net Worth?

Marc Andreessen is an entrepreneur, software engineer, and investor who has a net worth of $2 billion. Marc co-authored Mosaic, the first widely used web browser. He also co-founded the software companies Netscape and Opsware, as well as the social media network platform Ning. Additionally, Andreessen is a general partner of his own venture capital firm, and sits on the board of directors of multiple companies including Facebook and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Early Life, Education, and Mosaic

Marc Andreessen was born on July 9, 1971 in Cedar Falls, Iowa and was raised in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. His parents are Lowell and Patricia. For his higher education, Andreessen went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As an undergraduate, he interned twice at IBM in Austin, Texas, working in the AIX graphics software development group. Andreessen also worked at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where he learned Tim Berners-Lee's open standards for the web. At NCSA, along with Eric Bina, Andreessen helped author the web browser Mosaic, which went on to become integral in popularizing the Internet for general use. Often considered the first graphical web browser, it was the first to display images inline with text. Andreessen graduated from UIUC in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in computer science.

Netscape

Following his college graduation, Andreessen moved to California to work at Enterprise Integration Technologies. He subsequently met with Silicon Graphics founder Jim Clark, who saw great potential in the Mosaic browser. The two then started the Internet software company Mosaic Communications Corporation, with Andreessen serving as vice president of technology. Because the University of Illinois was unhappy with the company's use of the name Mosaic, Andreessen and Clark changed its name to Netscape Communications. They also changed the name of their flagship web browser to Netscape Navigator. Andreessen gained widespread recognition in 1995 when Netscape made its stock launch. He was featured in a number of publications, including on the cover of Time magazine.

In 1999, Netscape was purchased by AOL for $4.3 billion. As a contingent piece of the acquisition, Andreessen was named AOL's chief technology officer. That year, he was named one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35 by the MIT Technology Review.

Loudcloud/Opsware

Later in 1999, following the acquisition of Netscape, Andreessen co-founded the software company Loudcloud with Tim Howes, Ben Horowitz, and In Sik Rhee. The company offered computing, software, and hosting services to consumer-facing Internet companies. In 2003, Loudcloud sold its hosting business to Electronic Data Systems and changed its name to Opsware; Andreessen served as the chairman. Later, in 2007, Opsware was bought by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion.

Andreessen Horowitz

Between 2005 and 2009, Andreessen and his business partner Ben Horowitz had invested a total of $80 million in 45 startup ventures, including Twitter. The pair quickly became known as super angel investors. As a result, they founded their own private venture capital firm, called Andreessen Horowitz, in 2009. Located in Menlo Park, the firm makes investments in gaming, education, e-commerce, cloud computing, security, and social, among other areas.

Andreessen Horowitz started with an initial capitalization of $300 million; within three years, it grew to $2.7 billion. Its portfolio holdings include GitHub, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Foursquare. Additionally, the firm was part of an investor group that purchased a majority stake in Skype for $2.75 billion. The risky acquisition paid off in 2011, when Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion.

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Other Business Interests

From 2008 to 2014, Andreessen sat on the board of directors of eBay. He resigned from the board due to eBay's decision to break off its online payments with PayPal, which he adamantly opposed. Andreessen has gone on to serve on the boards of numerous other companies, including Facebook, Stanford Hospital, Oculur VR, OpenGov, and TinyCo. He is a personal investor in companies including LinkedIn and Raine. Andreessen also works as an advisor for the web and mobile application Asana, and serves on the advisory board for the planned megacity of Neom, Saudi Arabia.

Among his other endeavors, Andreessen was the co-founder and chairman of Ning, a social media network platform designed to help individuals and organizations create custom social networks around specific interests. In 2011, Ning was bought by Mode Media for around $150 million.

Criticisms

Andreessen has attracted criticism over the years for his ill-informed comments. In early 2016, he was criticized for a tweet in which he suggested that anti-colonialism has been harmful to India and its people. Shortly after, he drew controversy for his support of British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos, a rightwing political commentator known for his hateful, racist, and sexist views.

Also in 2016, Andreessen received backlash for a professional conflict of interest, in which he allegedly privately coached Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg through a process to win board approval for a stock change, all while Andreessen served as an independent board member representing stockholders. Facebook shareholders filed a class action lawsuit to block Zuckerberg from creating a new class of non-voting shares.

Personal Life

In 2006, Andreessen wed philanthropist Laura Arrillaga, the daughter of real estate billionaire John Arrillaga and the founder of the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund. Together, they have a son named John.