Eduardo Saverin – Wikipedia

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Co-founder and ex-CFO of Facebook

Eduardo Luiz Saverin (; Portuguese: [eduˈaʁdu luˈis ˈsaveɾĩ]; born March 19, 1982)[4] is a Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur and angel investor based in Singapore.[5] Saverin is one of the co-founders of Facebook.[6] In 2012, he owned 53 million Facebook shares[7] (approximately 2% of all outstanding shares), valued at approximately $2 billion at the time.[8][9] He also invested in early-stage startups such as Qwiki[10] and Jumio.[11]

Early life and education[edit]

Eduardo Luiz Saverin was born in the city of São Paulo to a wealthy Jewish-Brazilian family,[6][12][13] and his family later moved to Rio de Janeiro. Saverin’s father, Roberto Saverin,[14] was a businessman working in clothing, shipping, energy, and real estate.[15] His mother, Sandra, was a psychologist. He has two siblings.[16] His Romanian-born grandfather, Eugenio Saverin (born Eugen Saverin), is the founder of Tip Top, a chain of children’s clothing shops.[16] In 1993, the family immigrated to the U.S., settling in Miami, Florida.[14]

Saverin attended Gulliver Preparatory School in Miami. He then attended Harvard University, where he was a resident of Eliot House, a member of the Phoenix S.K. Club, and president of the Harvard Investment Association. While an undergraduate at Harvard, Saverin used his interest in meteorology to predict hurricane patterns and made $300,000 via investment in oil futures.[15][17] In 2006, Saverin graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.[18] He is a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity (Eta Psi chapter of Harvard University).[19]

During his junior year at Harvard, Saverin met fellow Harvard undergraduate, sophomore Mark Zuckerberg. Noting the lack of a dedicated social networking website for Harvard students, the two worked together to launch The Facebook in 2004. They each agreed to invest $1,000 in the site. Later, Zuckerberg and Saverin each agreed to invest another $18,000 in the operation.[20] As co-founder, Saverin held the role of chief financial officer and business manager.[6] On May 15, 2012, Business Insider obtained and released an exclusive email from Zuckerberg detailing how he cut Saverin from Facebook and diluted his stake.[21] Zuckerberg privately stated at the time, “Eduardo is refusing to co-operate at all … We basically now need to sign over our intellectual property to a new company and just take the lawsuit … I’m just going to cut him out and then settle with him. And he’ll get something I’m sure, but he deserves something … He has to sign stuff for investments and he’s lagging and I can’t take the lag.” Zuckerberg’s attorney warned Zuckerberg that the dilution might trigger a lawsuit for breach of fiduciary duty. Facebook filed a lawsuit against Saverin, arguing that the stock-purchase agreement Saverin signed in October 2005 was invalid. Saverin then filed a suit against Zuckerberg, alleging Zuckerberg spent Facebook’s money (Saverin’s money) on personal expenses over the summer.[22] In 2009, both suits were settled out of court. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed and the company affirmed Saverin’s title as co-founder of Facebook. Saverin signed a non-disclosure contract after the settlement.[23][24]

In 2010, Saverin co-founded Aporta, an online portal for charity.[14] In 2015, Saverin established his venture capital firm, B Capital, investing in Southeast Asia and India.[25] In 2016, Saverin’s fund closed initial deals of over $140 million in Asia, including Ninja Van, a Singaporean logistics company that engages in last mile parcel delivery in Southeast Asia.[26]

In addition to forming B Capital, in early 2020, Saverin invested in Antler, an early-stage VC fund and startup accelerator founded by his friend and Harvard classmate, Magnus Grimeland.[27][28]

In media[edit]

Saverin is played by Andrew Garfield in the film The Social Network, which is based on Ben Mezrich’s The Accidental Billionaires.[29]

Personal life[edit]

Saverin emigrated to Singapore in 2009.[25] Saverin and Elaine Andriejanssen, an Indonesian national of Chinese descent, became engaged on March 27, 2014, and were married on June 25, 2015.[30][31] They met while they were both studying at their respective universities in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, he at Harvard and she at Tufts.[3] Andriejanssen comes from a wealthy family that runs several businesses in Indonesia.[32]

Saverin renounced his U.S. citizenship in September 2011,[33][34] thereby avoiding an estimated US$700 million in capital gains taxes. This generated media attention and controversy.[5][35][36] Saverin stated that he renounced his citizenship because of his “interest in working and living in Singapore”,[37] and denied that he left the U.S. to avoid paying taxes.[33]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Kucera, Danielle; Harper, Christine & Drucker, Jesse (May 12, 2015). “Facebook Co-Founder May Gain Choosing Singapore Over the U.S.” Bloomberg. Retrieved May 14, 2015. Saverin still does hold Brazilian citizenship, Goodman said.
  2. ^ “Saverin ‘has no plans to become S’pore citizen’“ (PDF). Today. May 17, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 26, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Chew Hui Min (July 26, 2015). “Status update: Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin marries Singapore-based Elaine Andriejanssen”. The Straits Times. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  4. ^ Internal Revenue Service (2012). “Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G”. Federal Register.
  5. ^ a b Kucera, Danielle; Vallikappen, Sanat & Harper, Christine (May 11, 2012). “Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO”. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved May 11, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c Mezrich, Ben (2009). The Accidental Billionaires. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-52937-2.
  7. ^ Eduardo Saverin (May 17, 2012). “United States Securities and Exchange Commission Initial Statement of Beneficial Ownership of Securities – Eduardo Saverin”. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  8. ^ Solomon, Brian (May 18, 2012). “Eduardo Saverin’s Net Worth Publicly Revealed: More Than $2 Billion in Facebook Alone”. Forbes.
  9. ^ “The World’s Billionaires 2017”. Forbes. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  10. ^ Bosker, Bianca (January 20, 2011). “Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Invests In Qwiki”. Huffington Post.
  11. ^ Wauters, Robin (March 17, 2011). “Exclusive: Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Leads $6.5M Round For Jumio”. TechCrunch.
  12. ^ Lipman, Jennifer (October 14, 2010). “The Social Network: How Jewish is Facebook?”. The Jewish Chronicle.
  13. ^ Amormim, Lucas (2009). “Zuckerberg: jovem, bilionário e… trapaceiro?” [Zuckerberg: young billionaire … cheater?]. Exame (in Portuguese). Editora Abril. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  14. ^ a b c “Eduardo Saverin, o brasileiro do Facebook, conta sua história” [Eduardo Saverin, the Brazilian of Facebook, tells his story]. Veja (in Portuguese). Grupo Abril. May 26, 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  15. ^ a b Tagiaroli, Guilherme; Ikeda, Ana (October 22, 2010). “Conheça Eduardo Saverin, o brasileiro que ajudou a fundar o Facebook” [Meet Eduardo Saverin, the Brazilian who helped found Facebook]. UOL (in Portuguese). Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  16. ^ a b Antunes, Anderson (May 27, 2012). “Eduardo Saverin Finally Opens Up: ‘No Hard Feelings Between Me And Mark Zuckerberg”. Forbes. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
  17. ^ Mezrich, Ben (July 17, 2009). “A Facebook Tale: Founder Unfriends Pals on Way Up”. NPR.
  18. ^ “Facebook Founders Bios”. Facebook.
  19. ^ “Eduardo Saverin: 10 Things To Know About The Facebook Co-Founder”. International Business Times. May 4, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  20. ^ Hoffman, Claire (September 15, 2010). “The Battle For Facebook”. Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  21. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (May 15, 2012). “Exclusive: Here’s The Email Zuckerberg Sent To Cut His Cofounder Out Of Facebook”. Business Insider. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  22. ^ Carlson, Nicholas (May 15, 2012). “Exclusive: How Mark Zuckerberg booted his co-founder out of the company”. Business Insider. Retrieved November 22, 2018.
  23. ^ Thomas, Owen (January 30, 2009). “Facebook Founders Settle Their Feud”. Gawker.
  24. ^ Carvalho dos Santos, Alexandre; Marcelo Rainho (October 2009). “A misteriosa história do brasileiro que fundou o Facebook” [The mysterious story of the Brazilian who founded Facebook.]. Superinteressante (in Portuguese). São Paulo: Editora Abril (270): 94–97. ISSN 0104-1789. OCLC 60743498.
  25. ^ a b Konrad, Alex. “Life After Facebook: The Untold Story Of Billionaire Eduardo Saverin’s Highly Networked Venture Firm”. Forbes. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  26. ^ Russell, Jon (May 19, 2016). “Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s new fund closes initial $140 Million for deals in Asia”. TechCrunch. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
  27. ^ Dowd, Kevin. “Meet Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard Classmate Who Is Trying To Build A Global Startup Factory”. Forbes.
  28. ^ O’Hear, Steve (January 6, 2020). “Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin backs ‘startup generator’ Antler”. TechCrunch. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  29. ^ Karim, Anhar (November 16, 2020). “‘The Social Network’s’ Denise Grayson On Being A Lawyer, Then Playing One”. Forbes. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  30. ^ Iyengar, Rishi (July 26, 2015). “Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Confirms News of Wedding in Facebook Post”. Time. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  31. ^ Karmali, Naazneen (June 25, 2015). “Secret Wedding Celebration Of Facebook Co-Founder Eduardo Saverin Kicks Off”. Forbes. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  32. ^ Chia, Stacey (June 20, 2015). “Eduardo Saverin’s lover studied at Raffles Girls’ School, Indonesian family runs several businesses”. AsiaOne. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  33. ^ a b Mathews, Merrill (May 23, 2012). “In Praise of Eduardo Saverin’s Tax Avoidance”. Forbes. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  34. ^ “So How Much Did He Really Save?”. The Wall Street Journal. May 18, 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2016.
  35. ^ McCormick, Jason (July 11, 2012). “5 citizens who left the United States to avoid paying tax”. CBS News. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  36. ^ Worstall, Tim (May 12, 2012). “IPO Will Increase, Not Reduce, His Tax Bill”. Forbes. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  37. ^ Benoit, David (May 17, 2012). “Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Fires Back At ‘Misinformation’“. The Wall Street Journal.

Further reading[edit]

Saverin, Eduardo (October 15, 2010). “Facebook Co-Founder Speaks Publicly: What I Learned From Watching ‘The Social Network’“. CNBC. Saverin, Eduardo (October 15, 2010). “Facebook Co-Founder Speaks Publicly: What I Learned From Watching ‘The Social Network’“. CNBC.

External links[edit]