Grizzly Bulls LogoGrizzly BullsHow it WorksCalculator🚀 PremiumBlog
Log In

Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index

⬅ # 736 Mark Leonard|# 738 Egor Kulkov ➡

# 737 Jeff Skoll 

$4.34B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/2/2024
$17.9M (0.41%)

# 737 Jeff Skoll 

$4.34B

Real Time Net Worth
as of 7/2/2024
$17.9M (0.41%)
OccupationFounder and Chair, Participant Media
Source of WealthEBay
Age59
ResidenceLos Angeles, California
Marital StatusSingle
EducationMBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business; BS, University of Toronto
Age-Adjusted Net Worth$4.64B
Jeff Skoll
Jeff Skoll
United States
Net worth: $4.34B

Self-Made Score 

Wealth History

Hover or tap to reveal net worth by year
Loading Chart

Biography

Overview

Jeffrey Stuart Skoll, OC, was born on January 16, 1965, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1987 with a BASc in electrical engineering and later earned his MBA from Stanford Business School in 1995.
Skoll began his career at eBay in 1996, where he served as the company's first president and first full-time employee, contributing significantly to its growth.
During his time at eBay, he wrote the business plan that guided the company's trajectory and founded the eBay Foundation, which was allocated pre-IPO stock now valued at $32 million.
Skoll left eBay in 2001, cashing out a portion of his holdings, which yielded around $2 billion, making him one of the wealthiest Canadians.
He subsequently founded Participant, a film production company aimed at creating socially conscious films, which has garnered numerous Academy Award nominations and wins.

Early Life and Education

Born to a Jewish family, Skoll's father was a chemical company owner, and his mother was a teacher.
He graduated with honors from the University of Toronto's electrical engineering program in 1987.
While an undergraduate, he co-edited the engineering students' satirical newspaper and worked various jobs, including pumping gas, to pay for college.
After graduation, Skoll backpacked around the world before returning to found two businesses in Toronto: Skoll Engineering and Micros on the Move Ltd.
He pursued further education, earning an MBA from Stanford Business School in 1995.
Skoll began his career at Knight-Ridder, working on internet projects, before joining eBay in 1996.

eBay Era

Skoll joined eBay as its first president and first full-time employee, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the company's direction and growth.
He wrote the business plan that guided eBay's expansion and profitability.
Skoll founded the eBay Foundation, which was endowed with pre-IPO stock now valued at $32 million.
After leaving eBay in 2001, he cashed out a portion of his holdings, realizing approximately $2 billion.
He transitioned into philanthropy and media entrepreneurship after leaving eBay.

Participant Media and Film Production

In 2004, Skoll founded Participant to create films that address critical social issues and inspire public engagement.
Participant's films, including "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Spotlight," have received numerous Academy Award nominations and wins.
Skoll serves as founder, owner, and chairman of Participant, which has produced over 100 films and won 21 Academy Awards.
He funded the creation of the Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at UCLA, emphasizing the power of storytelling for social change.
Participant's films tackle diverse topics such as climate change, social justice, and education reform, reflecting Skoll's progressive worldview.
Skoll's involvement in filmmaking extends to initiatives like The Audacious Project, aimed at funding impactful ideas, and Co-Impact, a collaborative philanthropic effort.

Philanthropy

Skoll is a Giving Pledge signatory and recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
He founded the Skoll Foundation in 1999, endowing it with approximately $1 billion of eBay stock to support social entrepreneurship.
Skoll has donated significant sums to address global threats, including $100 million to create the Skoll Global Threats Fund in 2009.
His philanthropic efforts focus on areas such as pandemic prevention, climate change, and social entrepreneurship.
Skoll has collaborated with other philanthropists to launch initiatives like Co-Impact and The Audacious Project, pooling resources for greater impact.
He has also funded academic centers, including the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University and the Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at UCLA.

Impact Investing

Skoll has been a pioneer in impact investing, founding Capricorn Investment Group in 2001 with a focus on socially responsible investments.
Capricorn oversees billions in assets and invests in companies aiming to deliver both financial returns and social impact.
Skoll co-founded The Rise Fund in 2016, a $2 billion social-impact fund targeting sectors like agriculture, education, and healthcare.
The Rise Fund emphasizes measurable social and environmental impact, reflecting Skoll's commitment to purpose-driven investing.
His investments include companies like Tesla, QuantumScape, and Joby Aviation, as well as initiatives promoting solar energy and rooftop installations in India.
Skoll's approach to impact investing aligns with his broader philanthropic goals, seeking to address pressing social and environmental challenges through innovative business models.

Other Activities

Skoll is a minority owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns several sports teams and venues in Washington, D.C.
He has been involved in various philanthropic and investment initiatives beyond his core endeavors.
Skoll's personal life includes his marriage to television executive Stephanie Swedlove, though they announced their divorce in January 2019.
His diverse interests span sports ownership, media, and entertainment, reflecting a broad engagement with social impact across multiple sectors.
Skoll's involvement in diverse ventures underscores his commitment to leveraging resources for positive change and innovation.
He continues to explore new avenues for impact, from media and entertainment to sports ownership and beyond.

How long would it take you to become as rich as Jeff Skoll?

If you started with $10,000 and invested an additional $500 each month at a 44.06% CAGR, it would take you 5 years to reach Jeff Skoll's net worth of $4.34B.

Is this realistic? It depends how closely the VIX-TA-Macro Advanced model performs to its history in the future. Since Grizzly Bulls launched on January 1, 2022, it's returned 48.24% compared to 16.19% for the S&P 500 benchmark.

Enter data in all but one field below, then calculate the missing value

Jeff Skoll is very wealthy, but what's stopping you from reaching that same level of success? As summarized in our five fundamental rules to wealth building, becoming wealthy in a modern capitalist economy is not complicated. There's actually only three variables:

  1. Your starting capital
  2. Your earnings after expenses
  3. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of your savings

Most people start with zero or very little, so if you weren't born into wealth, don't fret! The majority of the fortunate folks listed in our Grizzly Bulls’ Billionaires Index came from middle class or lower backgrounds. The most distinguishing characteristic of the group is their ability to consistently earn a high CAGR on their savings.

Every billionaire has a unique strategy to achieve high CAGR. For Jeff Skoll, EBay is the primary source. Whether you choose to invest your savings in your own businesses or the businesses of others is not as important. The salient piece of the puzzle is ensuring that your hard-earned savings are generating sufficient CAGR to reach your long term goals.

Most people simply invest their money in index funds and call it a day. There's nothing wrong with this approach, but it guarantees relative mediocrity. To achieve greatness, you need to invest your money to earn higher than average returns. In the long run, better investors will always finish ahead of better earners.

Source: Grizzly Bulls reporting

Methodology: Grizzly Bulls' Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires and richest people. Grizzly Bulls strives to provide the most accurate net worth calculations available. We pull data from public equity markets, SEC filings, public real estate records, and other reputable sources.

The index is dynamic and updates daily at the close of U.S. stock market trading based on changes in the markets, economy, and updates to Grizzly Bulls' proprietary algorithm of personal wealth calculation. Stakes in public companies are tracked daily based on the relevant closing prices of the underlying securities. Additionally, stakes in private companies, cash, real estate, and other less easily valued assets are updated periodically through careful analysis of insider transactions, comparable public company sales / EBITDA multiples, etc.

Edited by: Lee Bailey