eBay’s first full-time employee left the company and built a $5.9 billion fortune

Jeff Skoll helped turn eBay from a young online auction site into one of the defining technology companies of the internet boom. He later left the company and built a second career around philanthropy, impact investing and filmmaking.

According to Forbes, Skoll met eBay founder Pierre Omidyar while studying for an MBA at Stanford University. He was initially unconvinced by Omidyar’s idea for an online marketplace, but eventually recognised its potential. Skoll joined eBay in its early years, becoming its first full-time employee and president.

Celebrity Net Worth says he wrote the company’s first business plan and helped develop its operating structure. He also helped establish the feedback system that allowed buyers and sellers to rate one another. At a time when online shopping remained unfamiliar to many people, the system helped build trust between strangers conducting transactions online.

The company went public in September 1998, with shares initially priced at $18. By April 1999, eBay’s market value had reached about $25 billion, making both Omidyar and Skoll billionaires. Skoll left the company in 2001, three years after the IPO.

His departure marked a shift away from building personal wealth and toward addressing social problems. Forbes estimates his fortune at $5.9 billion. The Skoll Foundation and Skoll Global Threats Fund have donated about $1.2 billion worldwide over more than two decades, supporting work involving poverty, health and environmental challenges. Experiences in Skoll’s early life, including his father’s cancer and regret about not having enough time to pursue his dreams, influenced how Skoll viewed the purpose of work and wealth.