Eric Hippeau

Mr. Hippeau has been involved in various capacities with SoftBank Capital’s investing activities since 1995, and joined SoftBank Capital in 2000 from SoftBank’s former subsidiary, Ziff-Davis. He has served as a media industry CEO, having spent over 25 years in senior management positions at large media companies. Mr. Hippeau joined Ziff-Davis in 1989, and he became Chairman and CEO in 1993. In 1995, SoftBank acquired Ziff-Davis, and Mr. Hippeau continued in the role of CEO until 2000, when the company was sold.

During his career at Ziff-Davis, Mr. Hippeau was early to recognize the trend toward on-line media. Under his stewardship, ZDNet became one of the few successful examples of a strong on-line business model evolving from traditional magazine content, and he was instrumental in SoftBank’s first investment in Yahoo! in 1995. Mr. Hippeau was also responsible for founding ZDTV, a cable channel dedicated to technology and the Internet, and an early success in integrating television and the Web. He also directed several successful magazines and marketing service launches in the technology and Internet field.

Mr. Hippeau was President of SoftBank International Ventures, where he established SoftBank’s international private equity funds and expanded them into Europe, Latin America and Asia. He was also SB Capital’s board representative for its direct investments in industry leading companies, such as Yahoo!, Geocities and CNET.

His experience prior to joining Ziff-Davis includes senior executive positions at International Data Group.

Mr. Hippeau serves on the boards of several public and private companies, including Yahoo!, Danger, Insider Pages, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Perpetual Entertainment, Beliefnet, Goodmail Systems, Huffington Post.com, PureVideo, ThumbPlay and Associated Content. He is also on the investment committee for the SB Asia Infrastructure Fund.

He graduated from the Lycee Francais de Londres and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris.