Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 30 December 1968 (age 56)[1] Chandigarh,[2] India |
| Nationality | Indian-American |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Hotmail.com |
| Spouse |
Tanya Sharma
(m. 2008; div. 2013) |
| Children | 3 |
Sabeer Bhatia (born 30 December 1968)[3] is an Indian American businessman who co-founded the first free web-based email service, Hotmail.com (now Outlook.com) in 1996.[4] In 2021 he co-founded ShowReel with Javed Yunus. ShowReel initially hosted short videos for job seekers and founders. It has since turned into an AI-based entrepreneurship course.[5]
Early life and education
[edit]Bhatia was born in Chandigarh on December 30th, 1968, to Baldev Bhatia and Daman Bhatia. His father was a captain in the Indian Army, and his mother was working at the Central Bank of India.[6]
Bhatia studied at The Bishop's School, Pune. He then studied at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Bengaluru, and St. Joseph's Pre-University College, Bengaluru. In 1985, he enrolled at BITS Pilani, where he studied for two years before earning a highly competitive transfer scholarship to the California Institute of Technology to complete his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He then attended Stanford University, where he obtained his master’s degree in electrical engineering.[7]
Career
[edit]Bhatia briefly worked for Apple Inc, as a hardware engineer[8] and Firepower Systems Inc. He, along with his colleague Jack Smith, set up Hotmail on 4 July 1996, American Independence Day, symbolizing "freedom" from ISP-based e-mail and the ability to access a user's inbox from anywhere in the world.[9]
As president and CEO, Bhatia led Hotmail until its eventual acquisition by Microsoft in 1998 for an estimated $400 million.[citation needed]
Bhatia started a free messaging service called JaxtrSMS. He said that JaxtrSMS would do to SMS what Hotmail did for e-mail. Claiming it to be a disruptive technology, he says that the operators will lose revenue on the reduced number of SMSes on their network but will benefit from the data plan that the user has to buy.[10] To date, JaxtrSMS service has failed to replicate the success of Hotmail.
In 2006, Sabeer proposed the construction of "Nano City", a city that would be similar to Silicon Valley in northern India.[11] It was approved by the state government of Haryana in September. By 2010, no progress had been made; the project was cancelled by the HSIIDC later that year.[12][13]
Recently[when?], he invested in email collaboration software, ccZen and another e-commerce technology provider E-junkie.
Personal life
[edit]Bhatia is of Sindhi Hindu heritage.[14][15]
Bhatia married Tanya Sharma in 2008 and they have a daughter Arianna. Later, they filed for divorce in January 2013 in a court in San Francisco, citing "irreconcilable differences".[16]
References
[edit]- ^ Bhatia, Sabeer (10 August 2002). "Sabeer Bhatia downloaded". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ Gibbs, Samuel (11 April 2014). "The most powerful Indian technologists in Silicon Valley". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ Bhatia, Sabeer (10 August 2002). "Sabeer Bhatia downloaded". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 May 2010. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ "Sabeer Bhatia bio". its.caltech.edu. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
- ^ Rajan, Jessica (20 October 2023). "Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia's Showreel to become AI-based learning platform". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ "Sabeer Bhatia downloaded". The Times of India. 10 August 2002.
- ^ Partners, LCR Capital (28 June 2019). "Immigrant Profile: Sabeer Bhatia | LCR Capital Immigrant Stories". LCR Capital Partners.
- ^ Raj Shamani (20 August 2024). The Story Of Hotmail, Rich Lifestyle, Microsoft, Apple & Elon Musk -Sabeer Bhatia |FO242 Raj Shamani. Retrieved 26 August 2024 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sabeer Bhatiya : The founder of "Hotmail.com"". 4to40.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ "AFP: Hotmail co-founder launches free SMS service". Archived from the original on 25 November 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ Nano City on lines of Silicon Valley in Haryana – Times Of India
- ^ 3 yrs on, Sabeer Bhatia’s project a non-starter Indian Express, 11 May 2010
- ^ Nano City project called off Indian Express, 7 July 2010
- ^ Sakhrani, Tarun (4 January 2016). "The Sindhis of Sindh And Beyond". HuffPost. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ Pal, Joyojeet (30 May 2008). "Computers and the Promise of Development: Aspiration, Neoliberalism and 'Technolity' in India's ICTD enterprise" (PDF). University of California at Berkeley. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ^ "Splitsville for Sabeer Bhatia and wife". The Times of India. 20 June 2013.
Further reading
[edit]- Hirahara, Naomi; Smith, Henrietta M. (2003). Distinguished Asian American Business Leaders. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 23–26. ISBN 978-1573563444. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
- Bronson, Po, "HotMale: Sabeer Bhatia started his company on $300,000 and sold it two years later for $400 million. So, is he lucky, or great?", Wired, Issue 6.12, December 1999
- Sabeer Bhatia; Asian American Journalists Association (2000). Asian-Americans & society. West Lafayette, Ind., C-SPAN Archives. ISBN 9781573563444. OCLC 51456022.
- 1968 births
- Living people
- Businesspeople from Chandigarh
- Indian emigrants to the United States
- American computer scientists
- American people of Sindhi descent
- American people of Indian descent
- Apple Inc. employees
- Indian technology company founders
- American technology company founders
- Hardware engineers
- Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani alumni
- California Institute of Technology alumni
- Stanford University alumni
- American technology chief executives
- Microsoft employees
- Indian Hindus
- 20th-century Indian engineers
- 21st-century American inventors