Eric Hippeau served as Chief Executive Officer of The Huffington Post from June, 2009 through March, 2011, when the Huffington Post was sold to AOL. In September 2006, Hippeau’s investment firm, Softbank Capital, was the first institutional investor in the Huffington Post, which was founded by Arianna Huffington and Kenneth Lerer in 2005. He started serving on the Board of Directors at the time of the investment.
Prior to joining HuffPost, Hippeau was managing partner at Softbank Capital, a New York and Boston-based venture capital fund specializing in early stage investments in technology and digital media. He served on the board of Yahoo! from March 2, 1996 through April, 2011 and served on the boards of Geocities, CNET, Asia Global Crossing among others.
Hippeau was also President of SoftBank International Ventures, where he established SoftBank’s international private equity funds and expanded them into Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Hippeau joined Softbank Capital in 2000 from Ziff-Davis, Inc., where he was Chairman and CEO. Ziff- Davis was the preeminent media company serving the technology industry, publishing leading computer magazines such as PC Magazine and Computer Shopper. The company also conducted media trade shows such as Comdex, and offered media and marketing services in high technology.
Hippeau joined Ziff-Davis in 1989, as publisher of PC Magazine, became president of the company in 1991, and took the helm as Chairman and CEO in 1993. During his career at Ziff-Davis, Hippeau was early to recognize the growth potential of online media. Under his stewardship, ZDNet became one of the few successful examples of a strong online business model evolving from traditional magazine content, and he was instrumental in SoftBank’s first investment in Yahoo! in 1995. 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. In 1995, SoftBank acquired Ziff-Davis, and Hippeau continued in the role of CEO until 2000, when the company was sold.
His experience prior to joining Ziff-Davis includes senior executive positions at International Data Group.
Hippeau now serves on the boards of several public and private companies including Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, BuddyMedia, and BuzzFeed.
Hippeau graduated from the Lycee Francais de Londres and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris.
