Erik Wachtmeister
| Erik Wachtmeister | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1955 Sweden |
| Residence | |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Alma mater |
Georgetown University (BS, 1977) INSEAD (MBA, 1983) |
| Occupation | Founder and CEO, A Small World (2004-09) Founder and CEO, Best of All Worlds (2012-present) |
| Years active | 1983-present |
| Title | Count |
| Spouse(s) | Louise Wachtmeister (m. 2004) |
| Children | 4 |
Count Erik Wilhelm Wachtmeister (born 1955) is a Swedish Internet entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of the social media websites ASmallWorld and Best of All Worlds. In 2012, he was ranked #31 on GQ magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential men in Britain.
Wachtmeister was born in Sweden, the son of Swedish diplomat and longtime ambassador to the United States Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1977, and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in Paris in 1983.
He traveled often during his childhood, and has lived in numerous cities around the world, including Washington, DC, New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, London, , Moscow and Kiev.
Wachtmeister spent 16 years as an investment banker, working in London, New York and Los Angeles for Lehman Brothers, Rothschild and Ladenburg Thalmann. He started his own business in 1993, raising private money for publicly listed companies. In 2000, he became the founding CEO of UK-based investment firm Viking Internet, which he later took public on the .
In March 2004, Wachtmeister and his wife Louise Wachtmeister founded the social networking website A Small World as an exclusive social networking site for a worldwide community of people already connected by three degrees of separation. It launched at almost the same time as MySpace and Facebook, two years before Facebook was made available to non-college students. It was dubbed "MySpace for millionaires" by the Wall Street Journal. To maintain its desired exclusivity, A Small World, while free, was invitation-only, open only to those invited by an existing member. Whereas Facebook soon opened its membership to everyone, A Small World remained exclusive.
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