Marc Lore
Marc Lore is an entrepreneur and co-founder, Chief Executive Officer, and chairman of Jet.com, an e-commerce startup launched in 2014. Prior to Jet, Marc co-founded Quidsi, the parent company of a family of websites as Diapers.com and Soap.com, with childhood friend Vinit Bharara. The company was sold in 2011 to Amazon for $545 million.
Career
Marc has worked in the finance industry, at Banker's Trust, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Sanwa Bank. He then embarked on entrepreneurial ventures. He was co-founder and CEO of The Pit, Inc.,[1] which he successfully sold in 2001 to the then public Topps Company. He joined the Topps Company as the Chief Operating Officer of one of its subsidiaries, Wizkids, Inc.[2]
In 2005, he and Vinit Bharara founded 1800DIAPERS, which would be rebranded as Diapers.com and fall under the parent corporation Quidsi, Inc. According to a 2009 interview, his vision for Diapers was inspired by his own family's experience with the difficulty of keeping necessary baby-care goods in stock.[3] From 2005 to 2012 the company launched a portfolio of websites catering to families, including Soap.com and Wag.com. Lore and Bharara were successful in building a loyal customer base[4] among young parents in urban areas. To improve the economics of shipping bulky, low-margin products like diapers to their customers, they established warehouses relatively close to urban areas to take advantage of ground shipping rates,[5] instituted algorithms to minimize ship cost, and conducted warehouse operations using Kiva robots.[6] The company was sold to Amazon in 2011 for $545 million.[7] Lore then worked for Amazon for over two years.[8]
Jet.com
In 2014, Marc Lore co-founded an e-commerce company, Jet, with Nate Faust and Mike Hanrahan.[9] The company raised a total of $80 million in Series A funding, which closed in November 2014 [9] Investors include NEA, Accel Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, and Mentortech Ventures.[10] In November 2014, Jet launched a campaign offering stock options to users generating word-of-mouth for the company in advance of launch.[11] In January 2015, Jet was featured in a cover story in Bloomberg Businessweek, in which it was revealed that Jet would be a shopping club in which members will pay an annual fee of $49.99 to access the lowest prices on millions of items,[12] although the membership fee was eliminated in October 2015.[13] In February 2015 Jet raised an additional $140 million in pre-launch funding from investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Accel Partners, Alibaba Group, New Enterprise Associates, and others.[14] Beta testers in May 2015 reported cheaper prices than Amazon but longer delivery times.[15] On 21 July 2015, Jet.com opened to the public.[16]
On August 8, 2016, Walmart announced it had agreed to acquire Jet.com for $3B in cash and $300M in stock. Following the acquisition, Lore will take on a senior leadership position on the e-commerce side of Wal-Mart.[17]
Early life and education
Marc is a graduate of Bucknell University, class of 1993,[18] where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management/Economics, cum laude. He is currently on leave from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a CFA Charterholder.
References
- ^ "Beckett.com and thePit.com Team Up to Offer Daily Sports Card Pricing". www.thepit.com. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ "Executive Profile: Marc Lore". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ "The Way I Work: Marc Lore of Diapers.com". Inc.com. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ Parr, Ben. "Amazon to Acquire Diapers.com for $540 Million". Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Stone, Brad (2013). The Everything Store. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-316-21926-6.
- ^ Galante, Joseph. "Kiva Systems: The Rise of the Robots". Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Wauters, Robin. "Confirmed: Amazon Spends $545 Million On Diapers.com Parent Quidsi". Techcrunch.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ "Amazon Bought This Man's Company. Now He's Coming for Them". Bloomberg.com. January 7, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2015.
- ^ a b Crompton, Simon. "Would-be Amazon competitor Jet.com raises $80 million". Digitaljournal.com. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ D'Onfro, Jillian. "The Man Who Knows Amazon's Brutal Tactics Better Than Anyone Just Sealed $80 Million In Funding For His New Company". Business Insider. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
- ^ Fischer, Ben. "What's it take to challenge Amazon? For Jet.com, giving away equity to lure new users". Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Stone, Brad. "Amazon Bought This Man's Company. Now He's Coming for Them". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ^ "Jet.com Overhauls Business Model, Kills $50 Membership Fee to Broaden Appeal". Re/code. Retrieved 2015-10-07.
- ^ Ryan Mac (April 29, 2015). "Alibaba Secretly Invested In Amazon Challenger Jet.com". Forbes. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
Alibaba's previously undisclosed investment came as part of Jet's $140 million round in February, which was led by Bain Capital Ventures and joined by the likes of Accel Partners, New Enterprise Associates and others.
- ^ Farhad Manjoo (May 6, 2015). "Two Retail Veterans Take Aim at Amazon's E-Commerce Reign". The New York Times. Retrieved May 7, 2015.
- ^ Jet.com Opens Rivalry With Amazon After a Ragged Trial Period Retrieved 1 August 2015
- ^ Sarah Nassauer (August 8, 2016). "Wal-Mart to Acquire Jet.com for $3.3 Billion in Cash, Stock". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
- ^ Miller, Rhonda. "Define Entrepreneur". Bucknell Magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2014.