Joe Shapira
Israeli entrepreneur
Joe (Yoav) Shapira (Hebrew: ג'ו שפירא) is a digital media entrepreneur who resides in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Los Angeles, California.2
From Wikipedia’s article on Joe Shapira (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1953.1
Companies
- Spark NetworksFounder9
Early life and education
- Date not recordedOrt Singalovsky Educational Complex3
Shapira was born and raised in Givataim, Israel. He graduated in 1972 from Ort Yad Singalovsky, and enlisted in the Israeli Air Force, and received an honourable discharge after three years of service, during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
In 1979 Shapira immigrated to the United States and commenced a career as an entrepreneur.
From Wikipedia’s article on Joe Shapira (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career
Occupation: entrepreneur.6
- Date not recordedFounded JDate4
- Date not recordedFounded Spark Networks5
Sha-Rub Investment Co.
Shapira's first notable venture was Sha-Rub Investment Co., founded in 1981 with his cousin, Sheila C. Ruby. The company acquired distressed real properties, renovated and resold them in a rapidly appreciating market.
Matrix Video Corporation
In 1987 Shapira founded Matrix Video Corporation with Alon Carmel. Videocassette recorders were selling at the retail market and Shapira predicted an expanding demand for blank and pre-recorded video cassettes.
The company soon became one of the largest manufacturers of blank and pre-recorded video cassettes in the West Coast and later executed an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Read more
Jdate.com
Shapira's most notable venture, Jdate.com, was founded in 1996 with Alon Carmel (incorporated later as Matchnet PLC). Jdate rapidly expanded to dominate Jewish online dating outside of Israel. Led by Shapira, as chairman of the board and chief executive officer, Matchnet raised close to $50 million, including in an IPO of its shares on the Frankfurt (Germany) Stock Exchange, using these funds to consolidate the internet dating space during 2000–2005 via 12 acquisitions totaling more than $30 million. Leveraging on this acquisition as well as creative large-scale marketing techniques, Matchnet expanded rapidly and reached a customer base of more than 20 million to position itself as a global leader in the online dating business. Shapira also led the expansion of Jdate into Israel and the later acquisition of its main Israeli competitor, Cupid.co.il.
From Wikipedia’s article on Joe Shapira (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Personal life
Shapira has three children from his first wife.
From Wikipedia’s article on Joe Shapira (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Links
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataJoe Shapira on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaJoe Shapira on Wikipedia
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9WikidataSpark Networks, Founder
- 10Wikimedia CommonsJoe Shapira photo by אסף שילה, CC BY-SA 3.0