David Bohnett
March 5, 2001 A New Economy millionaire, David Bohnett made his fortune creating online communities. In 1994, he founded Geocities, a Web site composed of home pages organized by special interests like sports, politics, and punk rock. The company flourished by cashing in on advertising, sponsorships, and other forms of electronic commerce; by 1998, the Internet tracking service Media Metrix ranked Geocities as one of the Web's four most-visited sites. Yahoo! bought Geocities in 1999, a merger the Los Angeles Times called "the largest acquisition involving a Southern California Internet start-up" to date. The deal resulted in a $350 million profit for Bohnett. Soon after, he established the David Bohnett Foundation , a grantmaking organization that supports gun control, voter registration, and lesbian and gay social services. Bohnett, who currently manages an investment firm called Baroda Ventures, makes political contributions that echo his charitable interests. Several of his largest donations in the last election cycle went to the Stonewall Democratic Club and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. -- Suzanne Boothby | | |
