Vinod Khosla Biography & Net Worth

Vinod Khosla Biography & Net Worth

Indian American billionaire business tycoon and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is probably most reputed for founding the Khosla Ventures. He is also one of the founders of Sun Microsystems, and has been a fierce force in the business industry since he started his career in 1980 at the age of 25. A Carnegie Mellon University Alumni, he is counted as one of the 400 wealthiest people in America by Forbes. Keep on with reading the information available on the page for details of Vinod Khosla’s biography, businesses, and current financial situation.

Vinod Khosla’s Early Life

Vinod Khosla was born on 28 January 1955 in Delhi, India. His father served in the Indian Army as an officer and was stationed at New Delhi, India.

For his education, Vinod started by attending Mount St Mary’s School. He became interested in technology as a teen after reading about how Intel was founded in a publication by Electronic Engineering Times, and it inspired him to delve deep into technology and even pursue it as a profession. He attended IIT Delhi for a BTech in electrical engineering program before moving to Carnegie Mellon University for a degree in biomedical engineering. Furthermore, he attended Stanford Graduate School of Business where he obtained his MBA.

Vinod Khosla’s Career

His career started in the year 1980 when he was 25 years old. In 1982, he met with his fellow Stanford graduate Scott McNealy and discussed the launch of a small technology business that would be known as Sun Microsystems. The “SUN” in the name of the company was actually a reference to “Stanford University Network”, which is a computer workstation that was initiated and created by Vinod’s co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim while both men were graduate students.

Vinod’s Sun Microsystems was profitable within the first year of its existed. Scott McNealy was made chief operating officer of the company in 1984, taking over from Vinod. He would go on to serve as the company’s chief executive officer for the next 22 years, until his resignation in 2006. In 1986, the company IPO’d under the ticker symbol “SUNW”, which was in 2007, changed “JAVA”.

Like many other tech companies, Sun Microsystems experienced a wild flow in business during the dotcom explosion of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The company also retracted in the bubble’s aftermath. The stock crashed down from more than $100 per share at the bubble’s peak in 2001, to below $10 a share in 2002. Fortunately the Sun Microsystems was able to recover slowly, and crawled its way back up until it was acquired by Oracle Corporation in January 2010 for a whopping $7.4 billion.

He has also made several other notable accomplishments in his lifetime, and is also affiliated with several organizations. Khosla has founded several other businesses, and was involved with the creation of Daisy Systems in 1981. He also served as the honorary chair of DonorsChoose San Francisco Bay Area advisory board.

Awards & Achievements

As expected, a successful man like Vinod has received several honors and accolades for his works and contributions towards several aspects of business and technology. He was in 2000, presented with the American Academy of Achievement’s Golden Plate Award. In 2007, he was also awarded the Northern California region’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Vinod Khosla is an advisor for a website for competitive coding known as HackerRank. He is a member of the ad hoc team of editorial advisors for the technology news and media company Xconomy. He is also a board of trustees’ member of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at University of California, Berkeley. This center is focused on seeking solutions to address the crisis of poverty and disease in developing countries.

Personal Life & Family

He has been married to his childhood girlfriend Neeru Khosla for many decades, and they are proud parents of four children.

In 2016, Khosla endorsed Democrat Hillary Clinton in the United States presidential election.

Though Vinod Khosla is widely known as a successful businessman, he is perhaps more famous for the controversy he generated with Martin’s Beach in central California. In 2008, he purchased 53 acres of land adjacent to the beach. The property features an access track that is the only means to reach the beach by land. The people who previously owned the property (for 100 years) allowed passers consisting of members of the public to use the track. Vinod started locking a gate to the track in 2010, effectively cutting off all admittance to the beach. The fight has since set off a legal case that is yet to be resolved.

Vinod Khosla Net Worth

His wealth has come from his active involvement in many businesses and organizations which has ensured he stays in steady profits over the past decades. He made a fortune following the sales of his tech company Sun Microsystems, and has continued to invest in many other businesses with every opportunity that he gets. Vinod Khosla net worth is $2.7 billion. He is regarded as one of the world’s most brilliant and hardworking venture capitalist and investor.