Ayman Hariri

Ayman Rafic Hariri (born 16 May 1978)[2] is a Lebanese billionaire businessman, the second-youngest son of tycoon Rafic Hariri. He is the CEO and co-founder of the social network Vero, and the former CEO of Saudi Oger.[3]

Ayman Hariri
Ayman Hariri, 2019
Born
Ayman Rafic Hariri

(1978-05-16) 16 May 1978
NationalityLebanese, Saudi, French
Alma materGeorgetown University
OccupationCo-founder & CEO, Vero
Net worthUS$1.3 billion (April 2019)[1]
Children3
Parent(s)Rafic Hariri
Nazik Hariri
RelativesFahd Hariri (brother)
Hind Hariri (sister)
Saad Hariri (half-brother)

Early life

Ayman Hariri is the second-youngest son of Rafic Hariri.[1][4] Born in Saudi Arabia, Ayman moved to Paris at age 12 to attend school.[5]

He moved to the United States to study at Georgetown University and graduated in 1999 with a bachelor's degree in computer science.[1][3][6]

Career

While at Georgetown he interned at Intelsat as a programmer.[4] After college, Hariri co-founded Epok with Scott Birnbaum in 2001.[3] Epok was a distributed software platform designed to enable cross-network collaboration mostly designed for enterprises. The company primarily dealt with data privacy.[7][8][9][10]

Following his father's assassination on 14 February 2005, Hariri returned to Saudi Arabia to support his family's business and after some years became deputy CEO and deputy chairman of Saudi Oger, one of the largest construction companies in Saudi Arabia. While at Saudi Oger, Hariri oversaw some of the biggest projects the company undertook including King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), Princess Noura University in Riyadh[11] and the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh and other major public projects.[5]

In 2013, he left Saudi Oger and divested from the company in 2016. After a few years of development, Hariri launched the ad-free social network Vero in 2015.[5][2][12][13][14]

As of February 2018, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1.33 billion.[1]

Controversy

Saudi Oger

In late February 2018, Hariri's social media company, Vero, saw a marked increase in users and scrutiny.[15] This scrutiny focused especially on Saudi Oger's inability to pay its migrant workers during 2016.[16][17] According to a statement to USA Today and Gizmodo[18][19] from Vero, he ceased duties as deputy CEO and deputy chairman of his family's construction company in 2013. However, Gizmodo found references to his still being in those positions as of February 2016.[20][7] However, Gizmodo found references to his still being in those positions as late as February 2016, after the company's founding, including in one of Vero's press releases.[21]

Russia

In February 2018, a Twitter user criticized Vero for employing Russian developers in its team and questioned whether the app could be trusted on that basis. In a statement to TIME, a Vero spokesman confirmed that the company does, "like almost every global technology company" use developers from across the world including the US, Russia, UK, Europe and Africa and dismissed the claim as baseless.[22][21]

Personal life

Hariri lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with his wife and three children.[1] Hariri has a collection of rare comic books, named The Impossible Collection which he exhibited in London in 2016 at the Premiere of The Batman vs Superman.[23][24][25][26]

References
  1. "Ayman Hariri". Forbes. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  2. "Ayman Hariri" (in French). BFM TV. Archived from the original on 10 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016. Ayman HARIRI est né le 16 mai 1978. / Ayman Hariri was born on 16 May 1978.
  3. O'Brien, Sara Ashley (28 February 2018). "Who is Ayman Hariri? The Vero app cofounder is suddenly in the spotlight". CNNMoney. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  4. "Ayman Hariri". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  5. Breaking Away: Billionaire Ayman Hariri on Becoming A Tech Entrepreneur Forbes. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  6. "Executive Profile Ayman Rafic Al-Hariri". Bloomberg. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  7. "Endurance". Forbes. 7 May 2015. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. Staff, C. R. N. (21 October 2004). "Epok Poses Alternative For Managing User Access". CRN. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  9. Kearns, Dave (13 October 2004). "Introducing EPOK". Network World. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  10. Cover, Robin. "Epok TDX Identity Rights Management Platform Supports XRI 2.0". xml.coverpages.org. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  11. "Gulf's most admired execs – Ayman Hariri". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  12. Newton, Casey (2 March 2018). "As controversy swirls, social network Vero is closing in on 3 million users". The Verge. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  13. "Why everyone's talking about Vero". 27 February 2018. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  14. "Why everyone's talking about Vero". 27 February 2018. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  15. Lorenz, Taylor (28 February 2018). "As Vero Blows Up, Backlash Builds Against Social App's 'Shady' Founder". Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  16. "Saudi Oger Ltd.Angry workers burned vehicles". 9 June 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  17. Reuters. "Saudi Oger said to seek payment freeze on $3.5bn local bank debt". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  18. "Delete Vero? A movement has already started to ax the new social app". USA Today. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  19. "We Regret to Inform You That Vero Is Bad [Updated]". Gizmodo. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  20. "Impossible Collection: Billionaire Ayman Hariri wants to share his rare DC comic book collection with you". International Business Times. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  21. "Next-generation social platform provides new opportunities for British fashion designers to connect more meaningfully with their customers". 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  22. "Vero Is Taking on Instagram By Fixing the One Thing Everyone Hates About Instagram". Time. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  23. "Vero: the Ad-Free Anti-Facebook Created by a Lebanese Billionaire". Fortune. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  24. Wells, Jonathan (25 March 2016). "Billionaire Ayman Hariri: why I collect impossibly rare comics (but never take them out of their covers)". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  25. "Impossible Collection: Billionaire Ayman Hariri wants to share his rare DC comic book collection with you". International Business Times UK. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  26. "The Men Behind the Impossible Collection, the Finest Collection of Vintage Comics". www.bleedingcool.com. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
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