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{{short description|Danish entrepreneur (born 1976)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

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| birth_place = Copenhagen, Denmark| death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = Co-founder of Skype, KaZaA and Rdio| occupation = Entrepreneur}}Janus Friis ({{IPA-da|ˈjɛːnus ˈfʁiˀs|lang}}; born 26 June 1976)tvweek.com {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122041021weblink |date=2009-11-22 }} is a Danish entrepreneur best known for co-founding the file-sharing application Kazaa, and the peer-to-peer telephony application Skype. In September 2005, he and his business partner Niklas Zennström sold Skype to eBay for $2.6B. Friis has maintained ownership interest in Skype through Silver Lake Partners,WEB,weblink About Skype: What is Skype?, 2011-05-10,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110511000725weblink">weblink 2011-05-11, dead, which sold Skype to Microsoft for $8.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=8500000000|start_year=2011}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}), in May 2011.NEWS,weblink Skype: The inside story of the boffo $8.5 billion deal, Fortune, 2017-10-12, en, Friis and Zennström also developed Joost—an interactive software application for distributing TV shows and other forms of video content over the Web. The assets of this service were sold to Adconion Media Group in November 2009.NEWS,weblink Joost Is Now Officially Dead – Assets Acquired By Adconion Media Group, Wauters, Robin, TechCrunch, 2017-10-12, en, Independently, Friis founded video streaming startup Vdio in 2011.WEB,weblink Gigaom {{!, The industry leader in emerging technology research|website=gigaom.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-10-12|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103221356weblink|archivedate=2011-11-03}}Friis and Ahti Heinla founded Starship Technologies in 2014, to develop small self-driving delivery robots.WEB, Curtis, Sophie, Skype founders invent self-driving robot that can deliver groceries for £1,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151103043241weblink">weblink dead, 3 November 2015, telegraph.co.uk, 25 October 2017,

Career

Friis had no formal higher education, dropping out of high school before starting a job at the help desk of CyberCity, one of Denmark's first Internet service providers. He met Zennström in 1996. At that time, Zennström headed Tele2 in Denmark, and Friis was hired to run its customer support.Zennström: "Jag behöver ingen lön" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207132355weblink |date=2008-12-07 }}. Dagens Industri. Retrieved on 2008-03-22. Friis and Zennström worked together at Tele2 to launch get2net, another Danish ISP, and the portal everyday.com.After this, the partners decided to leave Tele2. Friis moved into Zennström's small apartment in Amsterdam in January 2000 where they started developing KaZaA,Zennströms miljardärsresa {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207132349weblink |date=2008-12-07 }}. Dagens Industri. Retrieved on 2008-03-22. the company responsible for the most popular software for use with the FastTrack file sharing network protocol. Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström developed the FastTrack protocol in 2001.BOOK, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, E-Commerce and Development Report 2004, 2004, United Nations Publications, 9211126533, 82,weblink 25 October 2017, From the success of KaZaA's peer-to-peer technology the duo co-founded Joltid, a software company developing and marketing peer-to-peer solutions and peer-to-peer traffic optimization technologies to companies.Friis is also co-founder of Altnet, a network that sells commercial music to KaZaA users.Friis founded the online music streaming service Rdio with Zennström in 2010. It filed for bankruptcy in November 2015 and announced the sale of assets to Pandora Radio for $75 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=75000000|start_year=2015}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).WEB, Pandora To Buy Rdio Assets For $75M In Cash, Rdio Files Ch.11, Will Shutter Service,weblink TechCrunch, 2015-11-18, Ingrid, Lunden, 16 November 2015, In 2012, Friis co-founded Wire, a secure collaboration platform that uses end-to-end encryption to protect digital assets.WEB,weblink 'Wire': Skype co-founder Janus Friis launches ultra-private messaging, with video, 12 March 2016, Friis and Ahti Heinla founded Starship Technologies in 2014, to develop small self-driving delivery robots. In September 2016, the robots took the streets in San Francisco in a test authorized by the city.WEB,weblink Starship robots try out deliveries on SF sidewalks, 21 September 2016, 2016-09-28,

Awards

Friis was named in Time Magazine's list of 100 most influential people in 2006.MAGAZINE, Gosling, James, The Skype Guys,weblink Time, 8 May 2006, 25 October 2017, In 2006 Janus Friis got the prestigious award “IT-prisen” ("The IT Prize") in his home country, given by the Danish IT industry and IDG, for his work and innovation.He and Zennström were also the co-recipients of the 2006 Wharton Infosys Business Transformation Award, given to business and individuals who have used information technology in a way that changed an industry or society as a whole.

Personal life

He was engaged to Danish recording artist Aura Dione but the couple split up in April 2015.NEWS,weblink Slut for Aura og Skype-milliardær, 2017-10-12,

Notes and references

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External links

• Atomico Ventures - Friis' venture capital firm
• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100903175838weblink">The Skype Guys: The 2006 TIME 100
• Wire - new project by Janus Friis