Eric Hippeau

Eric Hippeau is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau, a New York City based angel fund specializing in financing technology startups. Prior to this, Hippeau was the CEO of the Huffington Post which he joined in June, 2009, after investing through SoftBank Capital and taking a Board seat in 2006.

Prior to joining HuffPost, Hippeau was managing partner at SoftBank Capital. Hippeau joined SoftBank Capital in 2000 from Ziff-Davis, Inc., where he was Chairman and CEO. Hippeau joined Ziff-Davis in 1989 as Publisher of PC Magazine. He became President in 1991 and Chairman and CEO in 1993. In 1995, SoftBank acquired Ziff-Davis, and Hippeau continued in the role of CEO until 2000, when the company was sold. Hippeau was also responsible for founding ZDTV, a cable channel dedicated to technology and the Internet.

Hippeau was President of SoftBank International Ventures, where he established SoftBanks international private equity funds and expanded them into Europe, Latin America and Asia. He was also SB Capitals board representative for its direct investments in companies, such as Yahoo!, Geocities and CNET.

Hippeau serves on the boards of several public and private companies including Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, BuddyMedia, and BuzzFeed. He served on Yahoo!'s board of directors. He is also on the investment committee for the SB Asia Infrastructure Fund. Hippeau graduated from the Lycee Francais de Londres and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris.