Chris DeWolfe (born ) is an American technology entrepreneur. He co-founded

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

in 2003 and was its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) until 2009. DeWolfe has been the CEO of Jam City, a

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

, since he co-founded it in 2010.

Early life and education

DeWolfe is a native of

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, and went to Lincoln High School. DeWolfe graduated with a B.A. from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

in 1988, then completed an MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business in 1997. He was honored by the school as Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006.

Career

Myspace

DeWolfe conceived

while taking a course titled "The Impact of Tech on Media and Entertainment" during the final year of his MBA program. In the final project for his class, DeWolfe created "Sitegeist", which had elements of Citysearch and Match.com mixed with

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

. DeWolfe got an "A" on his project and used it as inspiration in creating Myspace. He co-founded Myspace in 2003. DeWolfe was involved with the sale of Myspace to

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

in 2005 for , and remained as its

(CEO) until March 2009, at which point Myspace was larger than its competitor,

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. During DeWolfe's tenure, Myspace grew to attract over 135 million worldwide visitors a month. On April 22, 2009, News Corporation announced that DeWolfe would step down as CEO to become a strategic adviser and serve on the board of Myspace China. Former Facebook executive Owen Van Natta replaced him.

Jam City

DeWolfe is a co-founder and the CEO of Jam City, a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

-based

. The inspiration for Jam City came during DeWolfe’s days at Myspace. In a 2006 trip DeWolfe made to Japan, he met with SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son, where the two discussed gaming and the potential of mobile gaming. The social nature of games and the fast growth of mobile gaming in countries like Japan inspired him to start Jam City. DeWolfe founded Jam City in 2010 with former

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

executive Josh Yguado and former Myspace executives Colin Digiaro and Aber Whitcomb when they received backing from Austin Ventures to buy the gaming startup MindJolt. Under DeWolfe's leadership, Jam City has grown to more than 825 employees and nine studios, as of May 2021. Its games, which include '' Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery'', ''Cookie Jam'', ''Panda Pop'', ''Disney Emoji Blitz'', and '' Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff'', have been downloaded 1.3 billion times and Jam City reached a deal to become a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

through a merger with DPCM Capital Inc., with a $1.2 billion valuation.

Accolades

In 2006, DeWolfe was named one of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''s 100 most influential people in the world. In 2007, he was chosen by Barbara Walters as one of her 10 most fascinating people and he won the

Producers Guild of America The Producers Guild of America (PGA) is a 501(c)(6) trade association representing the interests Television producer, television producers, Film producer, film producers and emerging media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership inclu ...

's Vanguard Award in 2009.

Other roles

DeWolfe is an investor in the travel site Gogobot. He served on the board of trustees of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and is on the board of directors for Woven Digital.

Personal life

DeWolfe lives in Los Angeles. He has two children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeWolfe, Chris American technology chief executives Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon Living people Marshall School of Business alumni Myspace University of Washington alumni Year of birth missing (living people)