Jay S. Walker
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Jay Scott Walker (born November 5, 1955) is an American
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...
and chairman of
Walker Digital Walker Digital is a privately held American research and development lab based in Stamford, Connecticut. It was founded in 1994 by Jay S. Walker, who also holds the position of chairman as of 2011. The company specializes in creating applicatio ...
, a privately held research and development lab focused on using digital networks to create new business systems. Walker is also curator of
TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...
since 2011, and a founder of Priceline.com (now known as
Booking Holdings Booking Holdings Inc. is an American travel technology company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and based in Norwalk, Connecticut, that owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel fare metasearch engines inclu ...
) and Synapse Group, Inc. In 2000, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at $1.6 billion. By October 2000, his estimated worth was down to $333 million. As of 2013, he is not on the Forbes list of the world's billionaires. A 1999 ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' profile of Walker noted his reliance on patents as a business model. When developing patents, Walker uses a methodology that streamlines the process of identifying problems and developing their solutions. By pulling apart and eliminating "false problems", the methodology identifies solutions, which – according to Walker – have sustainable components that can lead to a long-term sustainable business. Walker owns 12 business method patents and 240 others pending.


Early life

Walker attended
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
where he majored in Industrial and Labor Relations and was a member of the
Quill and Dagger Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University, founded in 1893. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated that election into Quill and Dagger and similar societies constituted "the highest non-scholastic honor within reach of unde ...
society and the
Sigma Phi Society The Sigma Phi Society () is an American college fraternity. Established in 1827 at Union College in Schenectady, New York, it was the second Greek letter fraternal organization founded in the United States. Sigma Phi was the first collegiate soci ...
. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1978. While at Cornell, Walker was president of the Ivy League Monopoly Association, and co-authored the book ''1000 Ways to Win
Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
Games,'' with future Cornell president
Jeffrey S. Lehman Jeffrey Sean Lehman (born August 1, 1956) is an American legal scholar and academic administrator who is the vice chancellor of New York University Shanghai. Known as an advocate for the role of universities in globalization, he previously served ...
. This drew the ire of
Parker Brothers Parker Brothers (known as Parker outside of North America) was an American toy and game manufacturer which in 1991 became a brand of Hasbro. More than 1,800 games were published under the Parker Brothers name since 1883. It remained family owne ...
, who threatened legal action and denied Walker admission to its sanctioned Monopoly tournaments. This in turn led Walker to join forces with Ralph Anspach, the inventor of Anti-Monopoly, who was also engaged in a legal battle with Parker Brothers.


Business career


Synapse

In 1992 Walker and Michael LoebMichael Loeb Biography https://www.loeb.nyc/michael-loeb co-founded New Sub Services, today known as
Synapse Group Synapse Group, Inc. is a multichannel marketing company. Synapse is also the largest consumer magazine distributor in the United States, with access to over 700 magazine titles from major publishers, including Hearst Corporation, Condé Nast Pu ...
, a company that used the credit card network to process magazine subscriptions. By 1998 Synapse had sold 30 million magazine subscriptions, with sales approaching $300 million. For his work, Walker won the Direct Marketing Association’s "Direct Marketer of the Year" award in 1999.“DMA Names Microsoft-MSN 2007 Marketer of the Year/ Past DMA Marketers of the Year,”
Direct Marketers Association, 10/16/2007
In 2004, and again in 2005, Synapse was named one of the 25 "Best Places to Work in America""About Synapse," http://www.synapsegroupinc.com/, retrieved 03-15-11. among medium-sized companies by the Great Place to Work Institute. Synapse employs more than 250 people. In 2001 Time Warner purchased a controlling stake in Synapse for a sum in excess of $500 million, completing the transaction in 2006.


Priceline

Walker Digital launched
Priceline.com Priceline.com is an online travel agency for finding discount rates for travel-related purchases such as airline tickets and hotel stays. The company facilitates the provision of travel services from its suppliers to its clients. Priceline.com ...
in 1998, partially self-funding the startup company. Loeb also assisted with the early funding of Priceline. Priceline sold an estimated 40,000 tickets in its first quarter of operation. In 1999, Priceline went public. Walker left Priceline in late 2000. The two patents that protected Priceline.com were said to be worth $18.5 billion at the time.


Partnership with IGT

In 2006 Walker Digital entered into a strategic partnership with
International Game Technology International Game Technology PLC (IGT), formerly Gtech S.p.A. and Lottomatica S.p.A., is a multinational gambling company that produces slot machines and other gambling technology. The company is headquartered in London, with offices in Rome, ...
(IGT), the world’s largest manufacturer of
casino games A casino game is one in which players gamble cash or chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes, often in a casino environment. Such games are also available in online casinos, where permitted by law. Casino games c ...
. He worked with IGT to develop innovative concepts and technologies for dozens of networked
slot machines A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...
and other gaming devices, initially under a comprehensive license agreement. The first result of the partnership was ''Guaranteed Play'', a new method for casino game players to purchase game play. Customers receive a fixed number of slot machine spins or
blackjack Blackjack (formerly black jack or ''vingt-un'') is a casino banking game. It is the most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as " twenty-one ...
hands, known as a "session" of play, at a discounted price, by paying in advance.


Perfect Pay Baccarat

In 2009 Walker Digital subsidiary Walker Digital Gaming introduced the Perfect Pay
Baccarat (card game) Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game. It is now mainly played at casinos, but formerly popular at house-parties and private gaming rooms. The game's origins are a mixture of precursors from China, Japan, and Korea, which then gained popularit ...
table and Smart Table Network, supporting Elite Baccarat. Industry business journals reported that Perfect Pay utilizes
RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...
technology to track baccarat wagers, hand outcomes, payouts and player ratings in real time while eliminating losses from dealer mis-pays, counterfeit chips and other problems. Perfect Pay and Elite Baccarat both won Gold Awards from Casino Journal at the 2009 Gaming Technology Summit. He later founded Upside Travel.


LabTV

In 2013, Walker founded LabTV to encourage students to consider a medical research career.


ApiJect Systems Corporation

In 2018, Jay Walker and
Marc Koska Marc Andrew Koska OBE (born 14 March 1961) is best known for inventing the non-reusable K1 auto-disable syringe, thus preventing the medical transmission of blood-borne diseases. Education Koska attended Stowe School, a boarding independent ...
co-founded ApiJect Systems, Corp., a medical technology company that creates single-use plastic injectors. He serves as the company’s chairman.


Patent lawsuits and disputes

In January 2001, the
Connecticut Attorney General The Connecticut attorney general is the state attorney general of Connecticut. The attorney general is elected to a four-year term. According to state statute, eligibility for the office requires being "an attorney at law of at least ten years' ...
filed suit against Walker Digital. Faced with mounting financial losses, Jay Walker laid off 106 of his 125 employees, violating Federal employment law requiring 60 days notice when laying off more than 33% of the workforce. On September 4, 2002, Walker Digital settled for $275,000 to be split amongst the laid off employees. In October 15, 2009 Walker Digital, LLC filed its first
patent infringement A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...
action. The suit against
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
,
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939 in a one-car garage in Palo Alto, California ...
, and
Dell, Inc. Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcams among other produ ...
, was decided on January 3, 2011, as non-infringed. In November 2010 Walker Digital LLC sued
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 ...
for
friending Friending is the act of adding someone to a list of "friends" on a social networking service. The notion does not necessarily involve the concept of friendship. It is also distinct from the idea of a " fan"—as employed on the WWW sites of bus ...
, or "Method and system for establishing and maintaining user-controlled anonymous communications". On April 11, 2011, Walker Digital filed 15 lawsuits against more than 100 defendants including
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
,
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
and Microsoft for unauthorized use of its intellectual properties. According to a 2016 ''
PBS Newshour ''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
'' profile, "Walker is named on more than 500 issued and pending patents in the U.S. and internationally. But his enforcement of that intellectual property has led some to label him a '
patent troll In international law and business, patent trolling or patent hoarding is a categorical or pejorative term applied to a person or company that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value or ...
'." Walker has disputed this characterization, saying he treats litigation as a last resort.


Other activities

* One of 164 "directors" of the
Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...
, a Washington DC–based
think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...
. * Walker has spoken at events of World Information Transfer, Inc., a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization in General Consultative Status with the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, on health and environmental issues. Walker is a Patron of TED, a small non-profit organisation dedicated to "Ideas Worth Spreading". He is a frequent speaker and contributor to its conferences, having delivered talks on such topics as human imagination and "English language mania", among others. In April 2011, Walker Purchased
TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...
from
Marc Hodosh Marc Hodosh ( ; born December 25, 1972) is an American entrepreneur who formerly owned, co-created and hosted the TEDMED conference. In September 2019, Marc Hodosh and Dr. Sanjay Gupta (CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent) announced a new event ...
. Walker has partnered with the
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...
in
Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, to develop enhanced communications systems between business and governments. He has testified before the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee on economic policy and on how to reform the patent system. He is available as a speaker for business groups, non-profit organisations and the academic community. Walker funded the development of two public policy documentary films about the
space race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...
and the role of science in American life. The first film focused on the impact of
Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...
on America’s education system. The second film, "Sputnik Mania", explored broader U.S. cultural reactions to Sputnik.


The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination

Walker owns what he calls "The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination."The Walker Library of the History of Human Imagination
/ref> Located in his
Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is an affluent New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and on the New York state border, Ridgefield had a population o ...
home, the 3,600 sq. ft. private facility contains more than 50,000 volumes. The architecture is a multi-level, maze-like setting, inspired in part by the paradoxical spaces depicted by artist
M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...
. The library is the subject of a short documentary film by David Hoffman, and was profiled as "the most amazing library in the world" by ''
Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...
'' magazine. It is not open to the public.


Honors and awards

In 1999
the Industry Standard ''The Industry Standard'' is a U.S. news web site dedicated to technology business news, part of ''InfoWorld'', a news website covering technology in general. It is a revival of a weekly print magazine based in San Francisco which was published ...
named him the year's "Most Influential New Business Strategist". In 2009 the Entrepreneurship Program at his ''alma mater'' honored Walker as the "Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year".


Personal life

Walker married Eileen McManus on April 18, 1982. They have two children. Eileen Walker is a trustee for
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Harvey School in
Westchester County, New York Westchester County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, bordering the Long Island Sound and the Byram River to its east and the Hudson River on its west. The c ...
and a former personnel executive at
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
.


References


External links

*
Video interview with Jay Walker about Priceline.com
from CharlieRose.com
Jay Walker: The Thought Leader Interview
from ''
Strategy+Business Strategy (from Ancient Greek, Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sens ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Jay S. 1955 births American bibliophiles American businesspeople Booking Holdings people Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations alumni Living people People from Ridgefield, Connecticut