| Erik Wachtmeister | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sweden |
| Known for | Investment Banking Founder, ASMALLWORLD |
| Title | Count |
| Spouse | Countess Louise Wachtmeister |
| Website | |
| www.BestofallWorlds.com | |
Count Erik Wachtmeister born 1955, is the founding chairman of ASMALLWORLD Holdings, Inc.[1] The son of Swedish Ambassador Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister and Countess Ulla Wachtmeister,[2] he earned a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in 1983.[3] He has a long professional background in international investment banking,[4] and is currently planning to launch the new social media site BestofallWorlds.com.[5]
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Erik Wachtmeister was born to the Countess Ulla Wachtmeister and Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister, and partly raised on the Wanås estate in southern Sweden. His mother is a painter, while his father was a career diplomat, and notably the Swedish Ambassador to the United States from 1974 to 1989, and a close personal friend of George Bush Senior.[2] He also has two sisters.[6]
Wachtmeister earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1977 and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in 1983.[3]
After graduating, Wachmeister went on to hold senior corporate finance positions with Ladenburg Thalmann in New York City/Los Angeles and Rothschild in New York.[7] He also worked at Lehman Brothers in London and New York.[3][8] He created his own business in 1993, doing private placements for public companies. In 2000 he became the founding CEO of the UK-based Viking Internet, an investment company that he later took public on the London Stock Exchange.[4]
Throughout this time period he lived in ten cities,[5] including Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Moscow, Stockholm, and Kiev.[9] In January 2008 he joined the advisory board of the Kiwi Collection, a web-based luxury travel resource.[7]
In March 2004, Wachtmeister and his wife Louise founded the social networking website ASMALLWORLD.[8] Wachtmeister served as CEO and Chairman, and Louise as Marketing Director.[3] He claims he started working on the concept of an exclusive social networking site for jetsetters in 1998,[5] when the idea occurred to him during a wild boar hunt in the German forest.[10] He stated "In traveling extensively to the world's social hot spots for many years, I realized there was a community of global nomads who hang out together. I decided to make a business out of helping them meet and find solutions to their common problems."[11] The website launched two years before Facebook was made available to non-college members,[5][9] and was dubbed "MySpace for millionaires" by the Wall Street Journal.[8] New members must receive an invitation from a pre-existing member with invitation privileges to be accepted. As of September 2007, the site had 150,000 users.[10] By May 2008, the number had grown to 320,000 members, with about 65% of members from Europe and 20% from the United States.[8] By April 2010, Wachtmeister had ceased to be active with managing the website, and membership was in excess of 500,000.[1]
Wachtmeister has stated he and his wife are working on a new website. Expected launch date of the site is rumored to be in summer of 2011.[5]
Erik Wachtmeister is married to the 23 years younger Countess Louise Wachtmeister.[5] This is is second marriage. He also has a daughter from a previous marriage.