Michiel Mol
Michiel Mol (born 4 August 1969, Breda) is a Dutch businessman and the director of the Force India (formerly Spyker F1) Formula One team.
Early life and career
Michiel Mol grew up with a wealthy family. His father, Jan Mol, co-founded a software company in 1966 called Volmac; the company itself turned out to be a huge success and Jan Mol sold it in 1992 to CAP Gemini.[1] In May 2011, Jan Mol's fortune was estimated at around £450m.[1]
After obtaining a MSc degree in Computer Science from Leiden University, Michiel himself went into the software business. In 1993 he set up Lost Boys with several of his friends, developing software for the CD-ROM market. With the rapid growth of the internet, the company then started making internet software as well as moving into game development. Mol had his first venture into Formula One in 1999, when he and his company sponsored driver Jos Verstappen. Lost Boys then merged with Swedish company IconMedialab.
Mol remained on the board and kept the Lost Boys Games division, before establishing a new company called Media Republic, aiming to use new technology to market products. Lost Boys Games was transformed into Guerrilla Games, notable for developing the PlayStation 2 game Killzone, during 2004 and a year later it was sold to the Sony Company.
Formula 1
Mol later became a supporter of Christijan Albers, after Verstappen left Formula One, and led a group of investors that put together a deal to buy into Spyker Cars and take over the Midland F1 team. Mol is now a major shareholder in Spyker and in September 2006 was appointed as F1 director of Spyker for a period of four years.
On 14 August 2007, Michiel Mol left Spyker Cars as CEO amid speculation that it and Spyker F1 would be separated due to financial problems.[2] In October 2007 Spyker F1 was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and renamed Force India.[3] Mol remains as director and co-owner.
Space Expedition Corporation
Mol is a co-founder of Space Expedition Corporation (SXC), which intends to offer suborbital space tourism flights and scientific research missions out of Space Port Curaçao.[4]
Personal life
In July 2004, Mol married Paulien Huizinga, former Miss Universe Netherlands and now a Dutch TV personality. They lived together in Blaricum. Together they have a daughter and a son. On 3 August 2011 it was announced that Huizinga and Mol will divorce after a marriage of seven years.[5] Mol is currently seeing Marlous Mens, a younger daughter of Harry Mens, a Dutch real estate broker and well-known TV personality.[6]
References
- GP Encyclopedia > People > Michiel Mol GrandPrix.com. Retrieved 31 October 2006
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Jan Mol Net Worth". Celebrity Net Worth. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
- ↑ "The Spyker revolution begins". grandprix.com. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
- ↑ "FIA approve Spyker's Force India name change". Formula One Administration Ltd. 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
- ↑ "XCOR Aerospace and Space Expedition Curaçao sign eight-figure wet lease contract for Lynx suborbital spacecraft". Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ↑ Paulien Huizinga gaat scheiden - website of the Dutch Newspaper De Telegraaf (Dutch)
- ↑ Harry Mens: "Mijn dochter is verliefd op Michiel Mol" - website MSN Entertainment (Dutch)
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