Tim Jackson

Former student at Merton College, Oxford, Tim Jackson founded QXL.com, an online auction service, which went public in 1999. The company's market capitalization soared to around $3 billion before a merger with its largest German rival. The merged business, now known as QXL Ricardo, has since lost 99% of its value.

Between 1999 and 2001, Jackson was managing director of Carlyle Internet Partners Europe, a $700m fund that invests in European technology businesses. He remains a senior advisor to Carlyle and is in demand as a speaker and writer.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos 2001, Jackson was selected as one of the 100 "Global Leaders of Tomorrow". In a survey by Business 2.0 magazine amongst new economy business people, he was judged the second most important person they would like to have in their contact book.

Jackson has also written a number of books including a biography of Richard Branson entitled Virgin King and Inside Intel (Harper Collins, 1997)