Hotmail attracted the attention of tech giant Microsoft who foresaw the immense potential of the platform, and pitched an offer to purchase it from Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith.
Sabeer Bhatia Hotmail: It is a well-documented fact that Indian inventors have made some of the most critical contributions in the field of computer technology, including the invention of USB which has become irreplaceable in modern PCs, smartphones, and almost every other gadget one can imagine.
Another similar critical piece of technology which has left a lasting imprint on the tech industry is invention of Hotmail which has today morphed into Microsoft Outlook. Hotmail, an innovative email service, was co-invented by Indian-born entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia and his business partner Jack Smith in the year 1996.
However, after merely 18 months, Bhatia and Smith sold their flourishing start-up to Microsoft for a whopping $400 million (about Rs 2,950 crore by today’s exchange rates).
How Hotmail changed the email landscape
Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith launched Hotmail on July 4, 1996, a groundbreaking service at the time, which forever changed the way people send emails. The innovative email service allowed users the freedom to access their emails from anyplace, anytime, provided they had an internet connection available, thus changing the email landscape forever.
Bhatia and Smith’s Hotmail was initially funded by venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson which proved to crucial in the early rise and growth. According to various reports, Hotmail had around 8.5 million users worldwide by December 1997, merely 18 months after the service was launched.
Microsoft buys Hotmail
With its rapid rise, Hotmail attracted the attention of tech giant Microsoft who foresaw the immense potential of the platform, and pitched an offer to purchase it from Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith. At first, Microsoft offered the inventors $140 million for acquiring Hotmail, but after several months of negotiations, the Bill Gates-led conglomerate finally closed the deal at a whopping $400 million.
Asked why they sold a flourishing product which had the potential to become even bigger in the future, Sabeer Bhatia revealed that he and his team made the decision to sell Hotmail to Microsoft because of several factors, including the fact that they had limited resources compared to the tech giant who also had the potential to develop a similar service, which could prove detrimental in the long run.
Sabeer Bhatia business, career
After selling Hotmail to Microsoft, Sabeer Bhatia worked for the tech giant for about a year before moving on to other projects. Bhatia launched a messaging service JaxtrSMS, and and e-commerce firm called Arzoo Inc, however these ventures never really took off and were shuttered after a while.
The Hotmail inventor could never replicate the success of the game-changing email service, which had once taken the industry by storm. Bhatia’s latest venture came in the year 2021, when he co-founded ShowReel, an AI-powered learning platform, with Aji Abraham
Sabeer Bhatia net worth
According to various sources, Hotmail founder is currently worth Rs 1,660 crore, despite several failed ventures.
Sabeer Bhatia family
Sabeer Bhatia was born in Sindhi-Hindu family on December 30, 1968. He married Tanya Sharma in 2008 and the couple have a daughter, Arianna, from the union which came to an end in January 2013 when they filed for a divorce in a San Fransisco court.