Anthony Wood (businessman)
Anthony J. Wood | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 4, 1965 Manchester, England |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Roku, Inc. |
Anthony J. Wood (born December 4, 1965) is a businessman of English origin who holds American citizenship and is recognized as a billionaire. He is the founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Roku, Inc.. As of April 2021, Wood possessed a 15% ownership share in Roku, with an estimated net worth near US$7.2 billion.
Personal life
Wood’s birthplace is Manchester, England. During his early years, he resided in several locations including Georgia and Texas in the United States, as well as the Netherlands. In 1984, while still a teenager, he authored "Lunar Lander," which was published in Ahoy! magazine. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, where he met his future wife, Susan, who studied environmental design. The couple has three children and currently lives in Palo Alto, California.
Career
During his college years, Wood established his initial company named "AW Software," which specialized in selling computer software. He also founded "SunRize Industries," a firm focused on creating software and hardware for the Amiga platform. After completing his degree, he introduced "SunRize version 2." In 1995, Wood started "iBand," which was later purchased by Macromedia for $36 million; following the acquisition, he served as vice president of Internet Authoring at Macromedia.
Wood departed from Macromedia in 1997 to create ReplayTV, a manufacturer of digital video recorders (DVRs). Inspired by missing episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, ReplayTV pioneered features such as skipping advertisements, rewinding, and pausing live television broadcasts. In 2001, Wood sold ReplayTV to SONICblue Incorporated for $42 million.
In 2002, Wood launched his sixth entrepreneurial venture, Roku, Inc., which concentrates on home digital entertainment devices; the name "Roku" translates to “six” in Japanese. In 2007, he joined Netflix, Inc. as vice president of Internet TV under CEO Reed Hastings, while maintaining his role as CEO of Roku. At Netflix, he oversaw the creation of a Netflix streaming device and PC applications. Subsequently, Netflix spun off this engineering group back into Roku.
Philanthropy
In 2021, Anthony Wood and his wife Susan contributed $48.2 million to establish the Texas-based "WoodNext Foundation," which aims to address mental health issues, homelessness, scientific and biomedical research, disaster relief efforts, and economic empowerment with a focus on underlying causes. In 2022 alone, Wood pledged $71 million to philanthropic causes and was listed among the top 50 donors in the United States.
By 2023, the WoodNext Foundation awarded $14.3 million to the University of Pittsburgh for studies into heart disease and dementia, as well as $1.25 million to support the BrightEdge Entrepreneurship Fellows Program through the American Cancer Society.