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The strange rise and sudden fall of Noel Biderman, the former CEO of Ashley Madisonhttps://www.businessinsider.in/the-strange-rise-and-sudden-fall-of-noel-biderman-the-former-ceo-of-ashley-madison/born-in-1971-biderman-is-a-toronto-native-the-grandson-of-holocaust-survivors-he-is-jewish-although-unsurprisingly-he-thinks-the-10-commandments-are-outdated-/slidelist/48716152.cms2021-07-26T12:47:26+05:30

The strange rise and sudden fall of Noel Biderman, the former CEO of Ashley Madison

Jul 26, 2021, 12:47 IST

Born in 1971, Biderman is a Toronto native. The grandson of Holocaust survivors, he is Jewish — although unsurprisingly, he thinks the 10 Commandments are "outdated."

He studied Economics at the University of California in the late 1908s, his LinkedIn profile reveals, before returning to Toronto to study Law at the Osgoode Hall Law School.

Source.

He studied Economics at the University of California in the late 1908s, his LinkedIn profile reveals, before returning to Toronto to study Law at the Osgoode Hall Law School.

He hasn't always been in the tech/dating business. He used to be a sports attorney, working as an agent for athletes.

According to a Bloomberg feature in 2011, "a large chunk of his work as an agent involved helping professional basketball players juggle their wives and mistresses." It was from here the idea for Ashley Madison was born.

He also worked for a spell in the realtor industry before setting up Ashley Madison.

The company launched in 2001, and in 2007 was acquired by Avid Life Media, with Biderman taking the reins of the new parent company. It has since ballooned into a hundred-million-dollar? business. In 2014, it had revenues of $115 million.

Biderman is a relentless self-promoter, having appeared as an "infidelity expert" on CNN, Dr. Phil, Katie Couric, and hundreds of other media outlets.

He has even written books about cheating — publishing "Cheaters Prosper: How Infidelity Will Save the Modern Marriage" in 2011, followed by "Adultropology: The Cyber-Anthropology Behind Infidelity" in 2013.

Despite this, Biderman says he's "happily married," and has two children with his wife Amanda Biderman. The couple have said they would be "devastated" if their partner cheated.

With more than 30 million members, Ashley Madison looked on top of the world earlier this year. Biderman even suggested he might look to IPO parent company Avid Life Media on the London Stock Exchange.

According to one leaked document, dating from January, Avid Life Media reached 46 countries and 28 different languages.

The CEO reveled in this notoriety: Ashley Madison became known for its provocative stunts, and Biderman describes himself on his personal website as "the most hated man on the internet."

At one point Ashley Madison was even sued by the Queen of Spain, over a photoshopped photo of her in one their adverts. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, and Prince Charles have all also appeared in its provocative ads.

But on July 12, Avid Life Media employees arrived at work to find a message from a hacker or hackers going by the name of The Impact Team waiting for them. It demanded the company close down Ashley Madison immediately.

Bizarrely, the song "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC played over the message on employee computers.

Avid Life Media didn't comply. So on August 18, The Impact Team dumped internal company documents online, along with compromising personal data about more than 30 million customers.

The user data contains email addresses, financial details, physical descriptions, and sexual preferences of Ashley Madison customers. There have already been reports of blackmail, divorces, and even (unconfirmed) suicides as a result of the leak.

This was then followed by a second, even larger leak. This included more confidential internal documents — and hundreds of thousands of Noel Biderman's emails, dating back years.

Included in these emails are some deeply embarrassing revelations about Biderman, including the fact that he once instructed someone to build an app called "What's Your Wife Worth?" that let men submit their wives to be rated by other users, based on how much they would pay to have sex with them ...

... and that he once apparently discussed hacking into a competitor's database with another executive ...

... and that, despite his public claims, he has apparently had multiple illicit affairs.

Throughout all of this, Biderman has been totally silent, refusing all media requests.

But on Friday, August 28, Avid Life Media released a new statement. Biderman, "in mutual agreement with the company," was stepping down and leaving the company. The senior management team is to take control until a replacement is found.

With his professional relationship in tatters, it's now not clear what lies ahead for Noel Biderman — or Avid Life Media itself.

The company is facing lawsuits for hundreds of millions of dollars from furious customers. Even with Biderman gone, it may be too late to save.

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