Vinod Gupta (born July 4, 1946; often mentioned as "Vin Gupta") is an Indian-American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the former chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman of infoGROUP (previously known as infoUSA). Gupta served as CEO of infoGROUP from the time of its incorporation in 1972 until September 1997, and again from August 1998 to August 2008. Gupta has donated over $50 million to numerous philanthropic endeavors in the United States and India.
Borrowing $100 from a bank to get started, Gupta grew infoGroup from a one-man operation to a global employer of over 5,000 with annual revenues of over $750 million. Under Gupta's leadership, infoGROUP acquired over 45 companies. InfoGroup was sold in July 2010 for $680 million.
In 2010, Gupta founded DatabaseUSA.com. Gupta later founded and/or acquired a number of businesses, including A to Z Databases, Express-Copy, InfoFree, JangoMail, LocatePlus, and LP Police, which are owned by the Everest Group, Gupta's family office and investment corporation.
Former United States President Bill Clinton praised Gupta's and infoGroup's dedication to public service in Clinton's book Giving, which described the company as one that "has made a concerted effort to hire people who were on welfare, as well as people who are disabled or who have to support themselves after getting out of unsafe domestic situations." Gupta noted that he was "deeply honored by President Clinton's recognition of infoUSA's hiring programs," and that he was "proud of infoUSA's commitment to providing opportunities to our fellow citizens, helping them achieve financial independence and vocational success whether they are working their way off welfare or overcoming a disability."
President Clinton appointed Gupta to serve as a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Gupta was nominated (and confirmed) to serve as the United States Consul General to Bermuda, as well as the United States ambassador to Fiji.
Early life
Gupta was born in Rampur Maniharan, a small town (village) near Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) located north of New Delhi to the family of Dr. Giri Lal Gupta. Gupta "'grew up with no electricity, no roads, no toilets, no TVs, no cars. I didn't know much of what was outside.'" After graduating from high school, Gupta applied to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), and was admitted to the IIT Kharagpur campus. He majored in agricultural engineering.
In 1967, Gupta moved to the United States to pursue a master's degree. He "won a scholarship to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he earned master's degrees in agricultural engineering and business."
Gupta was awarded three honorary doctorate degrees from the Monterey Institute, the University of Nebraska, and IIT Kharagpur. Gupta delivered the commencement address at IIT Kharagpur in 2006.
Early career
Gupta graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1971. He was subsequently hired as a marketing research analyst with Commodore Corporation, a manufacturer of mobile homes. Commodore asked Gupta to gather a list of every mobile home dealer in the United States. After Gupta realized that most of the available sources were either outdated or incomplete, he ordered all available 4,800 Yellow Pages phone directories and set out to compile the list himself.
With the help of another employee, Gupta sorted the books by state. Commodore told Gupta that he and the second employee could work on the project on their own time, and once they had completed it, the company would consider buying the list. After Gupta completed the list, he gave Commodore two options: pay $9,000 for exclusive rights to the list, or receive it free of charge and allow Gupta and his partner to sell it to Commodore's competitors. Balking at the $9,000 cost, Commodore chose the latter option.
InfoGroup
Borrowing $100 from a local Nebraska bank, Gupta invested the money in mailers he sent out to other mobile home manufacturers. Within three weeks, Gupta received checks for $22,000 and orders for another $13,000. Gupta founded American Business Information (ABI) in 1972.
By 1986, "ABI had the entire Yellow Pages in its databases, ready to be accessed in any form that customers wanted."
By 1994, the company had revenues of $75 million and was publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange. Gupta had already amassed "six million shares" and was "worth over $100 million."