Michael Birch was born on 7 July 1970, in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, England, and is an entrepreneur and computer programmer, best known for co-founding numerous startups over the course of his career, including founding Bebo, the online social networking site. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Michael Birch? As of mid-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $390 million, earned through success in his numerous business endeavors. He’s also the co-founder of the live streaming app Blab, but has also done a lot of charity work. As he continues his career, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Michael Birch Net Worth $390 million
Michael grew up in Hertforshire, then attended Imperial College, London in 1988 and studied Physics; he graduated in 1991.
Birch started becoming well known for helping co-found numerous startups. Along with his brother, they founded BirthdayAlarm.com, and also founded Ringo.com with Morgan Sowden, which was later sold to tickle.com. He then started-up the online social networking website Bebo with his wife. It had a major launch in 2005, and within two years the website had over 45 million registered users, even outgrowing AOL, Amazon, and the BBC, to become the sixth most popular site in the UK. They eventually sold Bebo to AOL for $850 million, which increased Michael’s net worth significantly, although the franchise quickly declined after the sale, and went into bankruptcy.
In 2008, he invested in MyStore.com and then co-founded PROfounders Capital alongside Jonnie Goodwin and Brent Hoberman. In 2013, he bought back Bebo for $1 million, but branched out to then found the exclusive club called The Battery in San Francisco. The following year, he and his wife bought the Farmers Arms public house and Manor House properties in Woolfardisworthy, North Devon; it was a popular community pub and is an historic site in the area. It was closed in 2012, as they worked to restore and re-open the pub – The Manor House is now used as a hotel.
One of Michael’s latest endeavors is the browser based platform and live streaming app Blab. The concept of the app is to allow four users to meet digitally and have a conversation. It also features a chat room function which other users can watch or join in. The app was released in 2015 through the iTunes store.
For his personal life, it is known that Birch married entrepreneur Xochi Birch in 1994, and they have three children – they started their business endeavors together after working as computer programmers for many years. They are supporters of the nonprofit organization charity water and have been reported to have given over $20 million to the organization. They also launched mycharitywater.org, which is a fundraising platform to help clean water projects around the world, plus a program with Monkey Inferno and charity water, to increase awareness of the water crisis around the world. The program also allows donations and does research on how to help solve the water crisis.
