Eric Boyko
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Eric Boyko | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1970 (age 53–54) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | McGill University |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, president & CEO, Stingray Group Inc. (2007-present) |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Website | stingray.com |
Eric Boyko (born 1970)[1] is a Canadian tech entrepreneur and the founder, president and CEO of Stingray Group.
Early life and education[edit]
Boyko was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, to a Quebecois mother and Ukrainian father.[2] He earned a bachelor of commerce degree from McGill University in 1992,[3] and became a certified general accountant in 1997.[4]
Career[edit]
Campus Gourmet and eFundraising.com[edit]
Boyko started his first business, Campus Gourmet, in 1991 at the age of 19. The company sold precooked meals to students at McGill University.[2][5] He then founded the online fundraising company Universal Fundraising Group with a $2,000 loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada.[2] It was rebranded as eFundraising.com in 1998,[5] and sold to ZapMe in 2000 for $25 million.[6]
Stingray Group Inc.[edit]
In 2007, Boyko and Alexandre Taillefer founded digital music provider Stingray Digital Media Group,[3] with Boyko serving as president and CEO since the company's inception.[7][8] The company sells commercial-free music streams to cable and satellite television providers to add to their subscribers' packages,[2] as well as a music streaming app and an online service for consumers and businesses.[9] Unlike many of its streaming music competitors, Stingray uses human curators rather than algorithms to generate playlists.[10] It was launched with the $6 million purchase of karaoke company Soundchoice, which was then renamed The Karaoke Channel.[2][3] A year later, Stingray purchased music-streaming TV channel Galaxie from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for $65 million, and renamed it Stingray Music.[3]
The company went public on June 3, 2015, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.[1][11]
In December 2018, the company officially changed its name to Stingray Group, Inc.
References[edit]
- ^ a b Josh O’Kane, “How Stingray’s thrill-seeking CEO took his passion public,” The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Steve Ladurantaye, “Eric Boyko: Stingray’s entrepreneur a go-go-go,” The Globe and Mail, November 2, 2012.
- ^ a b c d Paul Delean, “Stingray Digital in a growth groove,” Archived 2017-08-03 at the Wayback Machine Montreal Gazette, July 24, 2014.
- ^ Eric Boyko Archived 2015-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, bdc.ca. Accessed November 15, 2015.
- ^ a b Keith Randall, “Who Said the Path to Success is Easy?” Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine McGill Management Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2003-04, p. 17.
- ^ “Montreal company hits it big with e-fundraising,” CBC News, April 3, 2000.
- ^ Robert Briel, "Q&A with Stingray’s Eric Boyko," Broadband TV News, March 10, 2015.
- ^ Eric Boyko CGA: Executive Profile, Bloomberg Businessweek. Accessed November 15, 2015.
- ^ “Stingray Digital said to seek about $120M in IPO,” Montreal Gazette, April 24, 2015.
- ^ "Why Stingray Digital is betting it all against streaming music". Canadian Business. February 25, 2016. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
- ^ Damon van der Linde, “Stingray Digital Group Inc plans global expansion after $140M IPO,” Financial Post, June 3, 2015.