Erik Wachtmeister

Count Erik Wilhelm Wachtmeister (born 1955) is a Swedish Internet entrepreneur. He is the CEO and founder of the social media websites A Small World and Best of All Worlds. In 2012, he was ranked #31 on GQ magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential men in Britain.

Early life and education

Wachtmeister was born in Sweden, the son of Swedish diplomat and longtime ambassador to the United States Count Wilhelm Wachtmeister. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, DC in 1977, and a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD in Paris in 1983.

He traveled often during his childhood, and has lived in numerous cities around the world, including Washington, DC, New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, London, Stockholm, Moscow and Kiev.

Career

Finance

Wachtmeister spent 16 years as an investment banker, working in London, New York and Los Angeles for Lehman Brothers, Rothschild and Ladenburg Thalmann. He started his own business in 1993, raising private money for publicly listed companies. In 2000, he became the founding CEO of UK-based investment firm Viking Internet, which he later took public on the London Stock Exchange.