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Two Irish teenagers sell software company for £2.5million
DUBLIN (Agencies)
Two Irish teenage brothers, one of them still at secondary school, have become overnight millionaires after selling their fledgling software company.
John Collison, 17, and his brother Patrick, 19, are two of the four main shareholders in Auctomatic, a US-registered firm thought to be worth $5m (£2.5m). Patrick Collison, a former winner of Irelandâs BT Young Scientist of the Year 2005, confirmed that he and his brother had become millionaires after their company was bought by the Canadian firm Live Current Media. Two large US internet companies are understood to have bid against Live Current Media, which drove up the price of the Limerick-based business. The Collisonsâ firm, Auctomatic, provides web-based software for heavy users of the eBay auction site, enabling them to manage inventory more efficiently. The service was only started last summer.
The brothers set up Auctomatic in early 2007 but were unable to find funding from either Enterprise Ireland, the state investment body, or any private Irish investors. Instead, they won backing from Y Combinator in Californiaâs Silicon Valley. Patrick Collison will work with Live Current in Vancouver, while his brother sits his school-leaving exams in Limerick. Live Current had a turnover of $8.4bn in 2006 and a market capitalisation of $57.69m. It owns internet addresses such as perfume.com, cricket.com and brazil.com.
DUBLIN (Agencies)
Two Irish teenage brothers, one of them still at secondary school, have become overnight millionaires after selling their fledgling software company.
John Collison, 17, and his brother Patrick, 19, are two of the four main shareholders in Auctomatic, a US-registered firm thought to be worth $5m (£2.5m). Patrick Collison, a former winner of Irelandâs BT Young Scientist of the Year 2005, confirmed that he and his brother had become millionaires after their company was bought by the Canadian firm Live Current Media. Two large US internet companies are understood to have bid against Live Current Media, which drove up the price of the Limerick-based business. The Collisonsâ firm, Auctomatic, provides web-based software for heavy users of the eBay auction site, enabling them to manage inventory more efficiently. The service was only started last summer.
The brothers set up Auctomatic in early 2007 but were unable to find funding from either Enterprise Ireland, the state investment body, or any private Irish investors. Instead, they won backing from Y Combinator in Californiaâs Silicon Valley. Patrick Collison will work with Live Current in Vancouver, while his brother sits his school-leaving exams in Limerick. Live Current had a turnover of $8.4bn in 2006 and a market capitalisation of $57.69m. It owns internet addresses such as perfume.com, cricket.com and brazil.com.