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Jan Henric Buettner

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Jan Henric Buettner (10 September 1964)[1][2] is a German entrepreneur.

Born in Hamburg, Buettner studied business management there and did an internship at a precursor of Vodafone, then started his career as a trainee at Axel Springer AG, where he worked on interactive media.[2][3] In 1995 he developed AOL Europe with Andreas von Blottnitz. He became head of AOL Germany, then in 1997 moved to the US, where he established a venture capital firm specialising in internet companies, BV Capital, as general partner for Bertelsmann.[2][4][5] In 2003 he and Blottnitz were awarded €203 million in damages by a California court for Bertelsmann's failure to pay them part of the proceeds from the sale of its share in AOL Europe; the amount was reduced to €160 million in an out-of-court agreement.[2][3][4]

In 2005 he bought a historic estate by the Baltic Sea for €7 million,[1][3][6] and converted the estate buildings and village into Grand Village Weissenhaus, a privately operated luxury resort which opened in 2014.[4][7][8] Some of the funding for the renovation and conversion was raised on the crowdfunding site Companisto.de,[7][8] where it drew more investment than any other for-profit European organisation to that date.[9][10] In 2024, Buettner organized a high profile chess tournament at his resort, the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge.[11] Buettner and five time world chess champion Magnus Carlsen announced in March, 2024 that the tournament would expand into a yearly series of events with increased prize funds.[12]

Buettner lives in Hamburg; his former wife and their children continue to live in Santa Barbara, California.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b Nina Schwarz, "Neu im Club: California Dreaming – Jan Henric Buettner", club!, 5 September 2013 (in German).
  2. ^ a b c d Niko Rönnfeldt, "80-Millionen-Coup bei Erdbeerkuchen", Kieler Nachrichten, 10 March 2014 (in German).
  3. ^ a b c Gerhard Waldherr, "Und jetzt was Handfestes", brand eins 12/2011 (in German)
  4. ^ a b c d Martin U. Müller, tr. Ella Ornstein, "For Millionaires, By Millionaires: Transforming a Baltic Sea Village into Paradise", Der Spiegel, 11 January 2013.
  5. ^ John Johnson, "High-Tech Firms Plug Into Santa Barbara Lifestyle", Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2000, p. 2.
  6. ^ Dorothea Topf, "Jan Henric Buettner - Zurück zu den Wurzeln", Made in Germany, Deutsche Welle, 16 April 2013 (video) (in German).
  7. ^ a b Maren Hoffmann, "Luxusresort Weissenhaus: Keine Angst vorm Millionärswatching", Der Spiegel, 20 June 2014 (in German)
  8. ^ a b Maren Hoffmann, "75 Hektar Luxus", Manager, 27 June 2014 (in German)
  9. ^ Dalia Fahmy, "Germans Warm to Crowdfunding as Resort Attracts Investors ", Bloomberg Businessweek, 27 August 2014.
  10. ^ David Drake, "Five Realty Crowdfunding Projects Raising $50M Or More", My Say, Forbes, 4 November 2014.
  11. ^ Pütz, Florian (2024-02-14). "Treffen sich ein Multimillionär, Miss Angola und Schachstar Magnus Carlsen am Weißenhäuser Strand..." Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Archived from the original on 2024-02-14. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
  12. ^ "Carlsen, Buettner Unveil Extravagant Chess960 Grand Slam Tour Across 5 Continents". Chess.com. 2024-03-16.
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