Sky Dylan Dayton was born on 8 August 1971, in New York City, USA, and is an investor and entrepreneur, best known for being the founder of internet service provider Earthlink, and the co-founder of eCompanies. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Sky Dayton? As of mid-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $275 million, earned through success in business and investments. He is also the founder of the mobile and wireless internet access company Boingo. As he continues his career, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
Sky Dayton Net Worth $275 million
At a young age, Sky moved to Los Angeles to live with his grandparents who would become a big influence on him in terms of technology. He learned BASIC programming at the age of nine thanks to getting his first computer, then attended The Delphian School, and after matriculating, wanted to pursue a career in animation but was rejected by the California Institute for the Arts. He then got a job in an advertising firm, later becoming a part of their graphics department. He then moved to the agency Mednick & Associates and worked there for the next two years.
In 1990, Dayton started his first business called Mocha Gallery, which is a coffee house and art gallery located in Los Angeles. Two years later, he opened Dayton/Walker Design alongside Adam Wicks Walker; the design and advertising firm started working with big clients in the entertainment industry, including Warner Brothers, Disney and Sony Pictures. In 1993, he developed an interest in the internet which led to him founding EarthLink the following year, with many investors becoming interested in the prospect of providing internet access to the public. The company grew quickly, and so did Dayton’s net worth. Later on, he would partner with Apple’s Steve Jobs to make EarthLink the default ISP of the iMac, with EarthLink becoming the second largest internet service provider after AOL.
In 1999, Sky became the non-executive chairman of EarthLink, and then founded eCompanies a venture capital fund for the development of internet companies. They successfully launched LowerMyBills.com which was later purchased by Experian for $380 million, increasing Sky’s net worth further. He also helped create JAMDAT Mobile, and purchased the Business.com domain name. In 2001, he started Boingo Wireless, seeing a potential market in Wi-Fi networks, and it has become one of the largest Wi-Fi operators in the industry. Four years later, he became the CEO of the mobile phone joint venture called Helio, so resigned as chairman of EarthLink though he remained a director. He would handle Helio until it was acquired by Virgin Mobile USA in 2008. Some of his latest investments include Age of Learning, Diffbot, and Artsy.
Thanks to his efforts, Dayton was awarded as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Lloyd Grief Center at the University of California’s Marshall School of Business. He was also listed as part of the MIT Technology Review TR100 in 1999. In 2010, he received the Dream Keeper award which was given by the I Have a Dream Foundation.
For his personal life, it is known that Sky married novelist Arwen Elys Dayton, and they have three children. He is an amateur poker player, airplane pilot and surfer. He also identifies as libertarian, supporting candidates with a similar stance.
