Eric Smidt
| Eric Smidt | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | Los Angeles, California, US |
| Residence | Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Chairman & CEO Harbor Freight Tools |
| Net worth |
 US$1 billion (2010) |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Smidt |
Eric Smidt is an American businessman. He is Chairman and CEO of Harbor Freight Tools, which operates over 700 retail hardware stores in 47 states and generated revenue of approximately $2 billion according to an April, 2012 Moody's Investors Service report.
Eric L. Smidt was born in Los Angeles, California in 1960 to Allan Smidt and Dorthy Smidt. His mother had multiple sclerosis and his father, overwhelmed, sent him to an orphanage when he was nine. Four years later he went to live with an aunt in Tennessee, returning home after two years but moving into his own apartment on his 16th birthday. He graduated from Grant High School in Van Nuys, a public school in Los Angeles. In 1977, as a teenager, Smidt started Harbor Freight Tools with his father in a small building in North Hollywood, California. Originally known as Harbor Freight & Salvage Co., the company began as a mail-order tool business. Eric introduced the company's defining innovation of cutting out the middleman and began to obtain tools directly from the factories to the customer.
In 1985, Smidt was named president of the company at the age of 25; he served under that title until 1999 when he became CEO. In 2001, Smidt was listed as one of Ernst & Young's Entrepreneurs of the year.
In 2008, Eric responded to the turbulence in the global economy by implementing a company-wide reinvigoration plan. Eric and his team drove growth in company performance and a culture of continuous improvement. The team drove improvements that led to new products and lower prices for Harbor Freight customers.
Smidt has been a long-time supporter of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California and UCLA. In 2012, he funded a new public high school in Los Angeles known as "Smidt Tech" (also known as Alliance Susan & Eric Smidt Technology High) for Alliance College-Ready Public Schools (an independent non-profit charter school manager).
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