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Ayman Hariri is a Lebanese billionaire who is most well-known for being the co-founder of Vero, a social network free of data mining and advertisements. He was also the former CEO of Saudi Oger, one of the largest construction companies in Saudi Arabia. He was fully divested from the company in July 2014. He has had a huge interest in technology ever since he was a child, and he’s always looking to solve problems with technology. He values respect and consideration for others, and he believes that is what makes a business successful. His strong passion, combined with his highly respected values, has allowed him to become one of the richest people in the world.

Early Life

Ayman Rafic Hariri was born on May 16, 1978. He is the second-youngest son of business magnate and former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. He has two siblings, Fahd and Hind, and two half-siblings, Bahaa and Saad. Ayman Hariri grew up in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and he moved to Paris, France at age 12 to attend school. While in France, Hariri would go to work meetings with his father, who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. However, Hariri’s passion wasn’t for construction, but rather technology. He would take apart and build PCs in his spare time, which he felt his parents didn’t understand, especially his father. He wanted to forge his own path and not feel bound to a path that was chosen for him.

Ayman Hariri moved to the United States to attend Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. While in college, he was an intern and programmer at Intelsat, a satellite services provider. He originally began as a business major, but after receiving approval from his parents, he switched to computer science. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1999.

First Projects and Major Tragedy

In 2001, Ayman Hariri co-founded a software platform called Epok with his friend from junior high school, Scott Birnbaum. Epok was mostly intended for enterprises and dealt with data privacy and identity management. Unfortunately, this project was abandoned in 2005 due to a family tragedy. Hariri’s father, Rafic, was assassinated by a suicide bomber on February 14, 2005, in Beirut, Lebanon.

Following this, Ayman returned home to Saudi Arabia to help run his father’s construction company until July 2014. Hariri oversaw the development of King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), the first mixed-gender university campus in Saudi Arabia. The company was also responsible for the construction of Princess Noura University, the largest women’s university in the world, and the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Hariri left Saudi Oger in 2013 to pursue other projects, and he sold his stake in the company to his brother, Saad. Saudi Oger closed completely in July of 2017.

The Creation of Vero and Investments in Startups

Hariri invested the money he had into Vero, a social media platform free of advertisements and data mining. He and Birnbaum, who had worked together previously on Epok, co-founded the company. Vero allows users to share music, videos, movies, and photos with whoever they want. This was Hariri’s idea. He noticed that other apps let you share either privately or publicly, and he wanted Vero users to be able to make that choice for themselves. Hariri wanted Vero to closely resemble real-world social experiences compared to other social networking services such as Facebook.

The Vero app became available for download in 2015. It was a big success, and in 2018, the app’s servers were struggling to keep pace with the amount of traffic. In 2018, the number of users went from roughly 150,000 users to over 4 million. Vero’s biggest customers include photographers, musicians, cosplayers, and artists.

The Rise of Vero

In 2018, the social media app Vero became one of the most downloaded apps on the App Store. The user count was originally hovering around 150,000 users, but only one week later, the number of users jumped to over 4 million. Vero isn’t a typical social media site; it’s free of data mining, advertisements, and algorithms. Vero attempts to offer a social networking service that closely resembles in-person experiences, and it has succeeded in doing so.

The Founder of Vero

Ayman Hariri grew up with a fascination for technology, often building and disassembling PCs in his spare time to learn about them.

Hariri started a data privacy company in 2001 with his junior high school friend, Scott Birnbaum. In 2005, He created Vero in 2015 alongside Birnbaum, when he noticed he could offer something that other social networks weren’t doing.

What Vero Does Differently

Vero does not use advertisements, and users’ privacy is maintained. Hariri wanted a social media experience where users could decide who would see what they post, which is the opposite of what Facebook and Instagram were offering at the time. Users can share videos, music, movies, and photos with whoever they choose. The name “Vero” was chosen for the company because it means “truth” in Italian.

Hariri noticed his friends on other social media sites were acting differently than they did in real life. He wanted to create a social network that emulated how people behave in the real world, which is through varying degrees of intimacy. Based on how close you are with someone, you can share anything on Vero with either everyone or a select few. Vero’s primary mission is to make their social network truly feel social.

Hariri has ensured that respect and consideration remain key factors in Vero’s appeal. Vero respects all users’ privacy and is more deliberate when it comes to solving problems or developing features.

Vero is currently registered in New York, but all staff work remotely across the world.

Vero Becomes Popular

Many cosplayers, artists, musicians, and photographers quickly took to Vero due to its unique pinch and zoom functionality. Although it didn’t start with as many users as it has today, a major event helped Vero’s popularity surge.

In 2018, the Cambridge Analytica data scandal occurred. In the scandal, users’ information from their Facebook and Instagram accounts was used for political advertising purposes without their consent. Vero took advantage of this and launched an advertising campaign to attract the disgruntled Facebook and Instagram users. This plan proved effective, and millions made the switch to Vero. Vero became the most downloaded app in 18 countries during the week. The rise in popularity was unexpected, and the servers were briefly struggling to maintain the influx of new users.

Hariri’s friend Zack Snyder took an interest in Vero. This also gave the company a boost, as his fans registered for the app and followed his account.

Hariri self-financed Vero through his wealth, and the first one million users had access to the full app for free, with plans to move to a subscription model afterwards. The app also generates revenue through an affiliate program from purchases made through the app.

Vero Today

In December of 2020, Vero 2.0 was launched. It was an update that improved the UI and added new features such as video and voice calls, as well as game and app posts. In October of 2021, Vero launched a desktop app with various posting options to choose from.

At the 2021 Webby Awards, Vero was named an honoree for Best Visual Design in the Aesthetic category.

Vero continues to work on new tools and features, including discoverability capabilities and features that allow creators to build more sustainable careers. Vero is also looking into the potential integration of Web3 technology into the app.

Hariri invests in many startup companies through Red Sea Ventures, including Nest, a smart thermostat now owned by Google. He had a 42% stake in his family’s holding company, GroupeMed, but sold it in 2017 for $535 million.

Hariri’s Mentor and Values

Despite some disagreements early on, Ayman Hariri views his father as his biggest mentor. He continues to be inspired by his values and character. Although he might not have initially understood Ayman’s passion for technology, his father encouraged him to follow his dreams, as that’s where he felt his biggest success would be. Hariri considers himself lucky to have learned business skills from his father, and his approach of staying honest and consistent with all people builds trust. Hariri believes in the people he works with and remains optimistic when working on a project. This business philosophy came from his father, and Hariri continues to live by it today with great success.

The fact that Hariri values respect and consideration for people is a key part of Vero’s success. He respects people’s privacy and wants to be deliberate with his projects to ensure that users stick around longer. He believes this helps to build stronger, more meaningful relationships in the long term. He continues to learn from any mistakes and problems that arise, and always endeavors to improve users’ experiences and maintain strong relationships.

Ayman Hariri Today

Hariri currently lives in Paris, France, and is married with three children. His hobbies include superheroes and comic books, which he collects in his spare time. He has named his comic book collection “The Impossible Collection,” which he put on display at the 2016 premiere of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in London. He is friends with American film director Zack Snyder, who directed Justice League. Hariri is disinterested in politics, given the problems that often arise in that field. However, his brother Saad served as Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 2016 to 2020. Hariri continues to work at Vero, and recently put out a desktop version of the app. As of September 2022, his net worth is estimated to be $1.4 billion.

Photo: “ENX_9597” by Web Summit is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Over the last year, the US economy has been moderately in flux. With the Coronavirus pandemic changing global trade practices and domestic spending patterns, it’s hard to predict what the future will hold for the American economy. While thousands of medical professionals worked around the clock to create a vaccine and care for the sick, people like Justin Muzinich were helping the American people in their own way. As a graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale Law, Muzinich holds the position of US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, putting him in the unique and challenging position to oversee the US economy while it goes through this unprecedented time. Expertly poised to handle economic unease, Justin Muzinich has made many strategic moves that may have saved the US economy from collapse.

As he continues to work toward stable economic projections, the ultimate goal, according to Justin, is global cooperation. He asks us to set aside any differences we may have and join him in focusing on rebuilding our world. Moving forward, having professionals like Muzinich on staff in Washington DC will help the US move forward into economic security when the time comes to leave Covid-19 behind us.

There are several ways that Justin Muzinich has worked to bolster the economy over the last year. As a supporter of the CARES act, Justin Muzinich applauded the way in which the bill both helped struggling households and gave support to struggling businesses. He reported a strong economy going into the pandemic and believes that there are strategic ways in which we can prevent significant economic recession when the crisis is behind us. Much of Muzinich’s focus is on businesses, ensuring that the infrastructure of our economy is intact for years to come. He also stresses the importance of propping up local and state governments, many of whom find themselves strapped for cash with added Covid-related expenses. Muzinich was a key player in the corporate-debt backstops and providing support for riskier corporation bonds that occurred in the spring of 2020.

Muzinich puts an emphasis on cryptocurrency and its importance in the economy going forward. In order for this vital part of our changing world to remain economically viable, Muzinich stresses the importance of security to protect economic infrastructure. However, the most important thing going forward, according to Muzinich, is creating a global economy and being in mutual support of one another. He compared the United States and the EU’s responses, stating that the stimulus packages in the United States mirror the EU’s support programs. According to Muzinich, a unified global approach will be key. He also warns about the availability of liquid assets, as many individuals and companies have been calling in their assets, and the supply is running low.

Overall, it’s beneficial for the economy to have people like Muzinich monitoring the economy as we tread through these uncharted waters. Though the pandemic certainly isn’t over yet, experts like Muzinich predict that the United States economy will likely be okay in the wake of this crisis. Though things certainly won’t look perfect right away, with a little global cooperation and strategic government intervention, it’s likely that the economy will rebound soon after this nightmare is over.

John Berlinski, currently a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, has an extensive history as a provider of legal services over the past several years. In fact, before his current position, he worked as an attorney for a couple of different practices, all of which prepared him for his present role. His education began with a Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, after which he attended the University of Michigan Law School.

After graduating, John began his professional career as a lawyer by working as a litigation attorney for the law offices of O’Melveny & Myers LLP, a global law firm with offices throughout the world. This allowed him to establish a network of contacts within the judiciary system, in addition to ample experience, tackling all sorts of cases as part of a legal team.

Years after building up a reputation in his initial position, John Berlinski was offered the opportunity to take on the role of Senior Vice President & Head of West Coast Television Litigation for NBCUniversal. In his capacity as SVP, he was assigned the responsibility of handling all litigation and pre-litigation disputes involving NBCUniversal’s West Coast division.

During his time with NBCUniversal, he was able to further develop skills that would enable him to become an expert in his field. Being SVP placed him in a position where he actively tackled various issues under the umbrella of entertainment law. This included cases involving intellectual property rights, such as those related to copyright law, trademarks, and idea theft, claims involving media portrayals, such as those related to reporters’ shield law, media access, defamation, rights to privacy, and rights to publicity, and other internal situations, such as those involving talent relations, entertainment contracts, employment, and general commercial disputes.

However, serving as SVP was not his only role. In his position as Head of West Coast Television Litigation, John was tasked with leading NBCUniversal’s profit participation group. This meant that it was his responsibility to manage a team of lawyers working to devise strategies for negotiation profit participation contracts. They also oversaw audits and audit claims, as well as accounting statements.

Finally, his professional career led him to become a partner at the law offices of Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP. As a partner, his role is to serve as the head of the office and as the chair of entertainment law, allowing him to apply all that he has learned regarding that judicial branch. Handling high profile cases involving powerful clients with equally powerful opposition can be an intimidating venture, but John’s unique background has ensured that he is more than prepared for the task. His previous experience has since been applied to representing all sorts of television and theater clients and handling cases involving intellectual property in music, resolving disputes involving theme park owners, working with agencies, and most of all, resolving claims related to licensing disputes and profit participation. This has not gone without notice. John’s skill in litigation has been recognized by all sorts of influential sources. Variety included him as a leading attorney of entertainment law in their “Legal Impact Report,” The National Law Journal gave him the title of Entertainment Trailblazer, and The Hollywood Reporter listed him on their “Powerful Lawyers 2020: Hollywood’s Top 100 Attorneys” list. Since working with Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, John has truly made a name for himself as a litigator to watch.