Online Extra: Pierre Omidyar on "Connecting People"

eBay's founder talks about the power of community and his efforts to apply lessons learned from the online giant to other spheres

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June 20, 2005 at 4:00 AM UTC

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Pierre Omidyar started eBay (EBAY ) with the hope of using the Internet to create a truly efficient market, open to individuals and not just large companies. But he never dreamed how much people would be able to empower themselves online. That experience got him thinking that the same dynamic could be applied well beyond the online marketplace.

Now, Omidyar and his wife, Pamela, are devoting much of their energies to a new field: philanthropy. But their Omidyar Network is also funding private companies that encourage the development of bottom-up power. In a recent interview with Robert D. Hof, BusinessWeek's Silicon Valley bureau chief, Omidyar talked about where his experience at eBay has led him and what's coming next. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow: