John Textor stands as a prominent figure in the convergence of technology, media, entertainment, and sports. As the majority owner and Chairman of Eagle Football Holdings Ltd., he leads a global portfolio of prestigious football clubs, including Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon, France), Botafogo Futebol (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Racing White Daring Molenbeek FC (Brussels, Belgium), and Crystal Palace Football Club (London, UK). His influence extends beyond the realm of sports, rooted in a distinguished career as a visionary in disruptive technologies and digital content distribution.
Prior to his significant foray into global football, John Textor made his mark as a pioneer in the digital media landscape. He is the retired Executive Chairman and former largest shareholder of fuboTV, Inc. (NYSE:”FUBO”), a leading American streaming television service. FuboTV distinguished itself by focusing on live sports broadcasting, encompassing major leagues such as NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and MLS, alongside international soccer, news, and entertainment programming. Textor’s journey with fuboTV began through Facebank Group, Inc., a company specializing in digital human likeness, where he served as Executive Chairman, CEO, and Head of Studio. Facebank Group acquired fuboTV in April 2020 and subsequently rebranded as fuboTV, Inc. in August 2020. Under his leadership, fuboTV achieved a remarkable public listing on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2020, reaching a peak market valuation exceeding $8 billion, marking one of the most successful IPOs of that year.
Recognized by Forbes as “Hollywood’s Virtual Reality Guru” in 2016, John Textor is a long-standing advocate for the integration of entertainment media and technology. His career trajectory, evolving from a programmer to a venture capitalist, is characterized by both remarkable triumphs and valuable lessons learned in the startup, turnaround, acquisition, and expansion of numerous technology ventures. Several of these ventures achieved global recognition, unicorn valuations, and successful exits under his guidance. Notably, Textor is recognized for his leadership at the visual effects powerhouse, Digital Domain. While his early career spanned diverse sectors within film and technology, his focus has converged on a mission of considerable future importance: the development of hyper-realistic, artificially intelligent digital humans. These digital entities are envisioned to assist, entertain, and educate, representing a profound step in the evolution from organic to digital existence. In an era where AI is often seen as a replacement for human roles, Textor’s dedication lies in creating digital humans that enhance and improve human capabilities. As the ‘rise of the machines’ transitions from science fiction to reality, the choices made in the next decade concerning digital human development and AI will be critical to humanity’s future.
In 1999, when digital distribution was largely dismissed by major record labels and film studios, and platforms like Napster faced significant opposition, John Textor’s startup, Jester Digital Corporation, pioneered an internet-based 3-D multi-user virtual world for music, film, and social networking. This platform became the first digital distribution service to gain endorsement from Metallica, a prominent critic of Napster and online content sharing at the time. Supported by strategic joint ventures with IBM and Metallica, and groundbreaking online environments for films like Disney’s Pearl Harbor, Textor’s virtual 3-D worlds were among the earliest examples of internet-based multi-user virtual reality and gaming environments in the entertainment industry. These innovations paved the way for the development of numerous massive multiplayer games and downloadable music applications that followed.
John Textor’s conviction in the significance of high-quality computer-generated visual content led him to become the largest shareholder and Co-Chairman of the company preceding Digital Domain (HKSE: 547). He spearheaded its acquisition and restructuring starting in May 2006, culminating in a NYSE valuation of $450 million by Spring 2012. Under Textor’s leadership, Digital Domain doubled its revenues within three years and reaffirmed its position as a market leader in visual effects and human animation. The company contributed visual effects to over 80 major feature films, including blockbusters like Transformers, Flags of our Fathers, Tron:Legacy, Real Steel, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Digital Domain earned multiple Academy Awards and CLIO advertising awards, and made history as the first visual effects company to create a believable digital human actor in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This achievement, recognized as the ‘Holy Grail of Animation’, earned the company a 2009 Academy Award for Achievement in Visual Effects. John Textor resigned from Digital Domain in September 2012, publicly disagreeing with the board’s decision to liquidate the company’s Florida operations and sell its legacy VFX business to its China-based shareholders. Despite his competing recapitalization offer being rejected, and the subsequent challenges faced by Digital Domain, the foundation laid during his tenure contributed to the company achieving a US$3.5 billion IPO valuation in Hong Kong in 2015. Following the restructuring, numerous lawsuits were resolved, and Textor was awarded $8.5 million in damages and the technology assets of Digital Domain’s Florida studio. He utilized these assets to launch Pulse Evolution and Evolution|AI, which were later acquired by his Facebank Group, ultimately becoming fuboTV.
In 2013, John Textor established Pulse Evolution Corporation (PLFX), leveraging his Digital Domain human character team to innovate in hyper-realistic digital humans for holographic performances, virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. He is widely recognized as the pioneer of the holographic entertainment industry, credited with the groundbreaking 2012 virtual Tupac Shakur performance at the Coachella Valley Music Festival and the virtual Michael Jackson performance at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. These events garnered over 100 million YouTube views and 98 billion internet impressions globally. In 2015, Textor and his holographic creations achieved mainstream recognition when they were parodied in the ‘Happy Holograms’ episode of the animated sitcom, South Park.
Driven by the potential for more profound applications of digital humans, John Textor founded Evolution|AI Corporation. This company focuses on adapting human animation technology to enable artificial intelligence platforms to interact with users through relatable human faces. Evolution|AI aims to develop a comprehensive library of functional human faces and characters, facilitating human-like communication with AI platforms such as Watson, Siri, and Alexa.
John Textor’s career in technology began in the early 1980s, following his departure from an investment banking role at Shearson Lehman Hutton in the early 90s. He founded Wyndcrest Holdings, LLC, a private holding company investing in technology opportunities within entertainment, telecommunications, and the internet. Wyndcrest is best known for supporting Art Technology Group, a pioneer in internet personalization technology that achieved a $10.5 billion valuation as a successful IPO in 1999. Wyndcrest’s initial $2.4 million investment yielded a return valued at $550 million by early 2000.
In May 2000, amidst the challenges of a technology stock market downturn, John Textor co-founded Virtual Bank, one of the earliest internet banking startups in the US, which evolved into a multi-billion dollar diversified financial services company. VirtualBank was a leader in internet banking technology and practices, forming strategic partnerships and joint ventures with major corporations including Microsoft, EMC, Worldcom, and Textron. Its data services division, serving clients like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse First Boston, significantly contributed to its #23 ranking on the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies list. In 2004, VirtualBank’s private wealth division, Lydian Wealth Management, was named ‘Advisory Firm of the Year’ by Institutional Investor Magazine, largely due to its technological innovations.
Within Wyndcrest, John Textor also served as Chairman and CEO of BabyUniverse, Inc., a leading e-commerce retailer of baby products. He rescued BabyUniverse from near insolvency with a $300,000 investment in 2001, growing annual revenues from $1 million to $40 million, and selling the company in October 2007 for approximately $90 million. Furthermore, he was Chairman of the Board and principal owner of Sims Snowboards, the world’s second-largest snowboard brand, and Westbeach, a prominent Canadian snowboard apparel brand. His contributions to winter sports include partnering with Westbeach founder Chip Wilson, also the founder of Lululemon Athletica, to establish the first recognized and globally televised World Snowboarding Championship.
John Textor is an alumnus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. His multifaceted career underscores a commitment to innovation and a profound impact across diverse industries, from revolutionizing digital media and entertainment to shaping the future of global football.
