Halsey Minor Information & Halsey Minor Links at HealthHaven.com

Halsey Minor (born 1964 in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA) is a technology entrepreneur who founded CNET in 1993 (initial plans for the company began in 1992). Minor ran CNET for 8 years during which time it became one of the Internet's first companies to achieve profitability. The company's achievements were recognized in 1999 when CNET was selected as one of only 2 Internet companies to join the elite NASDAQ 100 which included companies such as Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, Home Depot, and Dell. Minor also developed 2 other spin-off companies which independent of CNET became public entities: Vignette Software and Snap/NBCi. Minor is currently investing in new companies in a broad range of fields via Minor Ventures.

Minor attended Woodberry Forest School and the University of Virginia, where he was a member of St. Elmo Hall and received a degree in anthropology. After graduation, he worked at Merrill Lynch, before moving on to start his own company. In the late 1980s, he collaborated briefly with Jeff Bezos, the future founder of Amazon.com on a personalized news business plan. Minor was also the founding and largest investor as well as silent partner in the development of salesforce.com.

On September 4, 2007, Minor announced the development of a new 5-star hotel located in historic downtown Charlottesville called the Landmark. The planned 10-story hotel would be part of Minor Family Hotels, a series of 5 star boutique hotels located in historical districts around the world. By early 2009, however, construction on the hotel had stopped as a result of lawsuits and financial problems involving the project developer and the construction lender. ^[1]

On December 19, 2007 the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation announced that Halsey purchased the historic Carter's Grove plantation on 400 acres (1.6 km²) on the James River for $15.3 million and that he "plans to use the mansion as a private residence and use the site as a center for a thoroughbred horse-breeding program."^[2]

As of July 2008, Minor made known his interest in acquiring Hialeah Park Race Track, which opened in 1925. He stated that he wished to buy Hialeah Park and restore it to its original state and begin the process of restoring the popularity of thoroughbred racing. Minor is reportedly in discussions with John Brunetti, the owner of Hialeah Park.

[edit] Dispute with Sotheby's

On May 22, 2008, Minor was the winning bidder in a Sotheby's auction of Edward Hicks' The Peaceable Kingdom, with a hammer price of $9.6 million, a record for the artist. Minor also won two other paintings, "Diamond Dust Shoes" by Andy Warhol and "Paris, Winter Days," by Childe Hassam. "The Peaceable Kingdom" had been on loan to the American Folk Art Museum from 2000 until 2008. The painting was owned by Ralph O. Esmerian, who took it back to pay his debts to Sotheby's, Christie's, and Merrill Lynch. Minor was sued in September for failure to pay for these paintings while waiting for Sotheby's to provide the promised documents that showed their actions had not violated New York law.^[3] In October, Minor countersued, contending the Sotheby's had had an interest in "The Peaceable Kingdom" that they did not disclose. Minor sought to have his countersuit designated as a class action.

[edit] References

[0] "Landmark letdown: Hotel project’s lender folds"

[1] Carter's Grove mansion sells for $15.3 million | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com

[2] "Sotheby's Sues Buyer of Peaceable Kingdom"

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