James H. Clark

Computer scientist and entrepreneur

• Born: March 23, 1944
• Place of Birth: Plainview, Texas

Introduction

James H. Clark developed a legendary reputation as a Silicon Valley technology innovator and entrepreneur. He used developed powerful new computer chips to render three-dimensional computer images in real time and thus has been dubbed by some as the "father of computer graphics." He founded Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) in the early 1980s to commercialize this technology and thereby revolutionized visual production of movies, videos, and scientific imaging. In the mid-1990s he cofounded Netscape Communications to commercialize a graphical web browser, which simplified use of the internet and helped launch the online revolution. Clark also pioneered the Silicon Valley venture capital model that became the hallmark of the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, investing in a cadre of start-ups.

Early Life

James H. Clark was born on March 23, 1944, in Plainview, Texas, and had a difficult childhood that included an alcoholic father, the divorce of his parents when he was fourteen, and abject poverty thereafter as his mother struggled to support the family. Clark was recognized as bright, with an excellent memory, but he did not do well in school. Ongoing behavioral problems ultimately led to his suspension in his junior year, which prompted him to drop out and join the Navy at age sixteen, with his mother's consent. After basic training, he was sent to sea for nine months doing menial chores that he hated; however, he was subsequently given a test that indicated he had an aptitude for mathematics. This led to his teaching math to new recruits in New Orleans and to his attending Tulane University at night, despite his lack of a high school diploma.

Clark earned enough credits while in the Navy that, upon discharge, he was able to enroll in the University of New Orleans. He earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in physics in the late 1960s. He then went to the University of Utah to earn a PhD in computer science in 1974.

Life's Work

On completing his doctoral work, Clark did research at the New York Institute of Technology's Computer Graphics Lab, which pioneered three-dimensional (3-D) computer imaging. Clark also served as a faculty member at the University of California at Santa Cruz (1974–78) and then moved to Stanford University as a faculty member (1979–82) in their engineering program. As a researcher, Clark specialized in how to accelerate display of 3-D images with computer hardware and software. His breakthrough development was called the Geometry Engine, an early computer chip that could greatly speed rendering of 3-D images in real time.

Commercializing this technology led to founding Clark's first company, Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI), in 1982 to produce powerful computer workstations that took advantage of his new chip. Because of this superior technology, SGI was able to dominate top-tier Hollywood graphic effects in movies and thereby command premium pricing and margins in this lucrative market. By the early 1990s, SGI sales had reached $550 million. Also, by this time Clark felt increasingly at odds with the more conservative SGI board and chief executive officer (CEO)—to the point that he finally quit the company and sold his stock in 1994.

Before leaving SGI, Clark had met with a brilliant young computer scientist named Marc Andreessen, who had recently relocated to Silicon Valley after finishing college in computer science at a branch of the University of Illinois. While working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the college, Andreessen led a team that developed the NCSA Mosaic web browser, the first graphical user interface (GUI) for accessing content on the recently developed World Wide Web. This simple point-and-click browser made it practical for millions of people around the world to use the Internet. In March 1994, Clark and Andreessen decided to create a substantially enhanced version of Mosaic in a new software company they founded called Mosaic Communications Company (MCC). Clark invested several million dollars and raised other investment capital to finance the start-up, while Andreessen gathered most of the team who wrote the original Mosaic browser to develop the enhanced version. Within a few months, they had a completely new and much more sophisticated browser that was made available for download on the internet in October 1994.

MCC's enhanced Mosaic was an immediate hit, with some million users by 1995. However, this success led to legal issues with NCSA, which was still licensing use of the original Mosaic browser to other companies. In the settlement that was ultimately reached, MCC paid NCSA an undisclosed sum to resolve the infringement claim, and MCC agreed to change the name of both the company and the product. Thus, MCC became Netscape Communications Company (NCC), and the enhanced browser was renamed Netscape Navigator.

In addition to pioneering browser software, Clark pioneered a new business model at Netscape that would become the blueprint for the explosion of internet start-ups in the so called dot-com boom of the mid- to late 1990s. This model involved selling software to companies but practically giving it away to users. The approach allowed Netscape to generate an early stream of revenue and grow market share with users quickly, making the company a potentially attractive investment. As a result, Netscape generated some $100 million in revenue by 1995 and ultimately reached 75 percent market share in 1996. A second entrepreneurial innovation was to sell shares of stock in the company before it became profitable through an initial public offering (IPO) in 1995, which earned an estimated $2 billion return for Clark and became the model for other internet start-ups in the dot-com boom.

The success of Netscape attracted the attention of many potential competitors, chief of which was Microsoft Corporation, producer of the dominant Windows operating system and MS Office suite of applications. Microsoft had been reluctant to incorporate a web browser into its product portfolio until it saw the overwhelming success of Netscape Navigator. Realizing the browser could threaten its market dominance, Microsoft purchased a modified version of NCSA Mosaic and rebranded it as MS Internet Explorer (IE), which it then bundled with its Windows operating system, essentially giving integrated browser software to its customers. It was also alleged by Netscape and other competitors that Microsoft used its market power to force companies to adopt IE and actually programmed Windows to run better with IE than with other browsers. As a result of these challenges, Netscape's sales plunged to the point that the company was sold to America Online in March 1999 for $4.2 billion; Navigator was later abandoned by AOL. Clark pursued legal action against Microsoft, which led the US government to bring antitrust action against Microsoft (United States v. Microsoft) that forced changes in its business practices.

Clark moved on to create other information technology ventures. In 1996, he founded Healtheon to streamline the handling of health care information and generate substantial operating economies in transaction processing for health care providers and insurers. Actual performance of the company never achieved his vision, and when a competitor called WebMD, backed by Microsoft, emerged with a similar business plan, Clark proactively sought consolidation of the companies to avoid a replay of his Netscape experience. As a result, Healtheon was merged into WebMD in 1999, creating one of the leading health information portals on the internet, with Clark as a major investor. In 1999, Clark backed the launch of myCFO, a wealth management firm that focused on managing investments for many of Silicon Valley's technology entrepreneurs. This firm was sold in 2002, and thereafter Clark invested in a number of other information technology, financial services, construction/development, and biotechnology firms. His lucrative investments made him a regular on Forbes' list of billionaires in America through the 2010s. According to Forbes, his net worth in 2024 was $3.8 billion.

Personal Life

Clark was married four times and had four children. He married Kristy Hinze, an Australian model and actress also known for her environmental activism, in 2009; they had two daughters together. Clark was known to be an active collector of art, with a highly regarded collection of works by Impressionist painters including Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, and Vincent van Gogh. In addition, he was a notable wine collector, with reputed holdings of some forty thousand bottles. He was also a yacht enthusiast, owning several vessels, one of which set a record as the largest computer-controlled yacht in the world.

Clark became an active philanthropist after earning his fortune. Examples of his contributions include $90 million to a center for biomedical engineering named in his honor at Stanford University, where he taught; $30 million to Tulane University, where he was a student; and contributions to various wildlife, environmental, and cultural causes. Clark was a major financial backer of a 2009 Academy Award–winning film The Cove, which documented harmful practices in the Japanese dolphin hunting industry.

Bibliography

Clark, Jim. Netscape Time: The Making of the Billion Dollar Start-up That Took on Microsoft. New York: St. Martin's, 1999. Print.

Cusumano, Michael A., and David B. Yoffie. Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and Its Battle with Microsoft. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.

Lacey, Sarah. Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web2.0. New York: Gotham, 2008. Print.

Lewis, Michael L. The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story. New York: Norton, 1999. Print.

Livingston, Jessica. Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. New York: Springer, 2008. Print.

Payment, Simone. Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark: The Founders of Netscape. New York: Rosen, 2006. Print.

Quittner, Joshua, and Michelle Slatalla. Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape, How It Challenged Microsoft and Changed the World. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1998. Print.