John Bentley

International media, entertainment and communications entrepreneur
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Chief Executive of Prize Mobile Group Plc.; |
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| Record of achievements | ||
| First with digital Gamecards | 2003 | Electronic Game Card, Inc. Chairman & CEO |
| First with Net television (Internet on TV) | 1995 | Viewcall America, Inc. President & Founder |
| First with point to multipoint satellite fax | 1990 | Faxcast Corporation, Inc. Chairman |
| First with video rental in Europe | 1980 | Intervision PLC (UK) Chairman & CEO |
| Former CEO of United Kingdom’s largest movie studios corporation | ||
| Former CEO of the largest global outdoor advertising corporation | ||
| John Bentley He started his career on the London Stock Exchange in positions as dealer, arbitrage and analyst and later in investment banking specializing in mergers and acquisitions field. He re-organized and developed a number of UK public companies in varying fields culminating in the building of a major media conglomerate; later to be followed by a series of media and entertainment communication tech start ups. From 2002 to 2005 he was the co-founder and CEO of Electronic Game Card Inc., a company specializing in the delivery of digital pocket games to the lottery and sales promotion industry in the USA. In the late 1990’s he was a director of a number of internet orientated companies and CEO of Net Media Consultants, a company specializing in advising and funding new and existing internet companies as well as advising bricks and mortar companies on internet strategies. In 1994 he founded Viewcall Europe and Viewcall America to implement the then radical concept of accessing internet on television, for which he is internationally recognized. Through Viewcall he financed and organised the development of the world’s first thin client set top box (STB) in June 1995. The Viewcall STB at $200 was designed to suit a mass audience against the standard PC cost of $1,500 at that time and was launched a year before Oracle’s network computers or Microsoft’s Web T.V. opened up for business. In 1980 he brought to the U.K. stock market Europe’s first and largest video rental distribution chain (Intervision, PLC); in 1984 he financed the world’s first individual word processor (Wordnet International); in 1987 through A. Brown & Sons he was the main satellite TV installer in the U.K; and in 1990 he introduced the world’s first point to multipoint global fax by satellite in the USA (Faxcast Corporation). In the 70’s he built a major entertainment and media conglomerate from scratch acquiring 14 public companies by merger and acquisition in three years. They included British Lion Films and Shepperton Studios (Britain’s largest movie corporation); Mills and Allen, the world’s largest billboard corporation outside the USA, and the largest UK owned advertising agency, Dorlands. The group eventually employed over 10,000 people overall with over a $1 billion of sales and saw earnings per share increase by 900% over five years while he was Chairman and CEO. For further information please contact John Bentley via email, j.bentley2@btinternet.com |
| Articles | |
| |
Mr.
Internet TV - Internet TV for the People; Interview with John Bentley, Inventor of Internet on TV Ruel's Set-Top Net Page - Feb 1999 |
| Couch
potatoes armed with Viewcall can surf the Web through the tube From the Ether - Bob Metcalfe - Dec 1995 |
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British
firm first to Web TV. Azeem Azhar - Jan 1996 |
| First
Web PCs Arrive Dave Andrews - April 1996 |
| Daily
Express August 1991 |
Finance
wizard working like a charm |
| Financial
Weekly April 1981 |
John
Bentley's Video Rental and Distribution Business |
| City
Affairs Company Analysis |
Intervision |
| US
Business Week December 1972 |
Britain:
Parliament zeros in on a fast dealmaker |
| Economist |
The
art of financial metamorphosis |