John De Mol

Dutch producer and media tycoon. De Mol founded the successful television production companies John de Mol Produkties (1979), Endemol (1994) and the broadcast company Talpa, latin for mole (2005). John de Mol was the son of the singer, accordionist and businessman in the music industry Johannes Hendrikus (John) de Mol (28 December 1931, Den Haag - 27 Sept 2013, Laren). They called him the Dutch Sinatra. Little is known of his mother. His sister Linda (8 July 1964) became a famous actress and television host. De Mol, who was not interested in academic studies, wanted to be a professional soccer player. With some difficulties he finished Havo. Via his father, who became head of the pirate Radio Noordzee he was introduced to the music industry and the art of producing. At age 23 he produced De Showbizzquiz on Dutch television. His first success as a freelance producer was the hospital series Medisch Centrum West (MCW). The 100 broadcastings ran from 15 August 1988 till 1 February 1994 during prime time on Dutch television and the series was exported to many countries. He decided to end it at the top of success. Between 1997-1999 he developed the reality television series Big Brother. The format of the series was exported to many countries, which brought him a fortune. The idea for this television series arised from a brainstorm session at 4 September 1997 on his John de Mol Produkties at Hilversum. On 1 Jan 1994 his company fused with Joop van den Ende TV-Producties. The new company was called Endemol, but both partners kept autonomy. For Endemol he produced Fear Factor, Love Letters, 1 against 100 and Deal or No Deal. In 2000 De Mol sold his share of Endemol to the Spanish Telefonica, making him a billionaire listed on the Forbes top 500. He continued to serve as creative director until 2004 and invested the money in Talpa. De Mol was interested in establishing hos own commercial television canals, and started on 12 August 2005 Talpa, for which he bought the Dutch broadcasting rights if the Dutch soccer competition and used formats like Expeditie Robinson developed by himself. In December 2006 Talpa was renamed to Tien (Ten). Because of bad ratings Ten closed on 17 Augustus 2007. De Mol continued producing successful formats like The voice of Holland (2010), again exported to many countries, and acquired shares in commercial channels liker SBS (2011). Personal De Mol married 24 July 1976 the Dutch singer Willeke Alberti (February 3, 1945, A'dam). They got a son John Carel (Johnny)de Mol born 12 January 1979 in Laren. In 1980 they divorced. Link to Wikipedia