Jon Oringer

Jon Oringer was born in 1974 in Scarsdale, New York, where he spent his childhood. Oringer is Jewish. He began learning computer programming in elementary school, using his Apple IIe to code "simple games and plug-ins for bulletin board systems." As he grew older he also developed his own photos as a hobby. Attending Scarsdale High School from 1988 to 1992, by the age of fifteen Oringer was teaching guitar lessons, later moving on to fixing computers out of his parents house when he realized it was more lucrative.

Oringer started selling his own software products over the internet when he began attending Stony Brook University in 1993, inventing and selling thousands of copies of what Forbes describes as "one of the Web's first pop-up blockers." After graduating with a BS in computer science and mathematics in 1997, from 1996 to 1998 he studied computer science at Columbia University, graduating with an MS. While enrolled at Columbia he continued "trying to create products to complement the pop-up blocker," using a subscription model to sell "personal firewalls, accounting software, cookie blockers, trademark managers," and other small programs. Oringer estimates that he founded about ten small startup companies, most of which had Oringer as the sole employee.

Founding Shutterstock

While marketing his software through a mailing list, Oringer realized that emails with photos were better received than emails without. Finding it difficult to find affordable generic stock photos online, in 2003 he purchased a Canon Rebel camera to take pictures for a new stock-photo marketplace that catered to advertisers and "microstock photography." Oringer went on to take about 100,000 of his own images over six months, eventually posting a culled collection of 30,000 images to a new website he named Shutterstock. Funding Shutterstock entirely with his savings, Oringer rented a 600-square-foot office in New York for the company and initially handled all roles himself, including customer service. Like his previous projects he made the photographs available via subscription, with unlimited downloads and a monthly starting fee of US$49. He also advertised Shutterstock on platforms such as Google AdWords.

Initially hiring friends to serve as models for the stock photos, Oringer later hired a photo director to organize shoots for the company. When demand exceeded his photo supply, he became an agent and hired additional contributors, also hiring a team of reviewers to ensure "editorial consistency and quality."

IPO

In May 2012, Oringer brought Shutterstock public after filing for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, which it completed on October 17, 2012. After going public, Oringer continued to own about 55 percent of Shutterstock, largely through the investment company Pixel Holdings. Stock value over the ensuing year increased considerably, and on June 28, 2013, Andre Sequin, an analyst at RBC Capital Market, announced Oringer as the "first billionaire to come out of Silicon Alley - New York's thriving tech sector." His net wealth at the time was estimated at US$1.05 billion.

Based in West Village in Manhattan, around 2012 Oringer became a certified commercial helicopter pilot.

In 2020, Oringer paid $42 million for a Miami Beach mansion, marking a record on North Bay Road, only eclipsed in 2024 by David and Victoria Beckham.