Hoberman, Brent (1969– )

South African entrepreneur, co-founder, and chief executive officer of the London-based Internet company Lastminute.com, which sells late-breaking deals for travel, gifts, and entertainment bookings that are perishable inventory for their suppliers. With his business partner, Martha Lane Fox, he became the epitome of the new breed of dotcom millionaires.

Hoberman teamed up with Lane Fox in March 1998, producing a 6,000-line spreadsheet in support of a business plan for the Lastminute.com Web site, which was launched in the UK the following October. It was later released in France, Germany, and Sweden in 1999, and Australia in August 2000.

On 14 March 2000 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange and on 21 March the Nasdaq National Market. Although, in 2003, Hoberman received a basic salary of £150,000, plus a £52,000 performance bonus, Lastminute.com stated that Hoberman was the lowest paid chief executive of a FTSE 250 company.

Hoberman was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and his family moved to New York when he was five. He was later educated in England, at Eton College and at Oxford University (from which he obtained an MA). After graduating, Hoberman was a senior associate at Spectrum Strategy Consultants, a media and telecom strategy consultancy. He then held business development responsibilities at LineOne (an Internet service provider owned by British Telecom, News International, and United News and Media) and was part of the founding team of the UK online auction company QXL.com.