- Jeff Braun
Jeff Braun is an American computer
game producer and co-founder of thevideo game developer ,Maxis .Braun had successfully published
font packs for theAmiga personal computer when he met Will Wright at a pizza party hosted by Chris Doner in 1987. Wright had been unsuccessful in finding agame publisher for hiscity-building game "SimCity ". Braun already had a wire framejet fighter simulation game he hoped to publish, and when he saw "SimCity" he told Wright that the two games would give them critical mass to start a new games publisher of their own. They named the company Maxis.cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/features/maxis/index.html|title=SIMply Divine|accessdate=2008-06-07|author=Geoff Keighley]Wright had been an employee of
Brøderbund when he first developed the concept, so Braun and he had to return there to clear the rights to "SimCity". Brøderbund had just set up a new distribution office to counter theElectronic Arts (EA) "Affiliated Label" program. Brøderbund executivesGary Carlston andDon Daglow saw "SimCity", recognized its potential and urged Braun to sign a distribution deal with Brøderbund for the game. Braun wanted the jet fighter game included in the deal, and Brøderbund agreed.The first five years of Maxis' history saw them remaining with Brøderbund, before Braun added a dedicated sales force to Maxis in preparation to taking the company public. The company's
IPO took place in 1995. In 1997, after setbacks on a series of secondary titles, Braun and Wright sold Maxis to Electronic Arts for US$120 million in stock. The deal made Braun the largest shareholder in EA at the time.Since 1997 Braun has continued to make investments in a wide range of software and technology companies in the United States and in
Israel . In the late 1990s he suffered a broken hip in an accident riding hisunicycle , but recovered fully.Fact|date=July 2008References
External links
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