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Person

Anthony Wood

Nationality:

British-American
Born:

1965
Occupation:

Philanthropist

CEO, Roku

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Anthony Wood is a British-American billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder and CEO of the video streaming service Roku. As of April 2023, Wood had an estimated net worth of $1.7 billion. 1

Wood’s philanthropy is largely accomplished through his foundation, WoodNext Philanthropies. Wood supports initiatives dedicated to mental health, scientific research, homelessness, and disaster recovery. Much of Wood’s philanthropic giving concerns Texas and the southern U.S., but he does not limit his giving to those areas. 2

Wood is a major donor to Republican Party-aligned candidates and causes. During the 2022 midterm elections, Wood was a donor to numerous Republican Party congressional and Senate candidates. He was also a major supporter to numerous super PACs and party committees that were attempting to win back the U.S. Congress for Republicans. 3

Early Life

Wood was born in 1965 in Manchester, England. When he was still young, his family moved to Georgia in the United States. 4

When he was 13, his family moved to the Netherlands, where he attended the American School of the Hague and learned computer coding. He and a classmate would spend hours at a computer terminal experimenting with coding for fun. 5

When his family moved to Houston, Texas a few years later, he asked his father to help him split the cost of a computer so he could continue to practice computer programming. Eventually, he founded a company, AW Software, and it sold one copy of a program he created. 6

Career

College and First Company

Wood enrolled at Texas A&M in 1983. He chose to major in electrical engineering. 7

After a few years in the electrical engineering program, he founded SunRize Industries, which developed software for the Commodore Amiga. Its most popular product was a digital audio tool for editors. The company continued until Wood’s grades suffered and he was nearly kicked out of university. 8

After graduation in 1990, he and his wife Susan, whom he met at the university moved to California. 9

Expanding Tech Entrepreneurship

Once he arrived in California, he reestablished SunRize. The company operated until Commodore went out of business in 1995. 10

Wood thought about expanding his offerings to other personal computers, but he ultimately decided against it. He took the profit from SunRize and founded a company called iBand which built a tool for creating websites. Wood eventually sold iBand to the company Macromedia. 11

After an almost two-year stint at Macromedia, Wood founded ReplayTV, the first digital video recording system. The company was not as successful as TiVo, which entered the market and quickly went public leading it to become the dominant player. 12

Roku

While he was at a Japanese restaurant with his wife, Wood was trying to come up with a name for his new video streaming service. He asked the Japanese waiter what the Japanese word for “six” was — “roku” — and he went with it for the name of his company. 13

Roku was founded in 2002. In 2008, the company introduced a box that would be able to stream Netflix. 14  Roku created a media and licensing business that monetizes active customers. It also charges advertising and billing fees. 15

Roku has since branched out into “smart” home products. The products allow Roku’s streaming platform to become a home control hub. 16

Philanthropy

Wood runs the vast majority of his giving through two donor advised funds, the WoodNext Foundation DAF at Greater Houston Community Foundation, and the WoodNext Foundation DAF at Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust. He has also seeded WoodNext Philanthropies. 17

Wood’s philanthropy is largely related to issues of mental health, scientific research, homelessness, and disaster recovery. Wood gave $14.3 million to the University of Pittsburgh for heart disease and dementia research. He also gave $1.25 million to launch the American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge Entrepreneurship Fellows Program. He also gave $1 million to the Jed Foundation to support its mental health work. He has donated to the American Brain Foundation, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the COPD Foundation and the Glaucoma Research Foundation. 18

Wood has also donated to various local charities and churches in Texas. In 2022, he gave $7 million for the Texas A&M Foundation. Most of his charitable giving is in Texas and the southern U.S.

Despite the WoodNext Foundation’s website language supporting “free markets, individual freedom and transparency,” nearly all of its disclosed giving has been noncontroversial and ideology-neutral. 19

Political Giving

Most of Wood’s political donations are in support Republican Party causes and candidates. In the 2022 midterms, Wood was a supporter of the National Republican Congressional Committee party committee and the conservative super PACs Take Back the House 2022, Senate Leadership Fund, and Protect Ohio Values PAC. Nearly all his individual candidate donations were to Republicans. 20

References

  1. “Anthony Wood.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Accessed March 27, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/profile/anthony-wood/?sh=7ec479156e1c.
  2. Rojc, Philip. “Roku Founder Anthony Wood Is a Billionaire Donor to Watch. Here’s an Overview.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, March 15, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/15/roku-founder-anthony-wood-is-a-billionaire-donor-to-watch-heres-an-overview.
  3. “Browse Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed March 27, 2023. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Anthony%2BWood&contributor_city=Palo%2BAlto&contributor_state=CA.
  4. Rojc, Philip. “Roku Founder Anthony Wood Is a Billionaire Donor to Watch. Here’s an Overview.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, March 15, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/15/roku-founder-anthony-wood-is-a-billionaire-donor-to-watch-heres-an-overview.
  5. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  6. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  7. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx
  8. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  9. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  10. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  11. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  12. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  13.  Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  14. McCracken, Harry. “Roku CEO Anthony Wood on Its New Smart Home Products.” Fast Company, October 12, 2022. https://www.fastcompany.com/90794422/roku-smart-home-wyze.
  15. Blackwell, Monika. “True Vision.” Spirit, 2017. https://www.txamfoundation.com/Summer-2017/Trailblazers.aspx.
  16. McCracken, Harry. “Roku CEO Anthony Wood on Its New Smart Home Products.” Fast Company, October 12, 2022. https://www.fastcompany.com/90794422/roku-smart-home-wyze.
  17.  Rojc, Philip. “Roku Founder Anthony Wood Is a Billionaire Donor to Watch. Here’s an Overview.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, March 15, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/15/roku-founder-anthony-wood-is-a-billionaire-donor-to-watch-heres-an-overview.
  18. Rojc, Philip. “Roku Founder Anthony Wood Is a Billionaire Donor to Watch. Here’s an Overview.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, March 15, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/15/roku-founder-anthony-wood-is-a-billionaire-donor-to-watch-heres-an-overview.
  19. Rojc, Philip. “Roku Founder Anthony Wood Is a Billionaire Donor to Watch. Here’s an Overview.” Inside Philanthropy. Inside Philanthropy, March 15, 2023. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2023/3/15/roku-founder-anthony-wood-is-a-billionaire-donor-to-watch-heres-an-overview.
  20. “Browse Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed March 27, 2023. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Anthony%2BWood&contributor_city=Palo%2BAlto&contributor_state=CA.
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