Sophie Schmidt is the daughter of billionaires Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt. Eric was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and executive chairman of Alphabet until 2018. 1 His net worth was $22.7 billion as of March 1, 2022. 2
Sophie Schmidt is founder and CEO of Rest of World, a nonprofit journalism organization that publishes technology stories from countries that typically receive little to no tech news coverage. 3
Schmidt is director of the Schmidt Family Foundation, 4 which was founded by her parents in 2006. 5 The foundation’s focus is environmentalism with focuses on climate change mitigation, weather-dependent energy, agriculture, and marine technology. 6
Background and Education
Sophie Schmidt is the daughter of billionaires Eric and Wendy Schmidt. Eric Schmidt was CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 and executive chairman of Alphabet until 2018. 7 He is number 30 on the Forbes 400 8 and number 96 in the World’s Billionaire’s List for 2021, with a net worth of $22.7 billion as of March 1, 2022. 9 Sophie’s sister Alison passed away in 2017 from a long illness. 10
Schmidt earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Princeton University in 2009, a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Master of Business Administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 2015. 11
Business Career
From 2015 to 2018 Schmidt was director of communications and public policy for Uber. 12 Uber’s head of communications described Schmidt as “incredibly understated, incredibly bright, and has one of the strongest work ethics that I’ve ever encountered.” 13
In 2018 she founded Rest of World in New York and works as the company’s CEO. 14 Rest of World is an international nonprofit journalism organization that publishes technology stories from around the world, mainly focused on countries that receive little or no tech news coverage. 15 It has focus sections on Africa, Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. 16 Schmidt believes that countries outside of North America and Europe have tech experiences that are valuable to share globally, and that all may benefit from a more global perspective. 17 Rest of World has hit stumbling blocks with staff turnover and unclear mission and editorial processes, according to former staff. 18 Schmidt invested $6 million from a family trust in the startup and expressed plans to spend as much as $60 million over the next ten years. 19
Schmidt Family Foundation
Schmidt is a director of her family’s Schmidt Family Foundation. 20 The foundation has total net assets of $1,374,795,346 as reported on its 2019 tax return. 21 It reported $72,978,138 in contributions and grants in 2019. 22 Her mother Wendy is president and father Eric is vice president of the foundation. 23
The foundation’s focus is the environment, 24 with program funding areas in climate change mitigation, weather-dependent energy, agriculture, and marine technology. 25 Some of the largest contributions from the foundation were $4.3 million to Sustainable Markets Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations focused on environmentalist causes; 26 $3.4 million to Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which supports and advocates for a “circular economy” to eliminate waste and pollution;, 27 more than $3 million to Human Rights Watch, a left-of-center investigative and advocacy group; 28 and $2.4 million to Climate Central, a group of scientists who research and report on climate change and its impact. 29 30
Inside Philanthropy referred to Schmidt as a “Successor,” an heir who is involved in managing the family philanthropy along with their parents in preparation for eventually taking over. 31
References
- “Eric Schmidt.” Britannica. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eric-Schmidt
- “The Richest People in the World.” Forbes World’s Billionaires List. The Richest in 2021. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-schmidt/?list=billionaires&sh=59e2a1ec138e
- “About Us.” Rest of World. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://restofworld.org/about/
- “Sophie Schmidt.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Search for Officers or Employees. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/name_search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=sophie+schmidt
- Schmidt Family Foundation. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://tsffoundation.org/
- “Impact Investing.” Schmidt Family Foundation. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://tsffoundation.org/impact-investing/
- “Eric Schmidt.” Britannica. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eric-Schmidt
- “The Richest People in America.” The Forbes 400. The Definitive Ranking of the Wealthiest Americans in 2021. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-schmidt/?list=billionaires&sh=59e2a1ec138e
- “The Richest People in the World.” Forbes World’s Billionaires List. The Richest in 2021. https://www.forbes.com/profile/eric-schmidt/?list=billionaires&sh=59e2a1ec138e
- Tess Townsend. “Eric Schmidt’s Daughter Alison has Passed Away.” Vox. June 9, 2017. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.vox.com/2017/6/9/15773234/alphabet-eric-schmidt-daughter-alison-passed-away
- “Sophie Schmidt.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-schmidt-a61605b0/
- “Sophie Schmidt.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-schmidt-a61605b0/
- Joseph Bernstein. “Sophie Schmidt Will Launch A New Tech Publication With An International Focus.” BuzzFeed News. May 1, 2019. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/a-google-scion-is-starting-a-new-publication-with-focus-on
- “Sophie Schmidt.” LinkedIn. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-schmidt-a61605b0/
- “About Us.” Rest of World. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://restofworld.org/about/
- Rest of World website. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://restofworld.org/
- Alex Kantrowitz. “Rest of World Wants to Set a New Path for International Tech Coverage.” OneZero. March 17, 2021. Accessed March 4, 2022. https://onezero.medium.com/rest-of-world-wants-to-set-a-new-path-for-international-tech-coverage-e7ef0f869590
- Nora James. “Inside Sophie Schmidt’s Rest of World, the new tech publication from Eric Schmidt’s daughter that launched with big ambitions but has hit early growing pains.” Daily Post L.A. November 15, 2021. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://dailypostla.com/news/finance/banking/inside-sophie-schmidts-rest-of-world-the-new-tech-publication-from-eric-schmidts-daughter-that-launched-with-big-ambitions-but-has-hit-early-growing-pains/
- Lukas I. Alpert. “Eric Schmidt’s Daughter Has Tech Ambitions—Just Not in Silicon Valley.” The Wall Street Journal. September 27, 2020. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-schmidts-daughter-has-tech-ambitionsjust-not-in-silicon-valley-11601218509
- “Sophie Schmidt.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Search for Officers or Employees. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/name_search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=sophie+schmidt
- Schmidt Family Foundation. Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part II.
- Schmidt Family Foundation. Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part I.
- Schmidt Family Foundation. Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part VIII
- “What We Fund.” Schmidt Family Foundation – About. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://tsffoundation.org/what-we-fund/
- “Impact Investing.” Schmidt Family Foundation. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://tsffoundation.org/impact-investing/
- “Sustainable Markets Foundation.” Ballotpedia. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://ballotpedia.org/Sustainable_Markets_Foundation
- “Circular Economy Introduction.” Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview
- “About Us.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://www.hrw.org/about/about-us
- “What We Do.” Climate Central. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://www.climatecentral.org/what-we-do#wwd
- Schmidt Family Foundation. Return of Private Foundation (Form 990-PF). 2019. Part XV.
- David Callahan. “The Most Powerful Heirs in Philanthropy.” Inside Philanthropy. January 19, 2022. Accessed February 24, 2022. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2022/1/19/the-most-powerful-heirs-in-philanthropy