Dr. Patrick M. Byrne Chairman and CEO Dr. Patrick M. Byrne is Chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, Inc., a Utah-based internet retailer that has been publicly traded since 2002. Under Byrne's leadership the company's revenue soared from $1.8 million in 1999 to $800 million in 2008.
Before founding Overstock.com, Byrne served as chairman, president and CEO of Centricut, LLC, a manufacturer of industrial torch consumables, then held the same three positions at Fechheimer Brothers, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company and manufacturer of police, firefighter, and military uniforms.
In 2001, he began Worldstock.com, Overstock.com's socially responsible marketplace for handcrafted products created by artisans from developing nations and from underprivileged artisans in the United States. Overstock's margins on these items are low in order to provide a larger percentage of the sales proceeds directly to the suppliers. On average, artisans receive about 60% of the profit. To date, more than $32 million has been returned to Worldstock's artisan suppliers.
Byrne believes that, along with economic freedom, education is the foundation of a healthy society. Byrne has founded 19 schools internationally and is a champion of educational freedom in the United States. In that regard, he serves as Chairman of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. His personal formal education includes a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in Philosophy & Asian Studies, a master's degree in philosophy from Cambridge University as a Marshall scholar, and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford University.
Byrne's free market philosophy and passion for sound economic principles often outweigh self-interest. He encourages Americans to pay down their credit card debt, and has vigorously advocated for greater SEC oversight and federal enforcement efforts to curb various forms of securities manipulation practiced by large stock market participants, a position which has provoked the wrath of Wall Street.
Byrne has a black belt in tae kwon do and once pursued a career in professional boxing. He has cycled across the country four times. His last ride, in the summer of 2000, was to raise awareness and funds for cancer research at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
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