Eric Boyko

Eric Boyko (born 1970)[1] is a Canadian tech entrepreneur and the founder, president and CEO of Stingray Group.

Eric Boyko
Born1970 (age 50–51)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materMcGill University
OccupationFounder, president & CEO,
Stingray Group Inc.
(2007-present)
Years active1991–present
Websitestingray.com

Early life and education

Boyko was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, to a Quebecois mother and Ukrainian father.[2] He earned a bachelor of commerce degree from McGill University in 1992,[3] and became a certified general accountant in 1997.[4]

Career

Campus Gourmet and eFundraising.com

Boyko started his first business, Campus Gourmet, in 1991 at the age of 19. The company sold precooked meals to students at McGill University.[2][5] He then founded the online fundraising company Universal Fundraising Group with a $2,000 loan from the Business Development Bank of Canada.[2] It was rebranded as eFundraising.com in 1998,[5] and sold to ZapMe in 2000 for $25 million.[6]

Stingray Group Inc.

In 2007, Boyko and Alexandre Taillefer founded digital music provider Stingray Digital Media Group,[3] with Boyko serving as president and CEO since the company's inception.[7][8] The company sells commercial-free music streams to cable and satellite television providers to add to their subscribers' packages,[2] as well as a music streaming app and an online service for consumers and businesses.[9] Unlike many of its streaming music competitors, Stingray uses human curators rather than algorithms to generate playlists.[10] It was launched with the $6 million purchase of karaoke company Soundchoice, which was then renamed The Karaoke Channel.[2][3] A year later, Stingray purchased music-streaming TV channel Galaxie from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for $65 million, and renamed it Stingray Music.[3]

The company went public on June 3, 2015, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.[1][11]

In December 2018, the company officially changed its name to Stingray Group, Inc.

Since Stingray’s inception in 2007, the company has completed 41 acquisitions representing outlays of approximately $770 million, which brought new clients, new products and new geographical markets to our business.

References
  1. Josh O’Kane, “How Stingray’s thrill-seeking CEO took his passion public,” The Globe and Mail, June 5, 2015.
  2. Steve Ladurantaye, “Eric Boyko: Stingray’s entrepreneur a go-go-go,” The Globe and Mail, November 2, 2012.
  3. Paul Delean, “Stingray Digital in a growth groove,” Montreal Gazette, July 24, 2014.
  4. Eric Boyko Archived 2015-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, bdc.ca. Accessed November 15, 2015.
  5. Keith Randall, “Who Said the Path to Success is Easy?” Archived 2015-11-17 at the Wayback Machine McGill Management Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2003-04, p. 17.
  6. “Montreal company hits it big with e-fundraising,” CBC News, April 3, 2000.
  7. Robert Briel, "Q&A with Stingray’s Eric Boyko," Broadband TV News, March 10, 2015.
  8. Eric Boyko CGA: Executive Profile, Bloomberg Businessweek. Accessed November 15, 2015.
  9. “Stingray Digital said to seek about $120M in IPO,” Montreal Gazette, April 24, 2015.
  10. "Why Stingray Digital is betting it all against streaming music". Canadian Business. February 25, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2017.
  11. Damon van der Linde, “Stingray Digital Group Inc plans global expansion after $140M IPO,” Financial Post, June 3, 2015.
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