Michiel Mol

Michiel Mol (born 4 August 1969 in Delft) is a Dutch businessman and the former director of the Force India (formerly Spyker F1) Formula One team.

Not to be confused with Michael Mol.
Michiel Mol (2010)

Early life and career

Michiel Mol grew up with a wealthy family. His father, Jan Mol, co-founded a software company in 1966 called Volmac; the company itself turned out to be a huge success and Jan Mol sold it in 1992 to CAP Gemini.

After obtaining a MSc degree in Computer Science from Leiden University, Michiel himself went into the software business. In 1993 he set up Lost Boys with several of his friends, developing software for the CD-ROM market. With the rapid growth of the internet, the company then started making internet software as well as moving into game development. Mol had his first venture into Formula One in 1999, when he and his company sponsored driver Jos Verstappen. Lost Boys then merged with Swedish company IconMedialab.

Mol remained on the board and kept the Lost Boys Games division, before establishing a new company called Media Republic, aiming to use new technology to market products. Lost Boys Games was transformed into Guerrilla Games, notable for developing the PlayStation 2 game Killzone, during 2004 and a year later it was sold to the Sony Company.

Formula One

Mol later became a supporter of Christijan Albers, after Verstappen left Formula One, and led a group of investors that put together a deal to buy into Spyker Cars and take over the Midland F1 team. Mol became a major shareholder in Spyker and in September 2006 was appointed as F1 director of Spyker for a period of four years.

On 14 August 2007, Michiel Mol left Spyker Cars as CEO amid speculation that it and Spyker F1 would be separated due to financial problems.[1] In October 2007 Spyker F1 was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and renamed Force India.[2] Mol remained as director and co-owner.

With the bankruptcy of Force India halfway through 2018 and the takeover of the assets by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll (father of racing driver Lance Stroll), Mol no longer held any rights in Force India.

Space Expedition Corporation

Mol is a co-founder of Space Expedition Corporation (SXC), which intends to offer suborbital space tourism flights and scientific research missions out of Space Port Curaçao.[3] That company was since renamed XCOR_Aerospace and filed for bankruptcy in 2017.[4]

Personal life

In July 2004, Mol married Paulien Huizinga, former Miss Universe Netherlands and now a Dutch TV personality. They lived together in Blaricum. Together they have a daughter and a son. On 3 August 2011 it was announced that Huizinga and Mol will divorce after a marriage of seven years.[5] Mol is currently seeing Marlous Mens, a younger daughter of Harry Mens, a Dutch real estate broker and well-known TV personality.[6]

References
  1. "The Spyker revolution begins". grandprix.com. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  2. "FIA approve Spyker's Force India name change". Formula One Administration Ltd. 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  3. "XCOR Aerospace and Space Expedition Curaçao sign eight-figure wet lease contract for Lynx suborbital spacecraft". Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  4. "XCOR Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy". Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  5. Paulien Huizinga gaat scheiden - website of the Dutch Newspaper De Telegraaf (Dutch)
  6. Harry Mens: "Mijn dochter is verliefd op Michiel Mol" Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine - website MSN Entertainment (Dutch)
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