John de Mol, born 24 April 1955, is a Dutch media tycoon and billionaire. In 2005 Forbes magazine named him as one of the 500 richest people in the world. ^[1] April 24 is the 114th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (115th in leap years). ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Disambiguation: For the Boston Brahmin family of John Forbes Kerry, see Forbes family. ...

De Mol, a well known personality in the Netherlands, acquired his fortune producing television programmes. He co-developed the popular reality television series Big Brother while on the board of Endemol. He also produced Love Letters, 1 versus 100 and Deal or No Deal (Miljoenenjacht) for Endemol. De Mol sold his share of the company in 2000 to Telefonica, but continued to serve as creative director until 2004. Reality television is a genre of television programming which presents unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and features ordinary people over professional actors. ... Location of different versions of Big Brother Big Brother is a popular reality television format, where, over 15 weeks or so, a number of contestants (typically 12) try to avoid periodic publicly-voted evictions from a communal house and hence win a cash prize. ... The official Endemol logo depicting an eye. ... Deal or No Deal is a television game show format owned by Dutch-based production company Endemol, known for creating such shows as Big Brother. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Telefónica S.A. (NYSE: TEF) (TYO: 9481) is the national telephone network operator (telco) in Spain. ...

In 2005 de Mol founded a new television channel Talpa, which owns the broadcasting rights for Dutch premier league football and also produces the popular show Expedition Robinson. A number of the previously mentioned programmes now appear on Talpa. John's sister, actress Linda de Mol, appears in and presents some of the programmes, including the original Dutch version of Deal or No Deal. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Talpa is the name of a television channel in the Netherlands. ... Expedition Robinson is a popular Swedish reality television program. ... Deal or No Deal is a television game show format owned by Dutch-based production company Endemol, known for creating such shows as Big Brother. ...

De Mol was formerly married to Willeke Alberti; the actor Johnny de Mol is their son. Willeke Alberti is a Dutch singer and actress, the daughter of entertainer and singer Willy Alberti. ... Johnny de Mol is an actor, and the son of John de Mol and Willeke Alberti. ...

Outside of television, de Mol controls a large private equity fund which owned significant shares of auto manufacturer Spyker Cars, football team Manchester United and telecommunications company Versatel. Spyker Cars is the name of a Dutch hand built car company, not related to or controlled by the previous Spyker company that went bankrupt in 1929. ... Manchester Uniteds emblem Manchester United F.C. (often abbreviated to Man United or just Man U, pronounced man-yoo) is an English football club based at Old Trafford in Greater Manchester. ... Versatel is a telecommunications company on the Dutch, Belgian and German market. ...

His name literally means "John the Mole", and the name of his Talpa TV channel is a play on the Latin name for the genus of animals which includes the common European mole. Genera Uropsilus Desmana Galemys Talpa Mogera Parascaptor Scaptochirus Scaptonyx Scapanulus Urotrichus Neurotrichus Scalopus Parascalops Scapanus Condylura Moles are members of the family (Talpidae) of mammals in the order Insectivora that live underground, burrowing holes. ...

References

• ↑  Forbes.com's page on John