Vivino Appoints Former StubHub President Chris Tsakalakis Chief Executive Officer

Founder Heini Zachariassen to Stay on as Board Member and Chief Evangelist while Tsakalakis is tapped to Lead Vivino’s Global Expansion Efforts and Marketplace Growth


San Francisco, March 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vivino, the world’s largest online wine community and marketplace has named Chris Tsakalakis as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Tsakalakis is taking over the reins from Vivino’s founder, Heini Zachariassen, who will remain on the board of directors and continue his role as the company’s Chief Evangelist.

Vivino was founded in 2010 by Zachariassen and Theis Søndergaard out of frustration that there was no easy way to be informed on which wines were worth buying. Building momentum over eight consecutive years of growth, Vivino is now powered by a community of 30 million wine enthusiasts and the five star Vivino Rating system is considered the world’s largest consumer voice on wine. The company has recently expanded its value proposition by building an eCommerce marketplace where consumers buy millions of dollars of wine every year.  It is because of this growth that Vivino is able to bring in someone with the right skills and expertise to take the business to the next stage in its development.

“Vivino is revolutionizing the way that wine is being discovered and purchased by combining the convenience of ecommerce with trusted and personalized ratings and reviews. No other company has Vivino’s large active customer base, user generated data and trusted retailer relationships,” said Tsakalakis. “I believe that Vivino can disrupt the $300 billion wine industry in the same way that StubHub and Netflix changed  their respective industries. I couldn’t imagine a more exciting time to join the company, and I am honored to lead Vivino in its mission to change the way people discover and purchase wine.”

During Tsakalakis’ eight-year tenure at StubHub, the company grew into the world’s largest ticket marketplace and changed the way millions buy and sell tickets. He will bring that experience to Vivino and help the company achieve $1 billion in annual sales, expand into new markets, roll out new ecommerce products, and expand offerings for retail partners to use Vivino to market to consumers.

 

“As the global market for online wine sales continues to significantly grow, the time is right to bring on a new CEO who knows how to build a large global marketplace that can change the way wine is discovered, shared and sold,” said Zachariassen. “Chris is bringing his years of success and experience to Vivino and will help consumers everywhere buy wine with confidence and ease so that they never drink a bad wine again.”

 

Vivino's users engage with two million wines every single day, have written 30 million reviews and have given 90 million ratings of 9.2 million bottles of wine. Vivino’s unique wine shopping experience leverages community data to suggest personalized wine recommendations for each individual user. With tens of thousands of wines available for purchase in the United States, the United Kingdom and eight other countries, wine merchants can sell their wines to an engaged and ever-growing wine community of millions of Vivino users. 

About Vivino

Vivino is the world's largest online wine marketplace and most downloaded wine app, powered by a community of 30 million wine drinkers who use Vivino to engage with more than two million wines every single day. Vivino’s unique wine shopping experience leverages community data to suggest personalized wine recommendations for each individual user. In addition to making wine discovery fun and easy, Vivino is the best place for users to buy wine for all their needs. Vivino has offices in San Francisco, Copenhagen, the Ukraine and India and employs more than 130 people. Founded by Heini Zachariassen and Theis Søndergaard in 2010, Vivino is available for download on Android and Apple devices. For more information, visit www.vivino.com.

Mordor Intelligence: Global Wine Market - Growth, Trends and Forecasts (2017 - 2022), January 2018

 

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