Willem M. Smit (born 1946) is a Dutch entrepreneur who is a shareholder and investor in several companies.
He studied at IBM and at night he studied economics at the Institute of Social Sciences.
In 1976, he founded Datex Software B.V. which increased at the stock exchange in 1985 from 20 to 900 employees. For five years in a row, profits were doubled. In 1987, a merger with Getronics followed, after which Willem Smit set up and co-financed the automation company Newtron. Newtron, which went to the stock exchange in 1990, consisted of, among other things, Nina Brink's established A-Line Technologies, among others, from Ordina, Alpha, Topdata, ID-Systems, IC Europe and Positronics. Neelie Smit-Kroes was chairman of the Supervisory Board from September 1990 until January 1991 but left there because she could not find himself in the ruling morality within Newtron. In 1992, it disappeared from the fair and was taken over by Ordina.
Willem Smit was asked at the time by the NMB (ING's predecessor) to rescue with Mr Van de Brink Newtron and was therefore appointed as Director. Together with Van de Brink, Willem Smit has devised the structure of reverse takeover by listed Ordina; That proved to be a successful strategy for business and investors. In addition, Willem Smit was from 1991 to 1996 Honorary Consul of the Republic of Hungary.
After that, until 2002, Willem Smit did not hold any executive function more at a company. He invested as an informal investor and venture capitalist in dozens of well-known companies, including well-known names such as Twijnstra Gudde (listed and independent from a management buyout), Air Holland (for stock exchange), Microlife (sold to J. Kuyten), Ordina, Newtron , Groupe Courtier and unknown companies of which some successful and some not.
He was closely involved in the internoc based in Hoofddorp, which involved remote network management. In 1997, that company also had 25 employees at the fair, but in this case it was the Brussels Stock Exchange.
Since 2002 he was the CEO of Playlogic. Playlogic is one of the approximately 22 global publishers in the computer game industry with licenses for all platforms including Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. On July 1, 2005, it broke 58-year-old Smit through all of Donar Enterprises, Inc.'s shares. buy Playlogic via a reverse merger to get a listing on the US stock exchange. Since 2 August 2005, the name of Donar Enterprises has been changed to Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. with a headquarters in Amsterdam and New York. The management is conducted by an international management team (French, German, English and Dutch). Vice President of Playlogic is his son Rogier W. Smit, who was also co-founder. At the end of 2010, all activities of this company were taken over by Playlogic Entertainment NV After the game development had ceased, the publishing activities were taken over by a new company, 24/7 Gaming Group NV, which also housed the activities in the gambling industry were under the brand name WannaGaming. CEO of 24/7 Gaming Group is his son Rogier W. Smit, Willem Smit himself is a major shareholder and acts as adviser.
In August 1987, Smit collapsed with a colleague after an allegation of insider trading. As a result, he rose as CEO of Datex. After one year Datex was acquired by Getronics. Smit then became major shareholder and adviser to Getronics. The Association of Effects, Smit and the Strating Effects Office, wrote an excuse letter after two years because the alleged insider trading was based on a misunderstanding. One of Willem Smit's companies had a dispute with the tax authority and was fined 25% above the amount due. The inspector had to defend himself against numerous allegations from Smit.
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