Erik Prince

Prince’s father, Edgar Prince, founded Prince Manufacturing, headquartered in Holland, Michigan. In 1965 Edgar Prince and two colleagues started a die-cast machine manufacturer in Holland; the company’s lighted sun visor became the start of a range of automotive products.⁠[1][2]

Edgar Prince died in March 1995. In August 1996 Johnson Controls agreed to buy Holland-based Prince Automotive, a maker of headliners, interior door panels and onboard electronic information systems, for $1.35 billion.⁠[3]

Erik Prince was born in 1969.⁠[1]

He first attended the U.S. Naval Academy and transferred to Hillsdale CollegeHillsdale CollegeHillsdale College is a private liberal arts college in Hillsdale, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1844 as Michigan Central College in Spring Arbor, moved to Hillsdale in 1853 and took its present name in 1855.Open the full entry in Michigan after his freshman year, graduating in 1992 with a major in economics and a minor in political science. As a student he was a volunteer firefighter with the Hillsdale City Fire Department.⁠[4]

After graduating, Prince joined the U.S. Navy through Officer Candidate School and served in the Navy SEALs.⁠[1]

He served as a Navy SEAL officer until 1996.⁠[5]

In 1997 Prince founded a business to train law enforcement and special operations personnel.⁠[6]

The company, Blackwater USA, was later renamed Xe Services; it was founded in 1997 and was headquartered in Moyock, Currituck County, North Carolina, where it operated a training complex alongside security and technical services.⁠[7][8]

In 2003 Prince bought Presidential Airways and grew it from a one-plane operation into a global logistics and aviation business.⁠[5]

On his personal website he describes Presidential Airways as a global transportation company with over 75 aircraft operating in emerging markets.⁠[6]

In mid-February 2009, Blackwater USA changed its name to Xe. On March 2, 2009, Prince stepped aside as the company’s chief executive, keeping the chairmanship but stepping back from day-to-day operations. Former DHL vice president Joseph Yorio became president and Danielle Esposito became chief operating officer.⁠[9]

On March 25, 2010, AAR CORP. announced it would acquire Aviation Worldwide Services from Xe Services LLC for $200 million. The business comprised Presidential Airways, which ran fixed- and rotary-wing flight operations, and STI Aviation, which performed engineering and design modifications on rotary-wing aircraft; it had 58 customized aircraft and annual revenue of about $175 million based on the operating fleet at the time.⁠[10]

On April 7, 2010, AAR announced that it had completed the acquisition.⁠[11]

On December 17, 2010, USTC Holdings, a group of New York investors including the private equity firms Forte Capital Advisors and Manhattan Partners, agreed to buy Xe Services. Prince, the sole selling owner, divested his entire equity stake and left management and operations.⁠[7]

The purchase included the company’s training facility in North Carolina; the price was not disclosed.⁠[12]

In 2012 Prince founded the investment company Frontier Resource Group, focused on resource extraction and infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. In November of that year he said his Africa fund had raised $100 million in private equity.⁠[13]

On his personal website he describes Frontier Resource Group as a private equity firm focused on natural resource projects and manufacturing.⁠[14]

Prince also served as chairman of Frontier Resource Group; as of 2015 the firm was active across Africa in areas such as exploration, mining and energy development.⁠[5]

In 2013 Portfolio/Penguin in New York published Prince’s book Civilian Warriors: The Inside Story of Blackwater and the Unsung Heroes of the War on Terror, a history of Blackwater USA with an afterword by Max Boot.⁠[8]

In November 2013 the Hong Kong-listed DVN (Holdings) Limited acquired Frontier Services Limited, an aviation and logistics company operating in East Africa, from Prince. On January 10, 2014, Prince was appointed an executive director and chairman, and the board resolved to rename the company Frontier Services Group Limited.⁠[15]

The name change took effect on March 6, 2014, and the stock short name changed to “FRONTIER SER” from April 3, 2014, with the stock code remaining 500.⁠[16]

The company described itself as a logistics, aviation and risk management company targeting demand for logistics and transport in Africa.⁠[17]

On April 13, 2021, Prince resigned as an executive director and deputy chairman of the company, giving his other business engagements as the reason.⁠[18]

Prince is a co-founder of the smartphone company Unplugged. In 2021 he began assembling a team of privacy specialists and technologists, and after three years of development they produced the UP Phone. In May 2024 the first large production batch of 10,000 UP Phones arrived at Unplugged’s Nevada logistics facility.⁠[19]

In June 2022 Prince publicly unveiled the UP Phone, announcing a price of $850; it runs LibertOS, a proprietary version of Android.⁠[20]

Prince hosts the podcast Off Leash with Erik Prince, published on its YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel.⁠[6]