QXL Founder Tim Jackson To Launch DVD Swapping Site LendAround

Tim Jackson has had a colorful career. He is a former journalist (Financial Times, Independent, Economist and Red Herring) and was the managing director of the $700 million Carlyle Internet Partners Europe Fund. He founded QXL in 1997, a UK-based eBay-like online auction site that went public in 1999 at a valuation of around $400 million. And he's also written three books. In other words, he seems to keep busy. Now he's on to his next challenge, launching and growing a UK based DVD swapping site called LendAround . The core idea of swapping DVDs isn't new - services like Peerflix gave in an honest try and eventually gave up . Another service we've covered is Swaptree , which is still going and recently raised a fresh round of funding. LendAround is taking a slightly different approach. First, the site is focusing on loaners, not outright permanent trades. And The goal is to let your friends browse your DVD collection and borrow what they want, and LendAround keeps track of who has what. That removes the issue of people forgetting who borrowed what.