Ashar Aziz

Early life and education Aziz was born in Karachi in 1959 and grew up in Islamabad, Pakistan. He arrived in the United States as a student, having gained admission into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Engineering (MIT). DeWalt was recruited in order to prepare the company for an initial public offering (IPO). The following year, FireEye raised an additional $50 million in venture capital, bringing its total funding to $85 million. In September 2013, FireEye went public, raising $300 million. However, the Business Insider explained the appreciation in Aziz's net worth was temporary due to the high fluctuations in share prices, dropping his stake worth to under $1 billion once prices dropped. According to The Wall Street Journal, FireEye was the second-best performing firm in the U.S. that went public in 2013. Aziz was inducted into the Forbes' list of billionaires for 2014.

As the inventor of FireEye's malware protection system, Aziz currently holds over 80 patents relating to various cybersecurity technologies, including in the fields of network security, cryptography, and data center virtualization. He is recognized as the technical visionary and pioneer behind FireEye's core technology. A partner of FireEye described the news as "disconcerting" for FireEye's future and its workforce, and predicted his exit would accelerate discussions on a potential sale of the company. In February 2017, he pitched solar energy as the solution to Pakistan's electricity crisis and launched his company's operations in the country.

Personal life Aziz's father, Asghar Butt, was a journalist, writer and playwright, who served as the deputy editor of the Pakistani broadsheet The Nation. His father died aged 91 at his hometown Lahore, Punjab, on 13 November 2012. She died aged 93 on 7 February 2020. The Nation'''s editor-in-chief, Majid Nizami, was his father's brother-in-law and thus his uncle. Ashar has one brother, Ahmar Aziz Butt, who is a doctor.

Aziz is a recipient of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. In 2018, he was presented the civil award Sitara-i-Imtiaz'' by the government of Pakistan for his contributions to the IT industry.