Patrick Byrne

Patrick Michael Byrne (born November 29, 1962) is an American businessman and conspiracy theorist. In 1999, Byrne launched Overstock.com after leading two smaller companies. Byrne led Overstock as chief executive officer for two decades, from 1999 to 2019. In 2002, Byrne took Overstock public. Early in his tenure he attracted public attention for a long-running legal battle against short sellers and "naked short selling." He eventually resigned as CEO in August 2019, following revelations that he had been in an intimate relationship with Russian agent (and later politician) Maria Butina.

Byrne then emerged as a leading figure in promoting conspiracy theories, including the "Deep State" conspiracy theory. In 2020 and 2021, he repeatedly promoted unevidenced claims that Donald Trump had won the 2020 U.S. presidential election due to voter fraud. He has also toured the United States in order to provide anti-vaccination stump speeches for COVID-19 conspiracy theorists. He became notable for distributing and selling misinformation on various subject matters via websites, social media, books, and film.

He has also been noted for his conservative views on public education.