John Delaney, an Irish businessman who founded Intrade, an online prediction market that allows customers to bet on world political, entertainment and financial events, died on Saturday after coming within 50 yards of the summit of Mount Everest. He was 42.

His death was announced on the Intrade Web site.

Mr. Delaney, whose wife gave birth to a child prematurely while he was scaling the mountain, was part of an expedition trying to reach the summit on the north side of Everest when he became ill, said Pat Falvey, a friend of Mr. Delaney’s who has been in contact with the expedition’s base camp. No further details were provided.

Intrade, based in Dublin, is an online exchange that allows customers to buy and sell contracts, wagering on the outcome of a future event. Intrade and other similar markets serve as an aggregator of individual opinions that are then boiled down to signal the direction of popular wisdom.

Intrade bettors accurately anticipated the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary in 2006 as well as the capture of Saddam Hussein in 2003.