Private Equity
4 min read · 09 February 2011
The biggest winners in AOL’s purchase of Huffington Post for $315 million are Greycroft Partners and Softbank Capital, both of which will walk away with about $75 million, for an estimated return of 6x each, according to data from Thomson Reuters (publisher of this blog). Alan Patricof, co-founder of Greycroft, confirmed to peHUB that the firm will see a return of about 6x on its investment, but he said investment details from Thomson Reuters (see below) are incorrect. He declined to disclose detailed financial data. Thomson Reuters reports that Huffington Post, a political news website, pulled in $35 million in venture funding over three rounds: a $5 million Series A valued at $22.84 million from Greycroft and Softbank in 2006; a $5 million Series B valued at $31.6 million from Greycroft, Softbank and the Pilot Group in 2007; and a $25 million Series C valued at $111.4 million from Greycroft, Softbank and Oakstone Venture Partners in 2008.
2 min read · 07 February 2011
3 min read · 03 February 2011
2 min read · 31 January 2011
Am I the only one who was disappointed with LinkedIn's financials when it filed its S-1 today? The first thing I did when I opened its S-1 was to look at the stock holdings of Reid Hoffman (pictured), its founder. Wow, I thought to myself, Hoffman owns about 19 million shares, making him the company’s largest shareholder, with a 21.4% stake. Assuming – conservatively, I thought – the stock goes to 100 bucks within six months, Hoffman is sitting on just under $2 billion. (Note that LinkedIn has not priced its shares yet.) The company’s VC backers would also make a mint under my initial thinking, most notably Sequoia Capital, with 16.8 million shares, or an 18.9% stake; and Greylock Partners (where Hoffman is a general partner), with about 14 million shares, or a 15.8% stake. (Bessemer Partners holds about 4.6 million shares, or a 5.1% stake.) (See table below.) Then I looked at LinkedIn’s financials and I felt deflated.
3 min read · 28 January 2011
2 min read · 25 January 2011
3 min read · 24 January 2011
Bob Kagle says that he and Alex Balkanski won’t be managing general partners in Benchmark Capital’s seventh venture fund.
4 min read · 14 January 2011
2 min read · 14 January 2011
3 min read · 03 January 2011
