Alan Patricof

Last updated
Alan J. Patricof
Alan Patricof, SIPC Director.jpg
Born (1934-10-22) 22 October 1934 (age 89)
New York City, U.S.
Education Ohio State University (BA)
Columbia University (MBA)
Known forFounder of Apax Partners
Spouse(s)Bette Hollander (m. 1958, divorced)
Susan Hatkoff (m. 1970 - 2021)
Barbara Guggenheim (m. 2023)
Children3

Alan Patricof (born 22 October 1934) [1] is an American investor who founded the venture capital firm Alan Patricof Associates in 1969. For five years, starting in 2001, he stepped back from day-to-day management of his firm to foster entrepreneurship in the developing world. Patricof returned to found Greycroft in 2006, which by 2022 had $3 billion under management. He's been a member of numerous boards and commissions in three Administrations. Patricof is now co-founder and chairman of Primetime Partners. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Patricof grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, [3] the son of parents who had immigrated from Russia to the United States. [1] His father was a stockbroker at a small firm. [3] He is of Jewish descent. [4] Patricof graduated from Horace Mann School for Boys in 1952. In 2003, he received its Distinguished Achievement Award. [5] He began his career in media selling the Saturday Evening Post in the subway at the age of six. In 1955, he graduated from Ohio State University with a B.A. in finance. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1957 while working full-time as an analyst for an investment firm. [3] [6]

Career

Patricof's first full-time job was at the investment counseling firm, Naess & Thomas, now part of Citigroup. That ended when he was drafted by the U.S. Army in March 1958 and reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey as Pvt. 1st Class Patricof. Following his deployment, he returned to New York where he went to work at the development capital firm, Lambert & Co. He was deployed a second time in 1961. At the end of his second tour as Corporal SP3, Patricof joined Central National Corporation (CNC) that managed the pulp and paper fortune of the Gottesman family. [1] While at CNC, the firm invested in New York Magazine which subsequently acquired the Village Voice and New West Magazine. [7] Patricof formed the holding company, Aeneid Equities, whose board he chaired, to manage all three publications. Aeneid went public in 1971. In 1977, Rupert Murdoch acquired all three publications in a hostile takeover. [8]

In 1969, Patricof formed Alan Patricof Associates (APA), with $2.5 million in assets under management and nine individual family management firms as clients. [1] In 1977, APA expanded beyond the U.S. forming venture capital firms in the UK, Alan Patricof Associates Limited, and in France, Alan Patricof Associé that in 1989, to denote the firm's cross border activities, were renamed Apax, as the firm is known today. Currently, Apax has $75 billion under management with stakes in 120 companies that over the years included AOL, Office Depot, Audible, and Apple Computer. [3]  

(In recognition of his early efforts in founding the first venture capital firm in France, Patricof was awarded the Légion d'honneur by its president in 2020.) [9]

In 2001, Patricof stepped back from day-to-day management of Apax to foster entrepreneurship in the developing world, serving as an adviser to the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank, and joining the boards of nonprofits TechnoServe and the Trickle Up. [7] In 2007, the president of Nigeria appointed him to the country's Presidential Advisory Board. [10]

Returning to the private sector in 2006, Patricof formed Greycroft Partners with $75 million in funds under management. By 2022, that had grown to $3 billion under management with investments in The Huffington Post, Wondery, bought by Amazon in 2021, and Axios, bought by Cox Broadcasting in 2022. [11] [12]

In 2019, Patricof founded Primetime Partners with Abby Levy, the former Senior Vice President of SoulCycle, to invest in early-stage start-ups that bring products and services to the 25 percent of the population over 60. [13]

Other activities

In 2022, Patricof wrote "No Red Light," about his career in venture capital, government, philanthropy, the arts, and politics. In its review, The Wall Street Journal noted that Patricof wrote about his failures as well as his success, notably passing on an early opportunity to invest in a coffee shop named Starbucks. [14]

Patricof began investing in the theater in 1959 when he backed first-time Director Peter Bogdanovic in the Off Broadway production of Clifford Odette's, The Big Knife. After that, he joined the board of King's Road Productions which produced The Last Picture Show that won two Academy Awards in 1972. He subsequently joined the board of directors of Cinecom that produced Merchant Ivory's Room With A View which won an Oscar in 1987. In 1978, he invested in the Manhattan Theater Club's production of Ain’t Misbehavin’. Most recently he invested in the musical revival of the Billy Wilder film, Some Like it Hot, Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt, and Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton. [15]

His musical productions include a folk concert at Town Hall in New York City in 1962 starring Oscar Brand and Jean Ritchie. In 1967, he co-produced a music and light show featuring Bobby Goldstein and Joshua White in The Lightworks, which was featured at the Parrish Museum in Water Mill, New York in 2020. [16]

Patricof has served on the Boards of The Brooklyn Academy of Music, the New York Academy of Science, the Actors Studio School, and the New York Academy of Science. [5]

Personal life

In 1958, Patricof married Bette Hollander; [17] they had one child, Mark F. Patricof (b. 1964) who is married to Martha Shelburne Jones, daughter of Bishop Edward Witker Jones, the 9th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. [17] [18] In 1970, he married Susan Hatkoff, [19] sister of Craig Hatkoff. [20] They had two sons: Jonathan Patricof, born in 1973 and Jamie Patricof, born in 1976. [21] [22] On December 10, 2023, he married art dealer Barbara Guggenheim in New York City. [23]

Political and other affiliations

On December 20, 2022, Patricof's nomination to serve on President Joseph Biden's Board of the Securities Investments Protection Corporation was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to that, Patricof served in the Bush and Obama administrations as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (2007 to 2012). In Obama's second term, Patricof served on the board of the President's Global Development Council. During the Clinton administration, from 1993 to 1995, he chaired the White House Conference on Small Business Commission. [10]

Currently, Patricof is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. After the death of his wife, Susan, Patricof joined the board of the Finance Committee of Northside Center for Child Development in Harlem where she had been chair for 40 years. [24]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TPG Inc.</span> American investment company

TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm invests in a range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care. TPG became a public company in January 2022, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TPG”.

Bain Capital, LP is an American private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, crypto, tech opportunities, partnership opportunities, special situations, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry sectors and geographic regions. The firm was founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. The company is headquartered at 200 Clarendon Street in Boston with 22 offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apax Partners</span> British private equity firm

Apax Partners LLP is a British private equity firm, headquartered in London, England. The company also operates out of six other offices in New York, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tel Aviv, Munich and Shanghai. As of March 2024, the firm had raised and advised funds of approximately $77 billion (USD). Apax Partners is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms operating on an international basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Mourad Cohen</span>

Sir Ronald Mourad Cohen is an Egyptian-born British businessman and political figure. He is the chairman of The Portland Trust and Bridges Ventures. He has been described as "the father of British venture capital" and "the father of social investment".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Hatkoff</span> American real estate investor and philanthropist

Craig M. Hatkoff is an American real estate investor from New York City. Along with his now ex-wife Jane Rosenthal, and Robert De Niro, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002. The three were recipients of the inaugural September 11 National Museum and Memorial Foundation "Notes of Hope Award" for Distinction in Rebuilding in September 2008.

GlobalLogic is an American digital services company providing software development services. It is a subsidiary of Hitachi. GlobalLogic has corporate headquarters in San Jose, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of private equity and venture capital</span>

The history of private equity, venture capital, and the development of these asset classes has occurred through a series of boom-and-bust cycles since the middle of the 20th century. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel, although interrelated tracks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early history of private equity</span>

The early history of private equity relates to one of the major periods in the history of private equity and venture capital. Within the broader private equity industry, two distinct sub-industries, leveraged buyouts and venture capital experienced growth along parallel although interrelated tracks.

Jonathan Paul Moulton is a British venture capitalist. He is the founder and managing partner of the private equity firm Better Capital, and is the former managing partner of the private equity firm Alchemy Partners. He is an active private investor and has been working in private equity since 1980. Moulton regularly writes, broadcasts and speaks on corporate finance and financial matters. His career has also included spells running Citicorp Venture Capital, Schroder Ventures (Permira) and the buy-out group of Apax, as well as being a director of numerous public and private companies.

Patricia Mary Cloherty was an American businesswoman, company director, and private equity financier. She was the chairman and CEO of Delta Private Equity Partners. Cloherty served as manager of The U.S. Russia Investment Fund and Delta Russia Fund, two venture capital funds which operated in Russia. In 2004, Cloherty was named Businessperson of the Year by the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. In 2007, Crain's New York Business named her one of the Most Powerful Women in New York. In 2008, Cloherty received the Order of Friendship from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Aroma Cafe</span> Argentine coffee chain, founded in London, England

The Aroma Cafe (S.A.) is an Argentine coffee chain and a former British coffee chain. It was founded in London, England in 1991 and started in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2000.

Greycroft LP is an American venture capital firm. It manages over $2 billion in capital with investments in companies such as Bird, Bumble, HuffPost, Goop, Scopely, The RealReal, and Venmo. Greycroft was founded in 2006 by Alan Patricof, Dana Settle, and Ian Sigalow. The firm is headquartered in New York City and Los Angeles.

Klaus Hommels is a German venture capitalist. He focuses on early and growth-stage investments and has founded his own venture capital fund by the name of Lakestar, through which he has been investing mainly in digital businesses. He has been invested in Facebook, Skype and Xing; other examples are Klarna and Revolut.

Keith Reginald Harris is a London-based investment banker and financier with a 30-year career as a senior corporate finance and takeover advisor, having held senior executive positions at leading institutions Morgan Grenfell, Drexel Burnham Lambert, Apax Partners, and HSBC Investment Bank. He is a private equity investor with interests in varied private equity holdings in financials, media, and sport.

New York Angels is an organization of seed capital angel investors that provides equity capital for early stage companies, primarily in the field of technology and new media. It is based in New York City. Members typically invest between US$100,000 and US$1,500,000 in companies that have begun operations, but have not reached a stage for acquiring venture capital.

Thomas Austin Alberg was an American lawyer and businessman, founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Madrona Venture Group, and a director of Amazon.com from 1996 to 2019. In addition to investing in many high tech startups, he was one of the earliest investors in Amazon. At Madrona, some of Alberg's investments included Impinj, a RFID technology start-up, online real estate brokerage Redfin, business management as-a-service provider Apptio and Isilon Systems, a storage software provider which was later acquired by the Emc Corporation.

Jon Patricof is an American businessman and former president of New York City FC. Before joining New York City FC, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of Tribeca Enterprises which oversees the Tribeca Film Festival, Tribeca Film, and Tribeca Cinemas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Ryan, Oliver (September 11, 2007). "The Old Guy Sure Can Pick'em". CNN Money.
  2. ↑ "The Wall Street wolves opening their cheque books for the Democrats". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2020-03-31.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Martin, Douglas (November 2, 1992). "Strictly Business; A Venture Capitalist and His Politics". The New York Times .
  4. ↑ "Bush nominates Patricof to aid body". Jewish Telegraph Agency . May 16, 2007. ...Alan Patricof, a Democrat and major Jewish investor in Israel...
  5. 1 2 "Distinguished Achievement Award - Horace Mann School". Horace Mann School.
  6. ↑ "DealBook". The New York Times.
  7. 1 2 "Wharton Private Equity Conference 2006: Keynote Speakers – Alan Petricof, Co-Founder, Apax Partners". The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. October 12, 2007. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Details Get New Owner". The New York Times. June 6, 1987.
  9. ↑ "Alan Patricof Awarded With the Legion of Honor by France". Consulate General of France in New York. November 9, 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Global Development Council". Obama White House Archives.
  11. ↑ Hirsch, Lauren (30 December 2020). "Amazon Buys Wondery as Podcasting Race Continues". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ Lukpat, Alyssa (August 8, 2022). "Axios's $525 Million Sale to Cox Marks Merger of New and Old Media". The Wall Street Journal.
  13. ↑ Callaham, Sheila (September 27, 2020). "Wellness Exec Abby Miller Levy Partners With Venture Capitalist Alan Patricof To Change The Aging Narrative". Forbes.
  14. ↑ Borrow, Emily (May 6, 2022). "Investor Alan Patricof Is Just Getting Started". The Wall Street Journal.
  15. ↑ "Misbehavin Longacre Theatre Vault". Playbill.
  16. ↑ "Parrish Museum 2012, Water Mill, NY". Parrish Museum.
  17. 1 2 "WEDDINGS; Martha S. Jones, Mark F. Patricof". The New York Times. July 26, 1992.
  18. ↑ The New York Times: "Martha Jones To Wed in July". February 16, 1992.
  19. ↑ "Producer rekindles 'Toyland' memories". Times Union. September 28, 2011. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  20. ↑ New York Magazine: "Jane of All Trades" by Meryl Gordon retrieved June 25, 2013
  21. ↑ Jane Fox, Emily (November 15, 2022). "Kim Kardashian Honored at Glitzy Baby2Baby Gala". Vanity Fair .
  22. ↑ "HOLLANDER v. COMMISSIONER | 34 T.C.M. 718 (1975)". Leagle.
  23. ↑ LaGorce, Tammy (December 22, 2023). "Vows: Old Friends Find New Love - Barbara Guggenheim and Alan Patricof had socialized since the 1970s. By the end of 2022, everything had changed". New York Times .
  24. ↑ "Remembering Susan Patricof". Northside Center.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.