by Dan Lyons Info
Dan Lyons is technology editor at Newsweek and the creator of Fake Steve Jobs, the persona behind the notorious tech blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Before joining Newsweek, Lyons spent 10 years at Forbes.
The rocker’s days as a tech mogul could be ending: A key founding partner is ditching Bono’s private-equity firm, Elevation, in a nasty spat that’s going public, just as the company is trying to launch a second investment fund.
An ugly fight over money is threatening the future of Bono’s Silicon Valley private-equity firm, Elevation Partners.
Amy Sussman / Getty Images
After several rough years, a key founding partner, Marc Bodnick, is bailing out and fighting with Elevation’s leader, Roger McNamee, over his share of the firm’s profits, according to a person close to the company.
The feud, which has been simmering in private, now is erupting into a nasty public battle after blogs got wind of Bodnick’s plans to leave and join Quora, a hot Silicon Valley startup.
It’s all playing out like an episode of some Silicon Valley soap opera, and it’s happening at a terrible time, just as Elevation is trying to get investors to put in more money so it can launch a second investment fund. If Elevation can’t raise a new fund, the firm eventually will dwindle away, a source in the Valley venture community says.
And that could spell the end of Bono’s days as a tech mogul.
Says a person close to the company: “Elevation’s second fund is very uncertain.”
Bodnick’s departure is a blow for Elevation, which has struggled after some of its biggest investments, such as a stake in mobile-phone maker Palm, failed to pan out.
Bodnick did not return messages. Elevation officially declined to comment about Bodnick, but an insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Bodnick had exaggerated his contribution to Elevation's success.
They’re especially miffed by a recent profile of Bodnick in the San Jose Mercury News in which Bodnick got a lot of credit—too much, the Elevation insider says—for Elevation’s successful investment in Facebook.
“Marc is a great guy. He’s a friend. But if you look at Marc’s background and hold that up to the rest of the group, well, he’s an equal partner, but if you’re going to lose somebody he’s probably the least damaging one to lose,” the insider said.
In other words: It’s getting nasty.
This is all a far cry from the happy days of 2004, when Bono, with much buzz and fanfare, joined with a handful of Valley big shots to form Elevation—the name comes from a U2 song—with the mission of investing in digital media and entertainment companies.
The team included Fred Anderson, the former chief financial officer at Apple, and Bret Pearlman, a former top gun at The Blackstone Group. Their idea was that as the media business moved online, there was a chance to make big money betting on the right companies.
Elevation’s leader, Roger McNamee, is a renowned Silicon Valley investor and aspiring rock star who plays guitar and sings in a rock band called Moonalice under the stage name “Chubby Wombat.” He’s also a consummate salesman who is great at convincing people to invest in his funds.
In 2005 McNamee raised $1.9 billion for Elevation’s initial investment fund.
12 January 27, 2011 | 9:40am Twitter Email Share var OutbrainPermaLink=document.location.href.replace(document.location.search, '').replace(/\/\d+\/$/,'/').replace(document.location.host, 'thedailybeast.com'); if(OutbrainPermaLink.search(/blogs-and-stories/)>=0){ OutbrainPermaLink += "full/"; } var OB_Template = "The Daily Beast"; var OB_demoMode = false; var OBITm = "1255455386150"; var OB_langJS ='http://widgets.outbrain.com/lang_en.js'; if ( typeof(OB_Script)!='undefined' ) OutbrainStart(); else { var OB_Script = true; var str = ''; document.write(str); } Technology, Business, Roger Mcnamee, Marc Bodnick, Quora, Elevation Partners, Us, Silicon Valley, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Bono (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies Sort Up Sort Down sort by date: aperturemad
Bono really needs to get knocked down several pegs. Never has there been a more pretentious and overreaching rock star. What happened to writing good songs?
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States Most Likely To Go Bankrupt
The Daily Beast is dedicated to news and commentary, culture, and entertainment. We carefully curate the web’s most essential stories and bring you original must-reads from our talented contributors.
The Real House-Husbands Strike Back
Nicole LaPorte is the senior West Coast reporter for The Daily Beast and the author of The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks.
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Christine Pelisek is staff reporter for The Daily Beast, covering crime. She previously was a reporter at the LA Weekly, where she covered crime for the last five years. In 2008, she won three Los Angeles Press Club awards, one for her investigative story on the Grim Sleeper.
U.S. Raised Concerns About Egypt
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Rahm Emanuel Back in Mayor’s Race
Illinois Supreme Court rules in his favor.
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Text messaging also disabled ahead of Friday’s protests.
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Dan Lyons is technology editor at Newsweek and the creator of Fake Steve Jobs, the persona behind the notorious tech blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Before joining Newsweek, Lyons spent 10 years at Forbes.
Behind the Google CEO Shakeup
Dan Lyons is technology editor at Newsweek and the creator of Fake Steve Jobs, the persona behind the notorious tech blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Before joining Newsweek, Lyons spent 10 years at Forbes.
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Dan Lyons is technology editor at Newsweek and the creator of Fake Steve Jobs, the persona behind the notorious tech blog, The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Before joining Newsweek, Lyons spent 10 years at Forbes.
Brian Ries is tech and social media editor at The Daily Beast. He lives in Brooklyn.
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