LinkedIn boss loses half of $2.8b fortune

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Reid Hoffman lost almost half his $2.8 billion fortune as shares of his LinkedIn suffered their largest drop on record.
Reid Hoffman lost almost half his $2.8 billion fortune as shares of his LinkedIn suffered their largest drop on record.

New York - Other executives at LinkedIn, some at business analytics company Tableau Software, and a number of the companies' venture capital backers also took losses running into tens of millions of dollars as both stocks tumbled on dismal financial outlooks.

By Reuters

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Published: Mon 8 Feb 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Tue 9 Feb 2016, 1:00 AM

 LinkedIn executive chairman Reid Hoffman lost almost half his $2.8 billion fortune on paper as shares of his social media company suffered their largest drop on record. He was not alone in taking heavy losses.
Other executives at LinkedIn, some at business analytics company Tableau Software, and a number of the companies' venture capital backers also took losses running into tens of millions of dollars as both stocks tumbled on dismal financial outlooks.
It was a humbling moment highlighting the personal exposure many technology leaders and venture capitalists face as Wall Street reassesses their value at an uncertain time for the sector.
Silicon Valley-based LinkedIn's shares closed down 43.6 per cent at $108.38 on Friday, after hitting a three-year low, following a sales forecast well short of analysts' expectations.
Shares of Seattle-based Tableau Software, a business analytics tools company, fell 49.4 per cent to $41.33 after cutting its full-year profit outlook.
As a result, LinkedIn's Hoffman lost $1.2 billion from his value on paper on Friday, slashing his stake to $1.6 billion, based on his holdings detailed in a filing with securities regulators from March, which the company said was the most up-to-date. LinkedIn's chief executive Jeff Weiner saw the value of his stake fall by $70.9 million to $91.5 million.
At Tableau, the value of chief executive Christian Chabot's stake was slashed nearly in half to $268 million, based on his holdings in a filing with securities regulators in March.
Besides Hoffman and Weiner, several venture capitalists who sit on LinkedIn's board and own stakes in the company suffered substantial losses.
Michael Moritz, the chairman of Sequoia Capital who owns more shares than any individual investor besides Hoffman and Weiner, lost $56 million as his stake's value shrank to $72.8 million. David Sze, a managing partner at Greylock Partners, saw the value of his stake slide to $5 million after losing $3.9 million on Friday.
Venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates lost big in the rout at Tableau. Partners Scott Sandell and Forest Baskett each lost more than $80 million on Friday as the value of their holdings dropped to less than $85 million each. 


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