All articles tagged with #thrive capital
Venture capitalist Josh Kushner teamed with Bob Iger to buy a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion, marking his ascent in tech-backed investing through Thrive Capital and positioning the deal as a long-term asset play amid Mark Walter’s federal investigations.
UEFA has asked a Manhattan federal judge to subpoena Josh Kushner and Thrive Capital to testify and produce records about FIFA's now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise plan to monetize private investment. UEFA argues the disclosures are needed as part of potential Swiss criminal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for alleged mismanagement, while stressing that Kushner and Thrive are not being targeted for prosecution.
Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital rode bets on OpenAI and SpaceX to a surge in wealth, lifting his net worth to about $16.7 billion and pushing Thrive’s assets under management above $65 billion; a SpaceX IPO boosted Thrive’s SpaceX stake toward $10 billion, Cursor’s $60 billion deal valued Thrive’s stake at about $4.2 billion, and Thrive’s portfolio also includes Amazon, Shopify and Oscar Health. Separately, Kushner and Bob Iger’s $12.5 billion bid to buy the Los Angeles Lakers could unlock further liquidity and may allow for tax-advantaged amortization of intangibles, potentially yielding hundreds of millions in annual tax benefits, though the Lakers stake value remains undisclosed.
Private equity investment in professional sports is rising as stable media rights and arena-related revenues attract investors. The Lakers’ sale to Thrive Capital’s Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger exemplifies a growing trend where PE firms pursue long-horizon, high-value stakes, with large portions of sports M&A driven by private-equity activity—despite higher valuations and ongoing governance considerations.
Josh Kushner, Thrive Capital founder, becomes a co-owner of the Lakers alongside Bob Iger, underscoring a portfolio built on early tech bets and massive AI investments. Thrive has backed OpenAI and defense tech like Anduril, while Kushner’s Democratic leanings and past political giving add a political dimension to the high-profile sports investment. The move stacks wealth and ambition with potential reputational baggage for the franchise.
UEFA warned of legal action, arbitration, and regulatory complaints against FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Joshua Kushner, and others over a plan to privatize part of the World Cup’s commercial rights by teaming with Thrive Capital; UEFA opposed the scheme, threatened a boycott, and the plan was shelved amid competition-law concerns from Brussels.
OpenAI's head of sales James Dyett is leaving to join Thrive Capital as an Operator in Residence; he joined OpenAI in 2023 amid rapid growth post-ChatGPT and led enterprise and API sales, and his departure comes as OpenAI experiences further leadership shakeups even as Thrive remains a long-standing backer with close ties to OpenAI's leadership.
San Francisco Giants have agreed to bring Thrive Eternal into their ownership group, pending MLB approval, marking the firm’s first permanent-capital investment and the second recent ownership infusion after Sixth Street; the deal comes as the franchise, valued at about $4.05 billion, expands long-term investors and funds upgrades and real estate initiatives around the team.
OpenAI's tender offer, led by Thrive Capital, is still on track and set to value the company at around $86 billion. The offer allows employees to sell their shares to outside investors, providing liquidity. The round had been extended to January 5, following a period of leadership turmoil and board reshuffling. Sam Altman's temporary ouster threatened the round, but his return cleared the way for it to proceed. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's announcement that Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman would lead a new AI lab under Microsoft caused uproar among investors and employees, leading to significant board turnover. Altman and Brockman have now officially returned to their previous roles, and a new board has been announced. Microsoft holds a 49% stake in OpenAI.
Former Google AI researchers, Ashish Vaswani and Niki Parmar, who authored the paper that led to the generative AI boom, have raised $8 million for their new startup Essential AI, which aims to build software for enterprises to use large language models. Thrive Capital led the funding round, with Conviction and angel investor Elad Gil also participating. Essential AI is not in direct competition with Adept AI, a company the duo also co-founded in 2021.