"Gore and Doerr in 2004" was a slogan coined back in the late '90s, anticipating the future for Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers venture capitalist John Doerr after completing his stewardship over the firm's Internet investments, which included high-fliers of the time such as Webvan Inc., @Home, Wineshopper.com and eToys. The thinking was that Doerr, while then occupied helping Kleiner Perkins participate in what he famously called "the greatest legal creation of wealth in history," could turn triumphantly to public service, signing on as running mate for President Al Gore's second term.
Things didn't quite work out that way. But fresh off Gore's Nobel Prize and with Kleiner Perkins reaping enormous rewards from some of its other Internet investments, including Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc., the pair is finally teaming up. Gore is joining the venture firm to help guide its investments in energy and environmental technology.
Fortune Magazine, which landed the story in an exclusive, said Gore is joining Kleiner Perkins as an "active partner," insisting that his role will not be that of the seemingly honorific "strategic limited partner," which the firm tagged
Colin Powell with two years ago. But the piece doesn't say whether he will serve as a general partner in the firm's $600 million fund raised in 2006.
Actually, the alliance sounds more like a partnership with Generation Investment Management, the $1 billion investment company Gore started three years ago in London with David Blood, the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. As Gore joins Kleiner Perkins, Doerr will simultaneously join Generation's advisory board. The two firms already are sharing deal flow, and the Fortune story mentions that Kleiner Perkins is advising Generation in areas where emerging technologies will affect its existing portfolio.
- Clifford Carlsen See Nov. 12 story from Fortune magazineSee July 2005 story from TheDeal.com
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