'Elevation Partners' is a
private equity firm that invests in
intellectual property and media and entertainment companies. Its founding partners include
Roger McNamee, a former founding partner of
Silver Lake Partners and
Integral Capital Partners;
Marc Bodnick, a former founding principal of Silver Lake;
Fred Anderson, former
CFO of
Apple Computer;
John Riccitiello, former president and
COO of
Electronic Arts;
Bret Pearlman, a former senior managing director of the
Blackstone Group; and
U2 lead singer
Bono. The company is named after U2's single "
Elevation".
[1]
On the 22nd March, 2005 (as its first major venture), Elevation attempted to purchase
Eidos Interactive[2]. However, its bid failed and the video games giant was sold to rival
SCi Entertainment.
[3]
On
November 3,
2005, Elevation invested $300 million to create an alliance between video game developers
BioWare and
Pandemic Studios, making it one of the biggest independent developers in the world. It also invested $100 million in Move.com, which operates real estate information services.
In August 2006, Elevation announced that it had made an investment in
Forbes Media, the parent company of
Forbes Magazine and Forbes.com.
On 4th June 2007 Elevation Partners announced an investment of $325m (€242m) for a 25 per cent stake in
Palm, Inc..
[4]
On 11th July 2007 Elevation Partners acquire SDI Media Group, the world's largest provider of subtitling and language dubbing service to the entertainment industry. Elevation is purchasing the company from Warburg Pincus, the private equity firm that acquired SDI media in 2004.
Portfolio companies
★ BioWare / Pandemic Studios
★ Forbes
★ Move (formerly
Homestore, Inc.)
★ SDI Media
External links
★
Elevation Partners
★
BioWare
★
Pandemic Studios
★
Move
★
Forbes
★
SDI Media Group